The singularity eVect of identiWed victims in separate and joint evaluations

People’s greater willingness to help identiWed victims, relative to non-identiWed ones, was examined by eliciting real contributions to targets varying in singularity (a single individual vs. a group of several individuals), and the availability of individually identifying information (the main diVerence being the inclusion of a picture in the “identiWed” versions). Results of the Wrst and second experiments support the proposal that for identiWed victims, contributions for a single victim exceed contributions for a group when these are judged separately, but preference reverses when one has to choose between contributing to the single individual and contributing to the group. In a third experiment, ratings of emotional response were elicited in addition to willingness to contribute judgments. Results suggest that the greater contribution to a single victim relative to the group stems from intensiWed emotions evoked by a single identiWed victim rather than from emotions evoked by identiWed victims in general.  2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.