Escaping affect: how motivated emotion regulation creates insensitivity to mass suffering.
Abstract
As the number of people in need of help increases, the degree of compassion people feel for them ironically tends to decrease. This phenomenon is termed the collapse of compassion. Some researchers have suggested that this effect happens because emotions are not triggered by aggregates. We provide evidence for an alternative account. People expect the needs of large groups to be potentially overwhelming, and, as a result, they engage in emotion regulation to prevent themselves from experiencing overwhelming levels of emotion. Because groups are more likely than individuals to elicit emotion regulation, people feel less for groups than for individuals. In Experiment 1, participants displayed the collapse of compassion only when they expected to be asked to donate money to the victims. This suggests that the effect is motivated by self-interest. Experiment 2 showed that the collapse of compassion emerged only for people who were skilled at emotion regulation. In Experiment 3, we manipulated emotion regulation. Participants who were told to down-regulate their emotions showed the collapse of compassion, but participants who were told to experience their emotions did not. We examined the time course of these effects using a dynamic rating to measure affective responses in real time. The time course data suggested that participants regulate emotion toward groups proactively, by preventing themselves from ever experiencing as much emotion toward groups as toward individuals. These findings provide initial evidence that motivated emotion regulation drives insensitivity to mass suffering.
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In large-group contexts with negative emotional exposure, there are specific negative biases affecting individual emotion regulation, such as insensitivity or collapse of compassion.
“Finally, there is evidence that in large-group contexts with negative emotional exposure (e.g., mass suffering), there are specific negative biases affecting individual ER (e.g., insensitivity, “collapse of compassion”) (Cameron and Payne, 2011).”
From Collaborative Irrationality, Akrasia, and Groupthink: Social Disruptions of Emotion Regulation (2017) · cites this paper as Cameron and Payne, 2011
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“, insensitivity, “collapse of compassion”) (Cameron and Payne, 2011).”
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“On the other hand, long-term exposure to negative emotions may also lead to increased donations as individuals feel a stronger sense of urgency or responsibility to address the ongoing issues associated with those emotions (Cameron & Payne, 2011).”
- Authors
- Cameron, C. D., & Payne, B. K.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 2011-01
- Volume
- 100
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-15
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2040904209
- Cited by
- 477
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 82 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 33 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 49.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Psychology of Social Influence
- Keywords
- compassion fade, emotion regulation, self-interest, emotional responses
- MeSH terms
- Altruism, Disasters, Empathy, Female, Helping Behavior, Humans, Male, Models, Psychological, Motivation, Social Responsibility, Stress, Psychological, Emotional Intelligence
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