The singularity effect

The singularity effect is the name for how we care disproportionately about an individual as compared to a group.

Think Saving Private Ryan , where an enormous effort is launched to save a single soldier in the Second World War.

It turns out that even as you add a second person, there’s some justification for something known as compassion fade. The addition of more people doesn’t increase our willingness to help proportionally — our compassion fades as more people are involved.

See the work of Paul Slovic.

Also see:

• Psychic numbing