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 e-mail 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 on 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 starts 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 than 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 a car than when we're flying a plane. As a result, we generally view flying as more risky than driving even though, statistically 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 example, we are less afraid of household incidents, such as tripping on a toy or falling from stairs, than a dreaded outcomes 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.
