Editing Appeal to emotion (section)

====Empathy and compassion====
A number of recent studies support the role of [[compassion]] in skewing moral judgment. The researchers' findings show there is a major relationship between moral judgment and [[empathic]] concern in particular, specifically feelings of warmth and compassion in response to someone in distress.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/offices/pubaf/news/2013-may-jun/empathy-a-key-factor-in-moral-judgment.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140625002413/http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/offices/pubaf/news/2013-may-jun/empathy-a-key-factor-in-moral-judgment.html |archive-date=2014-06-25 |title=Empathy a Key Factor in Moral Judgment }} citing {{cite journal|pmc=3617220 |date=2013 |last1=Gleichgerrcht |first1=E. |last2=Young |first2=L. |title=Low Levels of Empathic Concern Predict Utilitarian Moral Judgment |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=e60418 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0060418 |doi-access=free |pmid=23593213 |bibcode=2013PLoSO...860418G }}</ref>

Images of suffering children are the ideal triggers of this instinctive compassion.<ref>[(Psychol. Bull. 2010, supra, at 15–16. In fact, we will favor those we see as being in distress even to the detriment of more numerous but faceless potential victims. See also http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~jgreene/GreeneWJH/Greene-CogNeuroIV-09.pdf.) ]</ref>

Once triggered, compassion causes individuals to favor the few they see suffering over the many who they know to be suffering but in the abstract: "People who feel similar to another person in need have been shown to experience more empathic compassion for that person than do those not manipulated to feel similar to another."<ref>Margaret S. Clark and Ian Brissette, "Relationship beliefs and emotion: Reciprocal effects," in ''Emotions and Beliefs'', N. Frijda, A. Manstead and S. Bem, ed., Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 220.</ref>

[[Dan Ariely]] notes that appeals that, through visual cues or otherwise, make us focus on specific, individual victims affect our attitudes and cause us to take action whereas, "when many people are involved, we don't. A cold calculation does not increase our concern for large problems; instead, it suppresses our compassion."<ref>[[Dan Ariely]], "The Irrational Bundle". iBooks. {{cite web|url=https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id%3D8DB18687999E298EAC132BD5282F9003 |title=Archived copy |website=[[iTunes]] |access-date=2014-11-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230081937/https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=8DB18687999E298EAC132BD5282F9003 |archive-date=2014-12-30 }} [[Dan Ariely]]. "The Irrational Bundle", p. 755</ref>

::"In many ways, it is very sad that the only effective way to get people to respond to suffering is through an emotional appeal, rather than through an objective reading of massive need. The upside is that when our emotions are awakened, we can be tremendously caring. Once we attach an individual face to suffering, we're much more willing to help, and we go far beyond what economists would expect from rational, selfish, maximizing agents."<ref>[[Dan Ariely]], "The Irrational Bundle". iBooks. {{cite web|url=https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id%3D8DB18687999E298EAC132BD5282F9003 |title=Archived copy |website=[[iTunes]] |access-date=2014-11-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230081937/https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=8DB18687999E298EAC132BD5282F9003 |archive-date=2014-12-30 }} [[Dan Ariely]]. "The Irrational Bundle", p. 764</ref> Empathy also influences our prosocial behaviors. Prosocial behaviors are actions that are concerned with helping others. For example, people are much more likely to donate money to find a cure for a disease when they know someone personally who has that illness. The empathy and compassion that we feel towards that person is what encourages us to donate. <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cameron |first1=C. Daryl |last2=Conway |first2=Paul |last3=Scheffer |first3=Julian A. |date=2022-04-01 |title=Empathy regulation, prosociality, and moral judgment |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352250X21001809 |journal=Current Opinion in Psychology |language=en |volume=44 |pages=188–195 |doi=10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.09.011 |pmid=34695643 |s2cid=239889334 |issn=2352-250X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>  An empathy study was conducted by Fowler, Law, and Gaesser. The goal of this study was to determine how the empathy we feel varies throughout different people in our lives. Participants were asked to make a list of one hundred people. The people at the top of the list were parents, family, loved ones, etc. Towards the bottom of the list were strangers. Participants were then asked to imagine these people in various scenarios and describe the degree of empathy that they had towards each person. Results showed that the closer a person was the more empathy they felt, and for those at the bottom of the list there was not much empathy felt in comparison. <ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fowler |first1=Zoe |last2=Law |first2=Kyle Fiore |last3=Gaesser |first3=Brendan |date=2020-02-25 |title=Against Empathy Bias: The Moral Value of Equitable Empathy |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/uxnre |access-date=2022-11-19 |doi=10.31219/osf.io/uxnre }}</ref>