Does ‘psychic numbing’ impact conservation fundraising?

A world-famous pygmy hippopotamus. An escaped Eurasian eagle-owl. A larger-than-life infant king penguin. These animals captured the hearts and minds of millions in 2024 and became animal celebrities. But when you look beyond their status as a viral phenomenon, flagship species such as these sometimes play an important role in conservation efforts.

Many people show compassion for the challenges these flagship species face, but as the number of endangered species continues to rise, conservationists may find it difficult to motivate people to support the thousands of species also needing attention. 

To better understand what motivates the public to donate towards conservation efforts for endangered species, undergraduate Alexandra Boren and Environmental Science, Policy, and Management professor Alejandra Echeverri examined the unique case of Annie, one of UC Berkeley’s celebrity peregrine falcons, using concepts from the fields of social psychology and conservation marketing. Published today in Frontiers in Conservation Science, their study offers new insight into the impact of celebrity animals and the consequences of what is known as psychic numbing in endangered species conservation. 

According to Echeverri, psychic numbing refers to the desensitization of the human brain when exposed to large-scale suffering. “The concept has been explored in relation to human suffering, and flagship charismatic animal species are recognized as key tools in conservation marketing,” added Boren, a fourth-year environmental sciences student and the study’s lead author. “However, there is a gap in understanding how these two concepts can be combined to encourage public donations to support endangered species.”

From the near-extinction of a species to the stardom of a local individual

Peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) populations experienced drastic declines across North America during the 20th century, with the bioaccumulation of the insecticide DDT heavily contributing to the severe population loss. The peregrine falcon was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969, and again under the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Extensive reintroduction efforts, complemented by the banning of DDT, allowed the declassification of the peregrine falcon as an endangered species in 1999. 

In December 2016, nearly two decades after the species was delisted, two peregrine falcons—later named Annie and Grinnell—were observed setting up a nest in the UC Berkeley Campanile. While their arrival was celebrated by students and ornithologists alike, interest in the falcons began to reach new heights in January 2019, when the newly founded organization Cal Falcons kicked off their social media presence and their webcam project that provides livestream viewing of the nests at the Campanile.

Boren said the idea of using Annie as a research topic emerged after reaching out to Echeverri last January to discuss opportunities in her lab. “Annie has become an integral part of the Berkeley community, and students and faculty are vested in the well-being of Annie and her family,” she explained. “We thought ‘Annie the celebrity Peregrine Falcon’ would be the perfect case study to evaluate the impact of celebrity animals and psychic numbing in conservation marketing.”

A campus case study

“Psychic numbing is rooted in the identifiable victim effect; individuals are often more compelled to help when presented with the story of one identifiable person in need rather than statistics that represent a large number of unidentified victims,” said Echeverri. This phenomenon often results in a donation gap, the researchers said, pointing to instances where stories of individual human suffering garnered larger donations than statistics representing the suffering of thousands of people. The phenomenon, however, has not been studied with regard to animals.

To understand how psychic numbing may impact conservation fundraising, Boren and Echeverri designed a survey that presented participants with a message before asking them to make a charitable donation. Respondents either read a message about Annie and her family, statistical information about peregrine falcon population declines and recovery, or a message that paired information about Annie with falcon statistics. The authors found no significant difference in the amount of money that participants were willing to donate when presented with a specific message, suggesting that psychic numbing may not apply in the context of peregrine falcon conservation. The study did show that an individual’s willingness to donate varies significantly across demographic groups, with female participants donating more than male participants, and donation amounts significantly increasing with age and education level. 

“The positively framed celebrity falcon story may not have elicited higher donations since the identifiable victim effect has been shown to be most common when a suffering victim is shown,” explained Boren, adding that “previous conservation studies have shown that negative messages typically evoke greater empathy.” 

Messaging matters

The authors also evaluated the qualitative impact of conservation messaging with celebrity animals. They included a word association task at the beginning and end of each survey, prompting respondents to offer words they associate with endangered species. The researchers then classified the words according to sentiment (positive, negative, neutral) and according to category (animal, emotion, human, population size, policy, science). They found that the messaging condition significantly impacts the types of words that participants associate with endangered species.

Participants who read Annie’s story were more likely to use positive, emotionally charged words like “Protect,” “Save,” and “Conservation,” whereas those who read the statistical information about peregrine falcon populations were more likely to use neutral words such as “Rare,” “Human,” and “Climate.” “This suggests that celebrity animal stories may have the power to deepen people’s emotional connection to conservation,” said Boren, who noted that the increase in neutral words “reinforces the concept that statistics may lack the appeal necessary to sway our emotions and inspire action.” 

Their results reveal a deeper understanding of the role of messaging in endangered species conservation and its power in shaping public attitudes. Echeverri said the discrepancies between the quantitative donation impact and the qualitative word association impact of the messaging conditions “highlight the attitude-intention-behavior gap, where positive attitudes towards endangered species conservation do not necessarily translate into behavioral intentions or donation behavior.”

The authors discuss several directions of future research that could stem from this study, such as assessing if there is a varying presence of psychic numbing across different species and if negatively framed messages about individual animals are more effective at increasing donation amounts. “The field of conservation psychology is still nascent”, said Boren, “and our findings highlight the need for further research to better understand the psychological mechanisms underlying conservation-related decisions.”

Read the full study at Frontiers in Conservation Science.