The patterns of charitable donation to foreign countries often have more to do with the salience of news reports than to actual considerations about where the money is most needed. And laboratory findings show that people will continue to punish even if they are well aware that doing so is actually making things worse.
但问题在于我们本能的道德感是与其产生的后果不协调的。对国外慈善捐赠的行为模式通常更着重于新闻成果报道而不是考虑究竟什么地方最需要这笔钱。而研究也发现人们即便在意识到行为出错的情况下也会继续惩罚他人。在现实世界中也不难发现这样的例子。