21.7: Psychological Influences on Risk Assessment

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Individuals Differences

People differ greatly in their attitudes toward risk. Some people enjoy taking risks, and other people will go to great lengths to avoid risks. In general people are more willing to put up with voluntary risks than with risks that are imposed on them. For example, many people are willing to take a fairly large risk when they go rock climbing (since they chose to do it), but they would be very upset by the (probably much lower) risk brought on when the government decides to put a toxic waste dump near their town.

There isn’t anything irrational about this; it probably reflects important facts about personal autonomy. But people also tend to perceive something as less risky when it is voluntarily incurred, which is simply a misperception. People are also more tolerant of risks that they have some power to deal with than with risks over which they have no control. Many people feel safer driving a car (control condition) than riding in the passenger’s seat (less control). They also perceive such activities to be less risky. People also perceive natural risks to be less severe than human-made risks, and they think of risks involving novel technology or especially dreaded outcomes (like nuclear power facilities) as especially great.

Groups

Later in the book, we will read about the risky shift. The risky shift occurs when people who take part in a group discussion are willing to support riskier decisions than they would individually, before the group discussion.