Title |
Compassion Fade: Affect and Charity Are Greatest for a Single Child in Need
|
---|---|
Published in |
PLOS ONE, June 2014
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0100115 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Daniel Västfjäll, Paul Slovic, Marcus Mayorga, Ellen Peters |
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. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 9 | 20% |
United Kingdom | 4 | 9% |
Japan | 2 | 4% |
Belgium | 1 | 2% |
Indonesia | 1 | 2% |
New Zealand | 1 | 2% |
Netherlands | 1 | 2% |
Spain | 1 | 2% |
Comoros | 1 | 2% |
Other | 4 | 9% |
Unknown | 20 | 44% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 35 | 78% |
Scientists | 8 | 18% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 2% |
Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 2 | <1% |
Sweden | 1 | <1% |
Italy | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 219 | 98% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 42 | 19% |
Student > Master | 38 | 17% |
Student > Bachelor | 35 | 16% |
Researcher | 20 | 9% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 16 | 7% |
Other | 27 | 12% |
Unknown | 45 | 20% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Psychology | 88 | 39% |
Social Sciences | 23 | 10% |
Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 11 | 5% |
Business, Management and Accounting | 10 | 4% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 7 | 3% |
Other | 31 | 14% |
Unknown | 53 | 24% |