kzb Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 1 hour ago, Riedquat said: Well risk perception certainly seems to be badly out of kilter with reality, considering the number of things people appear scared of yet are unlikely to be directly affected by. Wonder if that goes hand in hand with an increasing lack of sense of responsibility? Get it into your head that it's always someone else's job to protect you and you're getting into the mentality of being powerless even in your own day to day affairs. Good point. There is certainly some weird psychology going on somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si1 Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 1 hour ago, Riedquat said: Well risk perception certainly seems to be badly out of kilter with reality, considering the number of things people appear scared of yet are unlikely to be directly affected by. Wonder if that goes hand in hand with an increasing lack of sense of responsibility? Get it into your head that it's always someone else's job to protect you and you're getting into the mentality of being powerless even in your own day to day affairs. "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 12 minutes ago, Si1 said: "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours." That sounds like a quote I should recognise... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si1 Posted September 12, 2018 Share Posted September 12, 2018 46 minutes ago, Riedquat said: That sounds like a quote I should recognise... Thatcher, 1978 or thereabouts I think. Blair = Wilson Cameron = Heath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottbeard Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 20 hours ago, Riedquat said: Well risk perception certainly seems to be badly out of kilter with reality, considering the number of things people appear scared of yet are unlikely to be directly affected by. Wonder if that goes hand in hand with an increasing lack of sense of responsibility? Get it into your head that it's always someone else's job to protect you and you're getting into the mentality of being powerless even in your own day to day affairs. People have never been that great at risk perception. In particular, people always over-estimate the risk associated with things over which they have no control (eg terrorism, plane crashes) whilst underestimating the risk of things which they [incorrectly] believe are under their control (eg theft "I always watch my stuff", car crashes "I'm a good driver"). I think it's where people feel powerless that they begin to exaggerate the risk in their minds because there's very little action they can take to minimise the risk. People are also hard-wired by evolution to think very short term, and will tend to worry far more about small short term risks ("am I going to be able to save enough for my holiday?") than big long term ones ("am I going to be able to save enough for retirement?"). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 2 minutes ago, scottbeard said: People have never been that great at risk perception. In particular, people always over-estimate the risk associated with things over which they have no control (eg terrorism, plane crashes) whilst underestimating the risk of things which they [incorrectly] believe are under their control (eg theft "I always watch my stuff", car crashes "I'm a good driver"). I think it's where people feel powerless that they begin to exaggerate the risk in their minds because there's very little action they can take to minimise the risk. People are also hard-wired by evolution to think very short term, and will tend to worry far more about small short term risks ("am I going to be able to save enough for my holiday?") than big long term ones ("am I going to be able to save enough for retirement?"). Very true, they are more able to control the saving for a holiday because they have been given a fixed price and they know exactly how much to save over a fixed length of time, saving enough to pay for it......they can see and touch the holiday.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted September 13, 2018 Share Posted September 13, 2018 (edited) 5 hours ago, scottbeard said: People have never been that great at risk perception. In particular, people always over-estimate the risk associated with things over which they have no control (eg terrorism, plane crashes) whilst underestimating the risk of things which they [incorrectly] believe are under their control (eg theft "I always watch my stuff", car crashes "I'm a good driver"). I think it's where people feel powerless that they begin to exaggerate the risk in their minds because there's very little action they can take to minimise the risk. People are also hard-wired by evolution to think very short term, and will tend to worry far more about small short term risks ("am I going to be able to save enough for my holiday?") than big long term ones ("am I going to be able to save enough for retirement?"). On car crashes at least I'd say that a great many people over-estimate the risks there too. There are some who under-estimate them (probably the people responsible for most of the crashes - to a great extent the risk of driving is under your control, even if not entirely) but you only have to look at the difference between people going on about road safety and actually being in trouble. The message that society gives about being on the road these days is that you're at the mercy of everyone else mind you... There's a whole chunk of the safety "industry" that exists to bolster that perception and force "fixes" on things that aren't a risk worth getting concerned about. This also has the very severe downside of having a "boy who cried wolf" effect when it comes to areas of genuine concern. I completely agree about the short-term issue though. Edited September 13, 2018 by Riedquat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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