Individual/identifiable victim
Presenting a single person who will benefit from the charitable donation; rather than presenting a larger group, a vague unidentifiable beneficiary, or presenting statistics
Alternative tool name:
Tool variation:
Category: Info/communications
Sub-category: Bias
Relevant theories: Scope insensitivity, Dual systems: hot/cold, Identifiable victims bias
Type of evidence: Lab-charity, Hypothetical/intentional experiment, Meta-analysis/lit survey, Lab-charity, Meta-analysis/lit survey, Correlational-observational, Hypothetical/intentional experiment, Causal-observational (IV etc)
Evidence strength (ad hoc assessment): 8
Main findings
Portraying an individual (child) raises more than conveying the total number affected. It also raises more than portraying multiple individuals.
Discussion
“Spillovers?” Minimal evidence on whether IVE increases generosity to those other than the identified individual. (Bergh, 2018; see Erlandsson, Björklund, and Bäckström, 2015)
Practical relevance
Use cases
Prevalence:
Often relevant
Discussion