Why do we respond to one person needs help but not many

[Applause]

very few people who were alive in 1987

could forget the baby jessica saga

an 18 month old girl in midland texas

had fallen down at 22 foot well while

playing in an aunt’s house

the girl was stuck in the dark

subterranean crevice for nearly 59 hours

but the extensive media coverage made it

seem as if the ordeal had dragged on for

weeks

the drama had brought people together as

local oil diggers come rescue workers

reporters and neighbours to daily vigil

midland texas

as did millions of television viewers

all around the globe

there was a moment of anxiousness when

the rescuers learned that baby jessica’s

right foot was wedged between rocks

and there was universal delight when

baby jessica sang along

to the to the nursery rhyme humpty

dumpty followed on a wall

which was played on speaker and lowered

down into the role

and finally a tearful relief as baby

jessica

was finally pulled out of the wall

unharmed

in the aftermath of the rescue the

mcclure family received more than seven

hundred thousand dollars in donations

from the public for baby jessica

many many newspapers wrote gripping

articles about her as in numerous

magazines

there was even feel made about her of

course baby jessica and her family

suffer a great deal

but why why at the end of the day did

baby jessica garner more

media coverage and attention than the

1993 genocide in rwanda

in which 800 000 people many of which

children

same age as baby jessica were brutally

murdered in 100 days

and why why did our hearts go out to the

goal in texas much more readily

than to the victims of mass killings and

starvations

in darfur zimbabwe and the congo

to broaden the question a bit why do we

jump out of her chairs and write checks

to her one person

while we feel no great compulsion to act

in the face of other tragedies that are

in fact

more atrocious and involve many more

people

it’s a complex topic and one that has

daunted philosophers religious thinkers

social scientists and writers since time

joseph stalin had once said one man’s

death is

is a tragedy but a million people dying

is a statistic

and joseph stalin’s polar opposite

mother teresa

expressed the same sentiment she said if

i look at the mask

i will never act if i look at one i will

to put this into perspective imagine

that you’re in london

interviewing for your dream job and you

see that you have a few hours before

your interview

so you decide to take a walk by the

river in order to clear your head

as you’re walking by the river your hair

cry for help

and you see if you’re up the river a

little girl who appears to be drowning

you’re wearing a suit a brand new

designer seat they are specifically

picked out

to impress the interviewers and one that

set you back let’s say

a few thousands of pounds you’re a

confident swimmer

but if you want to save the goal you

have no time to remove anything and must

simply jump in

what do you do

sean saw that you wouldn’t think much

you would simply jump into the river and

save the goal

and by doing that damage your thousands

of pound suit and miss a job interview

the decision taken by you to jump into

the river is clearly

a reflection of the fact that you’re a

wonderful kind and amazing human being

but it’s also due to three other

psychological factors

the first of which proximity proximity

does not

simply refer to the physical nearness

between you and a victim of a tragedy

but also their emotional psychological

nearness for example

you’re close to your family to your to

your friends and

to people with whom you share

similarities to

thankfully and naturally most of the

tragedies in the world do not happen of

a close proximity to us

neither physically nor psychologically

the second factor vividness if i tell

you that i’ve cut myself

you don’t feel much my pain but if i

tell you that i’ve covered myself with

tear tears in my eyes

and tell me and tell you how my skin is

torn how much blood i’m losing by the

second

you’re able to empathize with me much

better and feel and feel an immediate

need to act

likewise when you see the little girl

four or five years old drowning in the

river

you feel a great compulsion to act

immediately

the third factor is what psychologists

like to call the drop in the bucket

effect

it refers to a person’s ability to

single-handedly and completely

solve the problem for a person like

in that scenario you can single-handedly

save that goal and save her from her

fate

now see how these factors would affect

your actions now imagine that same

little girl

was in a faraway land struck by tsunami

and he could

i say very moderate expense much less

than the thousands of pounds your suit

cost

you could save it from a fate

you are do you still jump in with your

pounds as you date into the river

or are you a bit more hesitant and what

about the millions of kids the same age

as her

that are risk of developing diseases

such as cholera every year

you could have very moderate expense

save them as well but are you more

hesitant

since you are you more hesitant since

you’re discouraged by inability to

completely solve the problem

or or do you still jump in and what

happened to motivation to help

thank you

you