goodenomics™

The evidence

Omission bias: the harm you cause and the harm you allow

A disease kills some children. A medicine prevents it completely, but the medicine itself kills a smaller number. Many people will not give it: a death you cause feels worse than a death you let happen.

A scene from The Hospital, the journey where the game asks this question.
A scene from the game, as it is drawn: one handwritten line at a time.

Omission bias

Preferring a harm that comes from doing nothing over a smaller harm that comes from acting.

What the study found

In 1990, 53 students were told that a disease kills 10 in 10,000 children. They were asked the highest death rate from the vaccine that the government should accept before making vaccination compulsory. 23% said no risk at all, 57% set a limit between 1 and 8 in 10,000, and only 9% accepted 9 or 10.

Source: Ritov, I., & Baron, J. (1990). Reluctance to vaccinate: Omission bias and ambiguity. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 3(4), 263-277. doi.org/10.1002/bdm.3960030404

How to read this

These are the answers of particular people, asked in a particular way, at a particular time. A share of people is not a verdict: it tells you what they answered, not what is right.

Where the game asks it

The Hospital (What risks will you accept?). The game’s versions with family, age, consent and combined pressures are new comparisons written for it. They are not copies of the experiments, and no population percentages are claimed for them.

Play The Hospital Free. No account. Your place is saved on your device.

More evidence