Short Wave
Short Wave
Feb 9, 2021
Why 500,000 COVID-19 Deaths May Not Feel Any Different
Play • 11 min
Why is it so hard to feel the difference between 400,000 and 500,000 COVID-19 deaths—and how might that impact our decision making during the pandemic? Psychologist Paul Slovic explains the concept of psychic numbing and how humans can often use emotion, rather than statistics to make decisions about risk.

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