8 Basic Functions That Humans Totally Fail At

5. Risk Assessment

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Humans are really, really bad at risk assessments. No, we're not talking about those fiddly forms where you have to note down all the trip hazards in the immediate area, we're talking about the snap decisions we make when faced with threatening situations.

The human brain has evolved to act quickly, decisively and emotionally to risky situations, but unfortunately that was at a time before we had any of the mod-cons that run our lives today. Our response to risk is essentially driven by primal fears, which is why we are much more likely to react fearfully and violently to a spider than we are to travelling at 80mph on a motorway, despite that fact that the latter is significantly more dangerous, with 30,800 road deaths per year in America, compared to 6.5 deaths from spider bites.

Our problem essentially boils down to our tendency to overreact and under-react at the wrong times. We overreact to immediate threats and under-react to slow burners such as disease. We overreact to unfamiliar settings and will be more complacent in a familiar one - for example, people will fear being mugged much more in a foreign city, even if it is technically safer. We overreact to uncommon events such as plane crashes, and will under-react to the amount of road traffic accidents that occur every day.

There are countless examples of how we get it all wrong when it comes to risk assessment. Far from just making us a bit scared of spiders, this is part of the underlying reason why we smoke, drink, drive recklessly, develop phobias and even why we hold prejudices against those who are different from us. It's powerful stuff.

 
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