Prevention and Communication Research
Why our fears often don't
match the facts

(February 4, 2004) Many of us assume that people will change their behavior if they understand the risks involved, but behavior change is not that simple, and "understanding" risks involves more than just statistical probabilities. Despite widespread educational campaigns about the health risks of behaviors like smoking, tanning, and eating too much, many people continue to engage in these activities. Although there are many reasons for this, part of it may be that our perceptions of personal risk are based not only on a rational understanding of the facts but also on a psychological reaction. According to David Ropeik, Director of Risk Communication at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, there are several psychological factors that influence how we as human beings respond to risk information.

• Control. We tend to feel that our risk of harm is lower if we are in control of a situation. For example, many people choose to travel by car rather than plane, even though the risk of an accident is higher with driving than flying. We are also more comfortable taking risks ourselves than having those same risks imposed on us by others. For example, many of us voluntarily talk on our cell phones while driving but feel threatened when others do the same.
  
  
• Trust. We tend to be more afraid of a risk if we don’t trust our source of information or the officials who are supposed to protect us.
  
  
• Dread. The more dreadful a particular method of dying is, the more likely we are to fear it. For example, death by shark attack evokes more fear than death by heart attack, though the latter is far more likely.
  
  
• Risk versus benefit. The more benefit we perceive in a given activity, the more we tend to downplay the risk of that activity in our minds. Many lifestyle choices, such as overeating, smoking, and drinking, have perceived benefits. As a result, we ignore information about the risks of those behaviors, even though we increase our risk of heart disease and cancer by doing so.
  
  
• Personal connection. A risk that we think can happen to us causes more fear than the same risk if it only threatens others. For example, we may not feel that we are at high risk of a given disease if we are told that one in 100 people will develop it, but our perceptions of risk will likely change if those 100 people are in our own workplace.

Based on the way our brains are designed, these psychological factors affect our decision-making before we can think logically. As a result, our response to any given situation may be based more on fear than facts. Even when the risks of two behaviors are statistically the same, we may perceive them differently because we do not make decisions based solely on logic.

Understanding how humans perceive risk is a powerful tool for communicating health risks to the public. What motivates us to respond to a risk is not only our knowledge of the facts but also our psychological reactions. Knowing this can help public health practitioners and clinicians frame risk messages more effectively and encourage people to make healthier choices.

written by Laurie Fisher