Note: this blog post is written by Zubin.
Our cognition constrains our thoughts and understanding of the world, often subconsciously. The average person is severely handicapped by their inability to comprehend large figures. Psychologist Paul Slovic calls this struggle psychic numbing. His research into human compassion at the University of Oregon showed that in many cases numbers can’t convey the real cost of the situation.
Slovic uses refugees as his prime example of psychic numbing, with a reported number of around 79.5 million people displaced at the end of 2019 according to United Nations statistics. The number 79.5 million alone is hard to grasp, and each of the around 80 million people is a single person or family trying to shelter themselves from horrific destruction, war, and terror.
There are now 65.3 million people displaced from their homes worldwide [at the end of 2015], the United Nations reports. It’s an all-time high: likely the largest population of refugees and asylum seekers in human history.
Think about that number: 65.3 million. Can you even imagine it? Like, really imagine it. When we see one life, we can imagine their hopes and pain. But 65 million? You can’t. That’s just an abstraction. There’s a hard limit to human compassion, and it’s one of the most powerful psychological forces shaping human events.
Brian Resnick
Because of psychic numbing, many politicians and citizens do not understand the sheer struggle of refugees and are likely to ignore mass atrocities.
Slovic’s work has shown that the human mind is not very good at thinking about, and empathizing with, millions or billions of individuals.
That’s why it’s not surprising six out of 10 Americans support a travel ban that, in part, bars refugees from entering America. That many lawmakers aren’t horrified by the possibility of booting tens of millions from health insurance. That the world looked on as millions died in war and genocide in Darfur. That we haven’t really grappled as a nation with the opioid epidemic, which killed 33,000 in 2015.
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.When numbers simply can’t convey the costs, there’s an infuriating paradox at play. Slovic calls it “psychic numbing.” As the number of victims in a tragedy increases, our empathy, our willingness to help, reliably decreases. This happens even when the number of victims increases from one to two.
Brian Resnick
Dossier
“A Psychologist Explains the Limits of Human Compassion,” by Brian Resnick, September 5, 2017. https://www.vox.com/explainers/2017/7/19/15925506/psychic-numbing-paul-slovic-apathy
Sahil
Great article Zubin! This is an interesting concept to think about. I think most people would overestimate their ability to really have a concrete understanding of the sheer number of most things, and this is especially powerful given the recent migrant and COVID crises. It only goes to show just how powerful individual stories can be to help motivate people. Science and logic can only go so far, but our brains simply better understand a good story. Great job!
Zainab
Very well written Zubin! I didn’t realize that Psychic numbing is so closely integrated in our lives. Thank you for being light to the concept👍👍
Dr mini
Very insightful article .
Makes us think how the human brain is wired to combat crisis, whether it is war ,or covid or even daily challenges… psychological numbing plays a huge role in the human coping mechanism . Thank you zubin for the food for thought !