Customer Reviews

The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn't--and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Dan Gardner's concerned about how we handle fear. In North America, of course, a single event, the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon generated a new level of fear in the population. So unexpected and abrupt was use of commercial aircraft in a terrorist assault that an avoidance of flying was the immediate and widespread reaction. Gardner, however, wants to consider the event and the reaction in a more rational perspective. He notes at the outset of the book that the chance of dying in auto incidents is far higher than that of flying. As the statistics proved - since nearly 1600 additional auto deaths - about half of those lost at the World Trade Centre - were added to the annual total in the following year. Gardner taps into psychology and the field of risk assessment in this fascinating study of how we deal with fear. We aren't doing a very good job of it.

For millions of years animals relied on quick responses for survival. Reaction to potential danger or a possible meal left no time, nor need, for reflecting. Act fast or expire. That kind of brain is now called the limbic system, or "lizard brain". Evolution granted humans a chance to build on that foundation to produce a "thinking" part of the brain. The limbic system is still in place, however, and issuing commands we are rarely aware of. Psychologists, says Gardner, call these System One and System Two. The author, in the best journalist's style, calls these The Gut and The Head. The Gut reacts to crisis situations quickly and effectively. The Head follows along later at a more deliberate pace - if it gets any voice at all.

Gardner is eager to have us understand how these Systems work. He contends that we are carrying a reaction system founded on our ancestors' time on the African savannah. Our brains haven't adapted to the fast-paced, high technology world around us. We are reacting almost entirely with The Gut, and we are making serious mistakes as a result. Are we truly under threat from the things we claim to fear? He cites numerous cases, from the fear of "man-made" chemicals through the spectre of cancer to the possibility of our children being assaulted by strangers. Each of the topics is introduced with our given views - usually captured by polls, then carefully assessed by examining the real odds. In every case, the important things to consider almost certainly haven't been. The breast cancer campaigns have uniformly overlooked the role of age in determining the likelihood of its occurrence.

The calculations leave little doubt that we are far too often looking at threats with little consideration of their true nature. Why are we reacting so readily with The Gut instead of with The Head? In no small part, Gardner argues, media, politicians and industry play a significant part. Media, anxious to sell its products, emphasizes the violent, the extreme and the bizarre. The result, of course, is that's what captures our attention. The bombardment of such stories, often unthinkingly repeated by politicians, is a reinforcement of The Gut's reaction to this kind of information. Never seeing a rational analysis of such news, we lose any sense of proportion about what is truly important. We rarely find the opportunity to consider an issue rationally before the next one is upon us.

Gardner is not simply playing a new form of "scare" journalism. Various scholars have researched each of the topics. Their tests are well described and the analyses are carefully explained. These examples provide the book with a sound foundation, making this book something to consider carefully. As a conclusion, the author reminds us that we haven't taken into account the benefits our time enjoys when compared to even the recent past. Childhood diseases, such as diphtheria, have been removed as a threat to our families and society. We should remember that and remind ourselves to use The Head when events are trying to drive The Gut to dominate our thinking. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Gardner's book is both enjoyable and informative, providing a wealth of information about how humans evaluate risk. In particular, the author shows how our instincts (or "Gut") reactions to risk are often incorrect, yet we are reluctant to overrule these reactions with the more calm and reasoning "Head" side of our thinking.

Gardner uses a vast review of research in the field of risk assessment to bolster his points, yet manages to make these scientific studies accessible to laypeople, summarizing many of the principles with names such as the Example Rule, the Anchoring Rule, and the Rule of Typical Things. He then gives a number of examples of how people are often led astray by different entities (e.g., the news media, advertising agencies, political campaigns) who use these principles to evoke unreasoning fear as a means of manipulation, the implicit message being, "Here's something that you should be afraid of, but if you'll just buy this product or elect this candidate, you'll be safe."

I especially enjoyed the abundant statistics and discussions about the relative risk or safety of different activities (e.g., car travel vs. airline travel, heart disease vs. cancer, etc.), and how, from a historical and statistical perspective, "there's never been a better time to be alive." I would have liked for Gardner to have covered certain topics in more detail (e.g., vaccinations, climate change), but the ones he did cover in detail (e.g., terrorism, environmental chemicals, the role of the news media) were all well done.

All in all, a fascinating and valuable book for anyone who wants to know how to better use the reasoning side of their brain to evaluate the risks we all face.

This book really grew on me. It started slow -- the writing early on seemed disorganized and less than captivating. Then I got into the book, to the point where I could not put it down. Too interested in what was coming next, in looking at different examples of how fear in the Gut overwhelms thinking in the Head. Toward the end of the book, things got a bit slow again, as Gardner got repetitive. All in all, though, a very interesting read.

The premise of The Science of Fear is simple -- fear comes from the Gut, not the Head. Sometimes the Head can overrule the Gut, sometimes not. Snakes, for example. Most people fear snakes. It has nothing to do with reason or experience. It's ingrained. Even if we try to get used to being around snakes -- which would normally work to eliminate a fear like this -- nothing we do or think can overcome the fear of snakes.

Gardner gives lots of examples of how fear works. But he is a newspaper journalist, and the writing shows that. Despite the title, this is not a science book. And the organization is not tight. The book seems less a book and more a collection of articles. That's what kept me from giving it five stars.

Another weakness, for me -- I had hoped that Gardner would cover a couple of topics that ended up with just a brief mention. Global warming, which seems a fear driven by Gut more than Head. And the Y2K computer bug. Talk about not being able to properly evaluate risk. Billions wasted to combat a false fear. Both topics interest me.

Like most books, The Science of Fear could have been better. But it's still a very good book, well worth reading. I enjoyed it and learned from it. In both cases, a lot.

This is a brilliant, timely and beautifully detailed study of the hundreds of things people fear, matched with solid facts of why many of such fears are groundless.

Gardner, a newspaper columnist himself, cites case after case of how the media generates and exaggerates many fears of our modern lives. He backs this up with numerous studies of how people respond to perceived fears, even when there is little or no danger.

It's a telling indictment of media sensationalism, always seeking the worst possible case to attract the most readers, listeners or viewers. If any publisher wants to know why circulation is falling, this shows why people turn to new sources for better information.

The impact reality is that anyone who cries "Shark!" day after day after day will eventually lose credibility. Stop and think for a moment about why the President, Congress and the media are trusted by only about 15 percent of Americans. But, it's about much more than the media; it's how politicians, do-gooders, flocks and others use fear to generate attention and a panic whicdh they can "solve".

Common fears affect everyone, and Gardner explains why many should be nonexistant. For example, Gallup polls consistently report 20 percent of Americans "frequently" or "occasionally" worry about being murdered. The actual murder rate in the U.S., with one of the highest murder rates in the world, is 0.0056 percent. It means an average American is three times more likely to die in a car wreck than by murder.

Gardner uses solid logic such as this to illustrate why most of our fears have no basis in fact. Unfortunately, it is the great weakness of the book. He has an astute knowledge of numbers, but little understanding of fear. He'd be utterly useless at comforting a small child who fears monsters under the bed.

Why? People fear things over which they have no control. They feel in control in a car. They don't feel in control if they are the victim of a shark, a murder, a disease, a monster under the bed and many of the thousands of other random events in their lives.

All the numbers, facts, statistics, charts and studies in the world won't comfort that small child who's afraid of monsters. The blunt fact is the child can't see in the dark, and thus feels vulnerable to monsters who can see in the dark.

If Gardner could understand the fears of a small child, he could understand why people develop irrational fears. It shows the cynicism of the media, politicians and others who manipulate, exaggerate and use such fears for their own selfish purposes. People are afraid of things and events beyond their control.

By all means, it's a very good book. It would have been great had Gardner understood monsters. It's the difference between a top-notch compiler of facts, and a superb columnist who understands instead of merely tallies.

If I were a rich man, I'd buy thousands of copies of this book, and send one to every member of Congress, along with the president, the vice president, every cabinet secretary, every governor and state legislator, and every journalist in America. This book ought to be required reading for every student of political science and public policy, as well as every student of journalism. In fact, it ought to be required reading for every student in every high school and university in the country. This book is really that important; especially now, as our nation is sinking deeper and deeper into a culture of pervasive, irrational fear. We, as a society, are afraid. And we're mainly afraid of things that, by any objective measure, do not pose significant threats to our safety and well-being; while virtually ignoring the real dangers that lurk all around us. We panic at the very thought of terrorism, airplane crashes, exotic diseases, serial killers, school shootings, sexual predators, and the like -- dangers that are extremely rare, and are responsible for relatively few deaths worldwide each year -- while being totally blasé about more common dangers such as automobile accidents, unhealthy lifestyle choices (e.g. smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise), and inadequate health care, which are responsible for the lion's share of deaths worldwide each year. People tend to exaggerate the dangers posed by things they don't understand very well, such as weapons of mass destruction, nuclear power, chemicals in the environment, and genetically modified foods; but downplay the dangers posed by things they encounter every day, such as cars, swimming pools, ladders, and junk food. This book explains why it is that we fear things we probably shouldn't, but don't fear things we probably should. The explanation has a lot to do with how our brains work. It also has a lot to do with the fact that some people have a vested interest in feeding and exploiting our irrational fears for their own ends -- including terrorists, politicians, lobbyists, business leaders, advertisers, and (perhaps most egregiously) the media. This book is a much-needed antidote to the toxic effects of the culture of fear we now live in. Everyone needs to read this.

Daniel Gardner has done a wonderful job creating a fast-read with good solid research. The Science of Fear points out how easily we are fooled by the way we process the massive amount of information we receive. Gardner compares our decisions made with our Head versus those made with our Gut, referring to our ability to use critical thinking versus our tendency to use our instinctual mind. Critical thinking would tell me that flying is safer than driving. After 9/11 my instinctual mind told me that planes are dangerous.

The book covers the evolutionary psychological concepts of Confirmation bias ( I see what I already believe), the Law of Similarity (appearance equals reality), the Anchoring and adjustment heuristic (influenced by what I just heard), the Rule of Typical things (things that usually go together always go together), and the Example Rule (a story is more powerful than statistical data). Each of these is explored in entertaining detail and backed up by academic research.

The main focus of the book is that our emotions often overrule our critical thinking skills. We are convinced through anecdote, stories we recently heard, stray statistical information that is incorrect and incorrectly cited, how we feel about events, and our life experience. We see something on talk TV and are convinced that it is true. Many people around us are sure of their information and we are swayed by their conviction. We are told by some commercial that we are at risk from strangers, dangers, disease and drugs and we change our buying habits. We hear that 600 people die in the US every year from something and we demand new laws.

How dangerous is the world? Gardner would argue not as dangerous as we have convinced ourselves. Our very complex brains still respond to danger they way our evolutionary ancestors did, listen to the herd and run, or fight, if there is something we do not understand. Gardner's suggestion? Focus on what we have to be grateful for.

This is a great read. I recommend it to anyone interested in brain research, human behavior, human cognition, and group behavior. It is fun, well balanced and well supported.

This book definitely covers the science of fear, an in depth look at why we are the way we are and why we do the things we do. It will make you rethink just how much "free-will" you really have and how much your surroundings affect your decisions without you realizing it.

A rational look at some of the things we love to worry about. Plane crashes, child pornography, cancer and the environmental holicost. Unless you take more satisfaction in perpetuating popular anxieties than understanding their actual risks - this book is for you. There are things we should be worried about (fear), and others that are suprisingly unlikely to occur. If you have a mathematical heart you will love it, if you are simply rational by nature you will enjoy it and feel better after having read it. By all means, go for it!

"Why do we fear a proliferating number of relatively minor risks? Why do we so often shrug off greater threats? Why have we become a "culture of fear"?

This book is one of several that I've been reading about the subject of the underlying factors of hyped risk perception, scaremongering environmentalism and the like.

While Bjorn Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World still remains, for me, at the top, I believe it is a little too hard to read for the casual reader. [Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming (Vintage) is so much better in this regard!]

Gardner's "Science of Fear" is a very well written, fresh and entertaining book. It also analyzes the concept of "unreasoning fear" and a broad set of contributing factors, including the anthropological/psychological-evolutionary basis for our pre-historic and obsolete "fear management" system, our cognitive biases and innumeracy, the media approach to newstime (mis)information and the industry of fear that surrounds us.

The book is also enrichening and stimulates our critical thinking abilities as it explores and debunks some of the usual suspects for major media hype and junkscience marketing: crime, chemicals and terrorism.

In effect, as the author puts it, there's never been a better time to be alive...and still, as a society, we are held at gunpoint by unjustified unreasoning fear.

All the time I was reading this book I had the urge to go around and tell my friends or even random people about it. It is wonderful to see how clear, logical thinking can help one find a way in the media hysterics jungle.

If you expect a lot of statistics you will be disappointed, but the book does explain many of the insights psychology gained into the way we, humans react to information. The metaphor of a neanderthal man and a smart but lazy teenager driving a car together is one I found particularly illuminating.

All in all I recommend the book heartily. I did not give it four stars, just because I reserve that to really high-class scientific writing - in the class of Carl Sagan or S. J. Gould. I do not think the author would be offended by my saying that he is not in that class - but then very few people are.