Psychic numbing: Why we would prefer to save a single dog instead of thousands of humans

In 2002 a fire broke out on an oil tanker hundreds of miles south of Hawaii. All eight of the crew members were successfully rescued, but, as it was later realized, the captain’s dog, Hokget, was left behind. The two-year-old terrier was alone on the tanker, floating around in the Pacific Ocean.

The lost dog story made headlines, and people donated thousands of dollars to the Hawaiian Humane Society to save …

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