The Arithmetic of Compassion: Confronting the Challenge of Pseudoinefficacy in Charitable Giving

同情心的算术：面对慈善捐赠中的伪无效的挑战

• 批准号: 1427414
• 负责人: Paul Slovic
• 金额: $ 45万
• 依托单位: Decision Science Research Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-15 至 2017-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1427414&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Arithmetic; Compassion; Confronting; Challenge; Pseudoinefficacy

In a great many situations where we are asked to aid persons whose lives are endangered, we are not able to help everyone. What do we then do? Research has shown that people often feel less good about helping those they can help and they help less when their attention is drawn to those who cannot be helped. The demotivation exhibited by these people may be a form of pseudoinefficacy that is nonrational. We should not be deterred from helping whomever we can because there are others we are not able to help. This research aims to provide a better understanding of the cognitive and emotional underpinnings of pseudoinefficacy and test strategies to combat it. Specifically, the research team examines pseudoinefficacy in the context of decisions about whether to aid people whose lives are endangered. Laboratory experiments and online surveys illuminate the interplay between the scope and framing of the humanitarian need, the type of thinking it stimulates, and the distinct emotional responses associated with such thinking and with pseudoinefficacy.The importance of this project comes from the fact that, domestically and internationally, millions of people struggle to survive in the face of poverty, disease, food insufficiency, natural disasters, and human malevolence. Those individuals and governments fortunate to have the ability and desire to help those in need are inundated with requests for vital aid. Many do respond. Humanitarian aid provided by individuals, NGOs, and governments, though large in some sense, is but a fraction of what is needed and what could be provided. For those in a position to help, decisions are strongly motivated by perceived efficacy. Inefficacy, real or perceived, shrivels response, even among those who have the desire and the means to protect and improve lives. It is tragic, indeed, when efficacy goes unrecognized and vital aid that could be provided is withheld due to the illusion of ineffectiveness that the research teams has labelled "pseudoinefficacy." This research projecct explores and documents the root psychological causes of pseudoinefficacy and develops ways to mitigate its harmful consequences. Although the proposed studies are set in the context of humanitarian aid, the problem of pseudoinefficacy is central to a wide range of important personal and societal decisions motivated by perceived efficacy, such as actions to mitigate climate change or other threats to human health and the environment.

在许多情况下，我们被要求帮助生命受到威胁的人，我们无法帮助所有人。那我们该怎么办？研究表明，人们通常在帮助那些可以提供帮助的人方面感觉不好，并且当吸引那些无法帮助的人时，他们的注意力就会减少。这些人所表现出的振兴可能是一种非理性的伪内菲斯的形式。我们不应该阻止我们能帮助的人，因为还有其他我们无法提供帮助。这项研究旨在更好地理解伪赋与战斗的认知和情感基础和测试策略。具体来说，研究小组在决定是否濒临灭绝的人们的决策背景下检查了假性。实验室实验和在线调查阐明了人道主义需求的范围和框架之间的相互作用，刺激其刺激的类型以及与这种思维以及伪内表现相关的独特情感反应，该项目的重要性来自于在国内和国际上挣扎的人，在贫穷的贫困中，人类挣扎的人在国内和国际上挣扎，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，无情地，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病，疾病的疾病，无处不在。那些个人和政府幸运的是有能力和渴望帮助需要帮助的人的能力和愿望，这被重要援助的请求所淹没。许多人确实回应。个人，非政府组织和政府提供的人道主义援助尽管从某种意义上说，虽然很大，但这只是所需的东西的一小部分。对于那些有帮助的人，决策是由感知疗效的强烈动机。效率低下，真实或感知到的反应，即使是那些有愿望和保护和改善生活的手段的人。的确，这是悲惨的，当疗效未被认可和可以提供的至关重要的援助时，由于研究团队称其为“伪内法”的幻想，因此被拒绝了。这项研究探索并记录了假性智能的根源心理原因，并开发了减轻其有害后果的方法。尽管提出的研究是在人道主义援助的背景下设定的，但假性智能的问题对于以可感知的疗效为动机的广泛重要的个人和社会决定是至关重要的，例如减轻气候变化或对人类健康和环境的其他威胁的行动。