Harnessing the Power of Emotion for Social Change: Review of Numbers and Nerves: Information, Emotion, and Meaning in a World of Data by Scott Slovic and Paul Slovic (2015)

• Main Author: Anne M.W. Kelly
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Numeracy Network 2017-01-01
• Series: Numeracy
• Subjects: emotion; cognition; decision-making; priming; numeracy; large numbers; psychology
• Online Access: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/numeracy/vol10/iss1/art10/

Scott Slovic and Paul Slovic (Eds.). Numbers and Nerves: Information, Emotion, and Meaning in a World of Data (Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press, 2015). 272 pp. ISBN 978-0-87071-776-5. Literature and environment professor Scott Slovic, and his father, psychologist Paul Slovic, editors of this collection of essays and interviews, describe and demonstrate the psychological effects which hamper our ability to comprehend and respond appropriately to large numerical data. The collection then offers a brief survey of art works which, by first appealing to viewers’ emotions, can potentially move the viewer to a better understanding of numbers.