Teach "Identifiable victims bias"
A fundraiser can explain that people do tend to donate more to a single “identifiable victim” than to “statistical victims” or large groups. One might imagine that this “de-biasing” would make them more responsive to statistical information about effectiveness and the magnitude of a problem.
Alternative tool name:
Tool variation: learning about identifiable victims bias- moderators of identifiable victims bias
Category: Info/communications
Sub-category: Debiasing
Relevant theories: Identifiable victims bias, Drop-in-the-bucket
Type of evidence:
Evidence strength (ad hoc assessment): 4
Main findings
Small et al. (2007): teaching people about the 'identifiable victim bias' reduced donations towards identifiable victims, but did not increase giving to statistical victims (significant interaction). Kogut & R, '05b: When given *choices* between identified individual and identified group, people often choose the latter.
Discussion
Practical relevance
Use cases
Prevalence:
Key papers
Secondary papers
Contributors David Reinstein
Discussion