Home » People & Society » Religion & Belief » Meet a psychological phenomenon known as psychic numbing, the idea that “the more people die, the less we care”. We not only become numb to the significance of increasing numbers, but our compassion can actually fade as numbers increase.
Mother Teresa Quote - Psychic Numbing

Meet a psychological phenomenon known as psychic numbing, the idea that “the more people die, the less we care”. We not only become numb to the significance of increasing numbers, but our compassion can actually fade as numbers increase.

What makes people stop caring?

The death of an individual can have a powerful effect on our emotions, but as numbers rise so does our indifference. Why?

“If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.” These are the words of a woman whose acts of charity and kindness earned her sainthood – Mother Teresa.

They exemplify one of the most baffling aspects of the human response to the plight of others. While most of us will see a single death as a tragedy, we can struggle to have the same response to large-scale loss of life. Too often, the deaths of many simply become a statistic.

The millions of lives lost in natural disasters, wars or to famine, for example, grow too large to fathom.

Even now we can see the same strange process happen… Continue Reading (11 minute read)

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