Why Nations Fail to Act (2 of 2) (IMAGE) U.S. National Science Foundation Caption Paul Slovic discuses how people can emotionally respond to one person in need, but also can become emotionally numb to many people in need. He calls the phenomena "Psychic Numbing" and wants the international community to carefully weigh and publicly justify either their action or inaction in cases of genocide and intentional mass murder as a method of overcoming it. Credit National Science Foundation Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.