Risk perception is a cognitive process involved in many of our daily activities and guides how we behave and the decisions that we make; for example, think about the low percentage of people who are using public transport in these last few days.

But if perceiving a risk is objective, how come we don’t all perceive the same risk with the same level of danger?

For years, objective approaches to calculating a risk have proven to be insufficient in explaining why some people behave a certain way when faced with activities which have been objectively assessed as risky, and other people in a different way.

The main limitation of such an approach fundamentally is linked to the understanding of risk as an objective measure of how dangerous an certain activity is. When it comes to deciding how to behave, we know perfectly well that we don’t use (or very little do we use) this objective evaluation (read also: Trying to predict future scenarios? Beware of biases and data) .

Consequently, we tend to either underestimate or overestimate a risk depending on how dangerous we perceive an activity to be, but this perception is often unrelated to objective statistical data or evaluations (read also: Our perception of chaos: making sense of what we do not know).

There is a discrepancy between the subjective perception of risk and an objective assessment (Slovic, 2001)

These discrepancies which lead people to experience the same event in a different way compared to someone else are linked both to general mechanisms found in human beings, and to individual differences.

Cognitive Map

To what extent can I control events that might prove to be dangerous? (e.g. how much can I control when using public transport?)

To what extent is it my choice to decide to tackle a potentially risky situation? (e.g. to what extent was my decision to return to the office and work with respect to the possibility of continuing to work remotely my choice?)

How serious are the possible consequences? (e.g. the risk of contagion)

In other words, based on how terrifying (i.e. how catastrophic) and how unknown (i.e. how visible and controllable) the risk associated with a certain activity is, it is then possible to construct a cognitive map of the degree of risk that a person associates to a certain activity, and to thereby understand how it is that people can associate different levels of risk to different activities which have the same probability of producing negative consequences. (Mullet, Lazreg, Candela & Neto, 2005)

The risk-benefit ratio

If I do not use aeroplanes because I am afraid that an accident might happen, I will therefore judge a plane as a means of transport as a not very useful and risky option. If instead I view taking an aeroplane as something which allows we to get somewhere in a short amount of time, I will therefore judge taking the plan as useful and less of a risk.

In the environment, there is a positive correlation between risk and benefit; from an objective point of view, many activities that involve a potential risk also offer benefits (e.g. the use of X-rays in medical practice).

Yet, in our minds, the correlation is far from positive: if we perceive an activity to be risky, we will then associate it with having a low benefit; if we perceive an activity to be safe, we will then associate it with having a high benefit.

Why?

Because our system of thinking intuitively has (unconsciously) come into play and thus influences our conscious evaluations based on the emotional reactions that we associate with that stimulus. (Finucane, Alkahami, Slovic and Johnson, 2000). Consequently, if we are afraid of taking an aeroplane, we associate this activity with a negative emotions and thus we won’t ever be able to see the possible benefits. Conversely, if we are able to see the possible benefits, it means that we associate this activity with positive emotions and means that we will tend to underestimate the possible risks (read also: Decision making in situations of uncertainty).

And you? How are you experiencing this situation?

If you want, we can help you to manage the emotions linked to this specific moment, through our Emotional Intelligence Solutions.

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