However, stating the number of deaths does not seem to have much of an effect on readers. It is difficult for humans to truly understand the amount of people being affected, since brains do not comprehend the exact distinction between large numbers. For example, if people read that two hundred thousand people have died, they will recognize that it is a large number, but how will they really grasp what the number actually means? In other words, would someone actually react differently to the death of two hundred thousand people compared to the death of four hundred thousand people? Although four hundred thousand is double the amount of two hundred thousand, readers viewing this statistic are unlikely to be two times more upset when seeing the higher number. Slovic referred to statistics that presented the
However, stating the number of deaths does not seem to have much of an effect on readers. It is difficult for humans to truly understand the amount of people being affected, since brains do not comprehend the exact distinction between large numbers. For example, if people read that two hundred thousand people have died, they will recognize that it is a large number, but how will they really grasp what the number actually means? In other words, would someone actually react differently to the death of two hundred thousand people compared to the death of four hundred thousand people? Although four hundred thousand is double the amount of two hundred thousand, readers viewing this statistic are unlikely to be two times more upset when seeing the higher number. Slovic referred to statistics that presented the