Article content continuedThe latest forecast from a University of Washington research institute is projecting a deadly December, with up to 30,000 deaths a day, globally. But here is where “psychic numbing,” as University of Oregon psychologist Paul Slovic has described it, comes into play. “Once you get into the hundreds or thousands or millions, these are just numbers,” Slovic said. “The rewards and cost of doing the right thing or wrong thing are kind of backwards” for the coronavirus, Slovic said. “When you put that mask on or you avoid doing something you want to do and stay away from something you want to do, you don’t feel immediate benefit, but you feel a cost.”

Source: National Post September 23, 2020 10:45 UTC