Risk perception is a phenomenon in search of an explanation. Several approaches are discussed in this paper. Technical risk estimates are sometimes a potent factor in accounting for perceived risk, but in many important applications it is not. Heuristics and biases, mainly availability, account for only a minor portion of risk perception, and media contents have not been clearly implicated in r...

This paper discusses risk perception comparing drivers with and without fines for speeding. The research aimed to show the interaction between speeding laws and speeding behavior. Speeders' explanations for their behavior revealed important factors in the determination of risk perception: control (driver-centered), risk minimization (drivers claimed there was no risk involved in the way they sp...

Humans perceive and act on risk in two fundamental ways. Risk as feelings refers to individuals’ instinctive and intuitive reactions to danger. Risk as analysis brings logic, reason, and scientific deliberation to bear on risk management. Reliance on risk as feelings is described as ‘‘the affect heuristic.’’ This article traces the development of this heuristic and discusses some of the importa...

The role of emotions in risk perception has been held to be important, based mainly on findings in applications of the Psychometric Model and the notion of an “Affect heuristic”. These conclusions are criticized on the grounds that the work on “Dread” in the tradition of the Psychometric Model has been based not on emotion items but mainly on items measuring severity of consequences. Furthermor...

In the face of contradictory information, people must rely on their instincts as much as the facts to size up potential threats.