![]() ![]() This happens even when the number of victims increases from one to two. Slovic calls it “psychic numbing.” As the number of victims in a tragedy increases, our empathy, our willingness to help, reliably decreases. When numbers simply can’t convey the costs, there’s an infuriating paradox at play. It’s not surprising why political leaders often turn a blind eye toward refugees, or grow a callous heart when it comes to the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children. That we haven’t really grappled as a nation with the opioid epidemic, which killed 33,000 in 2015. That the world looked on as millions died in war and genocide in Darfur. That many lawmakers aren’t horrified by the possibility of booting tens of millions from health insurance. That’s why it’s not surprising six out of 10 Americans support a travel ban that, in part, bars refugees from entering America. “The value of a person's life declines precipitously with number. Slovic’s work has shown that the human mind is not very good at thinking about, and empathizing with, millions or billions of individuals. Slovic is a psychologist at the University of Oregon, and for decades he’s been asking the question: Why does the world often ignore mass atrocities, mass suffering? And in my conversations with scientists, I’ll often ask: “What research helps you understand what’s going on in the world?” The answer - whether it’s pegged to the refugee crisis abroad or the health care debate at home - very often involves Paul Slovic. ![]() There’s a hard limit to human compassion, and it’s one of the most powerful psychological forces shaping human events. When we see one life, we can imagine their hopes and pain. Can you even imagine it? Like, really imagine it. It’s an all-time high: likely the largest population of refugees and asylum seekers in human history. ![]() There are now 65.3 million people displaced from their homes worldwide, the United Nations reports. ![]()
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