Scope neglect is the tendency for our sense of how much a problem matters to stop growing with its size. Studies have found that people will pay about as much to save 2,000 children as to save 20,000, even though the second outcome is ten times better. Our feelings respond to a vivid image or a single story, and they flatten out when the numbers get large. The effect is a specific form of extension neglect, which means that the duration or extent of an outcome gets undervalued in the same way. It shows up in charity appeals, disaster responses and policy debates, where the headline figure can matter less to donors than the picture attached to it.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.