study applies to numbers of victims, whether human or animal

[Guest guest]

It says: " 'We go all out to save a single identified victim, be it a person or

an animal, but as the numbers increase, we level off,' Slovic said.

'We don't feel any...' " SEE BELOW

 

 

>Hello,

>After reading the article I wonder if it also applies to human

>compassion towards animals? Personally, I do not think my feelings

>level off at seeing a larger number of suffering animals compared to

>one. Am I alone in this respect?

>

>Kim Bartlett <<anpeople%40whidbey.com>anpeople

>wrote: <aapn%40>aapn

>Kim Bartlett <<anpeople%40whidbey.com>anpeople

>Sat, 17 Feb 2007 15:44:29 -0800

> Human Compassion Limited, Study Finds: as numbers increase, we

>level off

>

><http://news./s/livescience/20070216/sc_livescience/humancompassionsur\

prisinglylimitedstudyfinds>http://news./s/livescience/20070216/sc_lives\

cience/humancompassionsurprisinglylimitedstudyfinds

>

>Human Compassion Surprisingly Limited, Study Finds

>Sara Goudarzi

>LiveScience Staff Writer

>LiveScience.comFri Feb 16, 9:41 AM ET

>

>SAN FRANCISCO-While a person's accidental death reported on the

>evening news can bring viewers to tears, mass killings reported as

>statistics fail to tickle human emotions, a new study finds.

>

>The Internet and other modern communications bring atrocities such as

>killings in Darfur, Sudan into homes and office cubicles. But

>knowledge of these events fails to motivate most to take action, said

>Paul Slovic, a University of Oregon researcher.

>

>People typically react very strongly to one death but their emotions

>fade as the number of victims increase, Slovic reported here

>yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the

>Advancement of Science.

>

> " We go all out to save a single identified victim, be it a person or

>an animal, but as the numbers increase, we level off, " Slovic said.

> " We don't feel any different to say 88 people dying than we do to 87.

>This is a disturbing model, because it means that lives are not

>equal, and that as problems become bigger we become insensitive to

>the prospect of additional deaths. "

>

>Human insensitivity to large-scale human suffering has been observed

>in the past century with genocides in Armenia, the Ukraine, Nazi

>Germany and Rwanda, among others.

>

> " We have to understand what it is in our makeup-psychologically,

>socially, politically and institutionally-that has allowed genocide

>to go unabated for a century, " Slovic said. " If we don't answer that

>question and use the answer to change things, we will see another

>century of horrible atrocities around the world. "

>

>Slovic previously studied this phenomenon by presenting photographs

>to a group of subjects. In the first photograph eight children needed

>$300,000 to receive medical attention in order to save their lives.

>In the next photograph, one child needed $300,000 for medical bills.

>

>Most subjects were willing to donate to the one and not the group of children.

>

>In his latest research, Slovic and colleagues showed three photos to

>participants: a starving African girl, a starving African boy and a

>photo of both of them together.

>

>Participants felt equivalent amounts of sympathy for each child when

>viewed separately, but compassion levels declined when the children

>were viewed together.

>

> " The studies ... suggest a disturbing psychological tendency, " Slovic

>said. " Our capacity to feel is limited. Even at two, people start to

>lose it. "

>

>--

>Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

>Postal mailing address: P.O. Box 960, Clinton WA 98236 U.S.A.

>CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS IS:

><<ANPEOPLE%40whidbey.com>ANPEOPLE

>Website:

><http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/>http://www.animalpeoplenews.org/

>with French and Spanish

>language subsections.

>

>