Download This PaperOverreaction to Fearsome Risks
Harvard Law School Program on Risk Regulation Research Paper No. 08-17
HKS Working Paper No. RWP08-079
16 Pages Posted: 24 Dec 2008
There are 2 versions of this paper
Overreaction to Fearsome Risks
Overreaction to Fearsome Risks
Date Written: December 3, 2008
Abstract
Fearsome risks are those that stimulate strong emotional responses. Such risks, which usually involve high consequences, tend to have low probabilities, since life today is no longer nasty, brutish and short. In the face of a low-probability fearsome risk, people often exaggerate the benefits of preventive, risk-reducing, or ameliorative measures. In both personal life and politics, the result is damaging overreactions to risks. We offer evidence for the phenomenon of probability neglect, failing to distinguish between high and low-probability risks. Action bias is a likely result.
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Cass R. Sunstein (Contact Author)
Harvard Law School ( email )
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