Editing Compassion (section)

=== Conditions that influence compassion ===
Psychologist Paul Gilbert identifies several factors that can reduce a person's willingness to show compassion toward others. These include lower levels of perceived likability, competence, deservedness, and empathic capacity, as well as higher levels of self-focused competitiveness, anxiety and depression, feelings of being overwhelmed, and inhibiting influences within social structures and systems.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite web |title=Paul Gilbert—Compassion for the dark side |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xSOHOfG2yE |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/-xSOHOfG2yE |archive-date=17 November 2021 |access-date=1 December 2020 |website=YouTube| date=23 December 2017 }}{{cbignore}}
|2={{Cite journal |last1=Crimston |first1=Charlie R. |last2=Blessing |first2=Sarah |last3=Gilbert |first3=Paul |last4=Kirby |first4=James N. |date=2021-07-17 |title=Fear leads to suffering: Fears of compassion predict restriction of the moral boundary |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjso.12483 |journal=British Journal of Social Psychology |language=en |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=345–365 |doi=10.1111/bjso.12483 |pmid=34279046 |s2cid=236091116 |issn=0144-6665|url-access=subscription }}
}}</ref>

==== Compassion fade ====
{{Further|Compassion fade|Identifiable victim effect}}
Compassion fade is the tendency of people to experience a decrease in empathy as the number of people in need of aid increases. The term was coined by psychologist Paul Slovic.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite journal|last=Ahmed|first=F.|year=2017|title=Profile of Paul Slovic|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=114|number=10|pages=2437–2439|doi=10.1073/pnas.1701967114 |jstor=26480045 |pmid=28265067 |pmc=5347577 |bibcode=2017PNAS..114.2437A |doi-access=free }}
|2={{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=James |year=2011 |title=The Arithmetic of Compassion: Rethinking the Politics of Photography |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0007123410000487/type/journal_article |journal=British Journal of Political Science |language=en |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=621–643 |doi=10.1017/S0007123410000487 |s2cid=231794910 |issn=0007-1234|url-access=subscription }}
|3={{cite journal | last1=Västfjäll | first1=Daniel | last2=Slovic | first2=Paul | last3=Mayorga | first3=Marcus | last4=Peters | first4=Ellen | title=Compassion Fade: Affect and Charity Are Greatest for a Single Child in Need | journal=PLOS ONE | publisher=Public Library of Science (PLoS) | volume=9 | issue=6 | year=2014 | issn=1932-6203 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0100115 | page=e100115 | pmid=24940738 | pmc=4062481 | bibcode=2014PLoSO...9j0115V | doi-access=free}}
}}</ref> It is a type of [[cognitive bias]] that people use to justify their decision to help or not to help, and to ignore certain information.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morris|first1=S.|last2=Cranney|first2=J.|year=2018|chapter=2: The imperfect mind|title=The Rubber Brain|pages=19–42|publisher=Australian Academic Press}}</ref> To turn compassion into compassionate behavior requires {{clarify|text=the singular person's response to the group in need, followed by motivation to help that can lead to action|date=July 2023}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Butts |first1=Marcus M. |last2=Lunt |first2=Devin C. |last3=Freling |first3=Traci L. |last4=Gabriel |first4=Allison S. |date=March 2019 |title=Helping one or helping many? A theoretical integration and meta-analytic review of the compassion fade literature |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0749597818302930 |journal=Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes |language=en |volume=151 |pages=16–33 |doi=10.1016/j.obhdp.2018.12.006|s2cid=149806445 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In an examination of the motivated regulation of compassion in the context of large-scale crises, such as natural disasters and genocides, research established that people tend to feel more compassion for single identifiable victims than single anonymous victims or large masses of victims (the [[Identifiable victim effect]]).<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Seyoung |last2=Feeley |first2=Thomas Hugh |year=2016 |title=The identifiable victim effect: a meta-analytic review |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15534510.2016.1216891 |journal=Social Influence |language=en |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=199–215 |doi=10.1080/15534510.2016.1216891 |s2cid=152232362 |issn=1553-4510|url-access=subscription }}
|2={{cite journal | last1=Kogut | first1=Tehila | last2=Ritov | first2=Ilana | title=The "identified victim" effect: an identified group, or just a single individual? | journal=Journal of Behavioral Decision Making | publisher=Wiley | volume=18 | issue=3 | year=2005 | issn=0894-3257 | doi=10.1002/bdm.492 | pages=157–167}}
}}</ref> People only show less compassion for many victims than for single victims of disasters when they expect to incur a financial cost upon helping. This [[collapse of compassion]] depends on having the motivation and ability to regulate emotions.<ref>{{cite journal| doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0199535| doi-access=free| title=The elusive power of the individual victim: Failure to find a difference in the effectiveness of charitable appeals focused on one compared to many victims| year=2018| last1=Hart| first1=P. Sol| last2=Lane| first2=Dan| last3=Chinn| first3=Sedona| journal=PLOS ONE| volume=13| issue=7| pages=e0199535| pmid=30020998| pmc=6051573| bibcode=2018PLoSO..1399535H}}</ref> People are more apt to offer help to a certain number of needy people if that number is closer to the whole number of people in need.<ref>{{cite journal|year=1997|journal=Journal of Risk and Uncertainty|title=Insensitivity to the Value of Human Life: A Study of Psychophysical Numbing|first1=David|last1=Fetherstonhaugh|first2=Paul|last2=Slovic|first3=Stephen|last3=Johnson|first4=James|last4=Friedrich|volume=14|issue=3 |pages=283–300|doi=10.1023/A:1007744326393 |s2cid=51033376 }}</ref> Humans feel more compassionate towards members of another species the more recently their species had a common ancestor.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Miralles | first1=Aurélien | last2=Raymond | first2=Michel | last3=Lecointre | first3=Guillaume | title=Empathy and compassion toward other species decrease with evolutionary divergence time | journal=Scientific Reports | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=9 | issue=1 | date=20 December 2019 | page=19555 | issn=2045-2322 | doi=10.1038/s41598-019-56006-9| pmid=31862944 | pmc=6925286 | bibcode=2019NatSR...919555M }}</ref>

In laboratory research, psychologists are exploring how concerns about becoming emotionally exhausted may motivate people to curb their compassion for—and dehumanize—members of stigmatized social groups, such as homeless individuals and drug addicts.<ref>Cameron, Harris, & Payne, in prep{{Full citation needed|date=July 2023}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2023}}