Power of empathy

These are two images from the infamous Tiannemen Square protest in 1989 in China. Which image is more powerful?

Logic tells us that the picture of thousands of people coming together to demonstrate together should be a more powerful narrative of China's oppression than an individual making a stand. But as we know this man who made a stand against China's might, not the thousands of people, is the image that has trickled down to us through the media and western education.

Loran Nordgren and Mary McDonnell conducted a study, "Scope-Severity Paradox: Inflicting Greater Harm Judged to Be Less Harmful", on whether we perceive crime as being more serious if more people are affected. They studied various sentences handed by juries in the US between 2000-2009. They found that crimes which harmed significantly more people received significantly smaller punishments than similar crimes which had harmed individuals or small groups of people. This study confirms that personal narratives are more powerful than communal plights.

We are emotional beings and we naturally emphasise with others. It is not easy for us to emphasise with a crowd of 100,000 demonstrators while we immediately emphasise with the guy who is in front of that tank on the other side of the world. Something to consider if you'd like your message to be heard.