Psy­chol­ogy Today has an inter­est­ing arti­cle on fear, prob­a­bil­ity, and how we get things wrong. It’s not a very scannable arti­cle, so here’s an exec­u­tive summary:

  1. We Fear Snakes, Not Cars — Risk and emo­tion are insep­a­ra­ble
  2. We Fear Spec­tac­u­lar, Unlikely Events — Fear skews risk analy­sis in pre­dictable ways
  3. We Fear Can­cer But Not Heart Dis­ease — We under­es­ti­mate threats that creep up on us
  4. No Pes­ti­cide in My Backyard—Unless I Put it There — We pre­fer that which (we think) we can control
  5. We Speed Up When We Put Our Seat­belts On — We sub­sti­tute one risk for another
  6. Teens May Think Too Much About Risk—And Not Feel Enough — Why using your cor­tex isn’t always smart
  7. Why Young Men Will Never Get Good Rates on Car Insur­ance — The “risk ther­mo­stat” varies widely
  8. We Worry About Teen Mar­i­juana Use, But Not About Teen Sports — Risk argu­ments can­not be divorced from values
  9. We Love Sun­light But Fear Nuclear Power — Why “nat­ural” risks are eas­ier to accept
  10. We Should Fear Fear Itself — Why wor­ry­ing about risk is itself risky