Radio Health Journal Story on Arithmetic of Compassion

Radio Health Journal

By Anna Van Boven

On Sunday, the Radio Health Journal published a show on the arithmetic of compassion titled “How Our Mind’s Natural Defense Can Be Deadly for Society” . In the show, journalist Reed Pence discusses the foundations of the arithmetic of compassion with psychology professor Paul Slovic. The arithmetic of compassion studies the human tendency to lose sympathy for an issue when presented with the statistics rather than a narrative story. “Statistics are human beings with the tears dried off, when we need the tears to catch our attention and motivate us to act,”  says Paul Slovic. The show discusses the three pillars of the field (psychic numbing, pseudoinefficacy, and the prominence effect), then emphasizes the importance of understanding these concepts and their effects on us, so that we can work to overcome them.
Reed Pence provides a clear summary of the arithmetic of compassion in a brief and informative format that makes the show a wonderful resource for those interested in learning more about the field. You can listen to the show here on Spotify. For a more detailed description of psychic numbing, pseudoinefficacy, or the prominence effect, visit the other pages on this site.