More on Cognitive Bias - Ten Troublesome Human Instincts or Cognitive Misconceptions cont. 2
2. Fear instinct (fear is hardwired into your brain for obvious evolutionary reason, ie survival;
"...fears of physical harm, captivity, and poison once helped our ancestors survive. In modern times, perceptions of these dangers still trigger our fear instinct......
- physical harm: violence caused by people, animals, sharp objects, the forces of nature
- captivity: entrapment, loss of control, loss of freedom
- contamination; by invisible substances that can infect or poison us..."
Hans Rosling et al, 2018
Fear can be triggered by natural disasters and man-made disasters (see examples under negativity instinct).
There is a paradox
"...The image of a dangerous world has never been forecast more effectively than it is now, while the world has never been less violent and more safe..."
Hans Rosling et al, 2018
Fortunately today we are better prepared to handle these disasters than our ancestors were; thus the impact is less severe, ie
"...The number of deaths from acts of nature have dropped far below half. It is now just 25% of what it was 100 years ago..."
Hans Rosling et al, 2018
The fear instinct is so strong you can make competitors collaborate, eg in 1944 the commercial aircraft industry was concerned about the poor public perception of their safety record. At an international meeting of the industry, it was agreed to have a common approach to incident reports which would be shared so that they all could learn from each other's mistakes. This laid the foundation of the high safety record in aviation and resultant public confidence in flying.
Fear is useful if it is directed at the right things. On the other hand, if misdirected it can make you concerned about unlikely dangers whilst neglecting the most risky, ie pose the most significant risk.
Some statistics about what people fear the most and their death rates as a percentage of all deaths:
- natural disasters (0.1%)
- plane crashes (0.001%)
- murders (0.7%)
- nuclear leaks (0%)
- terrorism (0.05%)
"...none of these kill more than 1% of the people who die each year, and still they get enormous media attention..."
Hans Rosling et al, 2018
Owing to a fear instinct, we pay too much attention to what is frightening (perceived risk) and not enough to what is dangerous (real risk).
To control the fear instinct we need to understand the risks:
- reality and not be scared by potentially misleading media focus
- risk which is attached to the exposure to danger, not how scared you are
- the need to stay calm when making decisions.