title: Compassion fade: affect and charity are greatest for a single child in need.
abstract: Charitable giving in 2013 exceeded $300 billion, but why do we respond to some life-saving causes while ignoring others? In our first two studies, we demonstrated that valuation of lives is associated with affective feelings (self-reported and psychophysiological) and that a decline in compassion may begin with the second endangered life. In Study 3, this fading of compassion was reversed by describing multiple lives in a more unitary fashion. Study 4 extended our findings to loss-frame scenarios. Our capacity to feel sympathy for people in need appears limited, and this form of compassion fatigue can lead to apathy and inaction, consistent with what is seen repeatedly in response to many large-scale human and environmental catastrophes.
authors.affiliation: Decision Research, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America; Linköping University, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Västfjäll
authors.affiliation: Decision Research, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America; University of Oregon, Department of Psychology, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Slovic
authors.affiliation: Decision Research, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America; University of Oregon, Department of Psychology, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America.
authors.forename: Marcus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mayorga
authors.affiliation: Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Peters
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000533:Altruism; D002608:Charities / Q000639:trends*; D002648:Child; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D037921:Gift Giving; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests