Compassion Fade
Updated 2026-08-01
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Compassion fade describes the decline in empathic response and helping behaviour as the number of people in need increases. Paul Slovic documented the pattern: donations for a single identified victim often exceed donations for a larger group or for statistical victims, a related effect known as the identifiable victim effect. The qualifier is scale: the fade concerns affect rather than moral judgement, so people may still hold that saving more lives matters more while feeling less moved.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Narrative priority: lead with one named person rather than with aggregate figures. - Scale check: expect sympathy to fall as the number of victims rises. - Donation design: pair the statistic with a single concrete story that carries the ask.
Anchor fast decisions
Emotional response is tuned to individual faces and stories, not to arithmetic. Very large numbers produce no corresponding increase in feeling and can trigger withdrawal as a defence against overload. Because affect drives much of helping behaviour, generosity falls even as the need grows.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more
Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion_fadeverified
PRIVATE NOTES · Only visible to you
SAVED Q&A
ENTRY Q&A · Private saving available
Ask with a clear boundary
thinkingmodels answers from published entry context only.
Your question is sent to thinkingmodels. The answer uses public entry context only.
RELATED MODELS