Filtered dossier

identifiable victim

  • 5 / 5
  • No visual on file
    Narrative Structure Entry #0532

    Why data needs a protagonist to travel

    Aggregate evidence persuades less than a single named case, and adding the aggregate to the case can reduce the response rather than strengthen it.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0532

    A number describes a population. A person creates an obligation, and only the second one moves people.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Narrative Structure Entry #0535

    The reason testimony beats aggregate evidence

    One person’s account defeats a table of ten thousand. The account has a face, a sequence and a cost. The table has none of these.

    Master
    The hidden part #0535

    A story activates a path the table cannot reach. The table has magnitude; the story has a face. The face wins, and this is a finding about the audience.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Narrative Structure Entry #0538

    Why documentaries choose one family over a statistic

    A number describes a population and asks to be evaluated. A single household can be followed, and following is what attention is built to do.

    Novice
    The hidden part #0538

    Feeling does not scale with the number of people affected. One case is not an example of the statistic — it is the only version that registers.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Cognitive Bias Entry #0115

    Why one person’s story beats a million-person statistic

    A statistic asks for arithmetic. A face asks for nothing, and the response arrives before any arithmetic could have been performed.

    Master
    The hidden part #0115

    The number does not fail to move us. It arrives with a mode of thinking that cannot be moved.

    Open file
  • No visual on file
    Emotional Triggers Entry #0754

    The reason a sad story raises what you are willing to give

    Sadness triggers an empathic response that inflates the perceived value of helping, making the listener willing to give more than a rational case alone would.

    Adept
    The hidden part #0754

    A name and a face outweigh a million in a spreadsheet. The donor gives to Rokia, not to a statistic that includes her.

    Open file