Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaton
IIRC, studies have suggested that fear is not based on how risky something is but the degree to which you perceive that you have lost control of a situation. When people get behind the wheel, they're under the false impression they are in control of their own destiny, hence they feel safe.
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And another part of that perception of "control" is based on familiarity.
The soccer mom who shuttles her kids around on dangerous stroads everyday feels more "in control" of that situation because it's extremely familiar to her. It's literally part of her daily life.
But taking the family down into the big bad old city, and encountering God only knows what, is WAY more outside her wheelhouse, and thus is going to have her feeling like that situation is well outside of her control, and therefore FAR more fear-inducing.
In any event, the person in the taxi cab going to the airport on an expressway who is riddled with anxiety about their upcoming flight is a very apt analogy to the crime-phobic soccer mom. Worried about the relatively safer thing while ignoring the relatively more dangerous thing.