How is human risk perception bias
3.1 Risk Perception
you
hi in this video we will take a closer
look at risk perception and the factors
that influence how we experience risk in
modern society whether we realize it or
not many of our day-to-day decisions are
based on our idea of how much we expose
ourselves to certain risks think of
wearing a seatbelt lowering the risk of
a fatal car accident or making sure that
chicken is fully cooked
to avoid a salmonella infection or
changing the password for your email
account to avoid being hacked in the
previous module we have seen how risk
management is a commonly used strategy
to make such decisions at a societal
level using various statistical and
mathematical models experts assess
various types of risks and then propose
strategies to deal with them however
unlike experts most people's sense of
risk does not generally come from
sophisticated risk assessments or
mathematical models we do not go about
our day constantly calculating whether
or if something bad might happen to us
instead we tend to rely on more
intuitive judgments about risk
these intuitive judgments are typically
called risk perceptions they are shaped
for example by what we see in the news
or from certain experiences in our past
they are the subjective judgments that
people make about the characteristics
severity and likelihood of risk some
risks do not bring about a great sense
of fear we take these risks deliberately
on a day-to-day basis for example
driving too fast other risks instill
great fear such as a terrorist attack
however there is a higher likelihood
that you will be the victim of a traffic
accident compared to a terrorist attack
so how can we explain this discrepancy
and what factors influence our risk
perception the scientific study into
risk perception seeks to answer some of
these questions
this topic has gained increasing
attention since the 1960s and stars from
the observation that experts and the
general public often fundamentally
disagree about how risky new
technologies are experts are often
baffled because they do not understand
why despite scientific evidence the
public is still very concerned about the
potential risks of nuclear power for
example as a consequence much of the
early research on risk perception
centered on the idea of a knowledge gap
between experts and the public it was
assumed that if the public could access
and understand all scientific facts
their ideas about a certain risk would
match those of experts however over the
course of many years research has
revealed that knowledge is not the only
factor that determines how we perceive
risk so what are these other factors
first we generally perceive risks that
we are familiar with as less dangerous
than those we know very little about
for example we are less afraid of risks
associated with getting an x-ray in the
hospital then risks associated with
living close to a nuclear power plant
second we tend to view certain
activities as being more risky when we
have a very low degree of personal
control over them to give an example we
are much more in control when driving
our car then when we fly in a plane as a
result we generally view flying as more
risky than driving even though
sadistically speaking flying actually
has a lower probability of accidents a
third factor that influences our risk
perception is whether we are exposed to
a risk on a voluntary or involuntary
basis for example people who choose to
live near a chemical factory are
generally less afraid of chemical spills
than people who are suddenly faced with
a chemical factory being built close to
their home the fourth factor that
influences our perception of risk is
whether or not a risk has a so-called
dreaded outcome for you
we are less afraid of household
incidents such as tripping on a toy or
from from the stairs then a dreaded
outcome such as becoming the victim of a
terrorist attack
finally we tend to view certain
activities or issues as being much less
risky when they are associated with
benefits think of risk seeking
activities such as skydiving backcountry
skiing or scuba diving
while these activities pose a certain
risk of bodily harm we accept them
because we derive pleasure from them
so to summarize while experts typically
rely on risk management techniques to
make judgments about risk the public in
general relies on more intuitive
judgments or risk perceptions these risk
perceptions are influenced by a number
of factors including how familiar we are
with a particular risk how much control
we have whether we are exposed to risk
on a voluntary or involuntary basis
whether the risk has dreaded or non
dreaded outcomes and the degree to which
the risk is associated with benefits in
the next videos we will look at several
types of risks in which risk perception
plays an important role
you
