Humans often find it hard to appreciate the size of the problem and therefore, are often unwilling to donate more if there are 2,000 birds or humans vs. only 20.

And we’re all familiar by now with the identifiable victim effect that can spike giving when sharing the story of a single person or bird, especially if named and described and contextualized.

The problem with all this? The size of the problem is typically huge and telling the story of a single bird or human seems incongruent and maybe misses the opportunity to properly frame the issue.   One of the reasons the story of one works is because we automatically attach a cohesive, unifying “groupness” to the entity of one.

The flip side is the group (2,000 birds) can feel the opposite – not connected or cohesive or homogenous.   And this lack of unity creates less connection, empathy and understanding.

But what if your population was described with some gestalt like factors such as proximity, symmetry, similarity, collective movement, or common fate?  Here’s an experiment that imbues the 200 birds with the “flock” descriptor to create a unifying sense of their collective fate and the corresponding upside in donation rate (purple bar).

You can also see the well-worn 1 vs. many effect play out with the blue and green bar.

Here’s some fuller examples illustrating ways you can have your larger population feel more unifying.

• Proximity:  2,000 birds, huddled closely together in a dense flock seeking comfort and security

• Symmetry: The sight of 2,000 birds, in nearly perfect symmetrical formation during flight showing their innate sense of order amidst chaos.

• Similarity: The 2,000 birds shared strikingly similar plumage and synchronized calls as a powerful visual and auditory cue of their shared plight.

• Collective Movement: Watching the 2,000 birds move in unison, their coordinated flight patterns marking an instinct to band together

• Common Fate: The 2,000 birds all facing the same dire circumstance, their common fate, visibly guiding their paths and behaviors…

Kevin