a.k.a. the sky is falling and the Boogeyman is chasing me
October 24, 2014 1:07 PM Subscribe
Chapman University has released The Chapman Survey on American Fears, a comprehensive, scientific survey of 1500 Americans on what they fear the most.
The survey shows that the top five things Americans fear the most are:
1) Walking alone at night
2) Becoming the victim of identity theft
3) Safety on the internet
4) Being the victim of a mass/random shooting
5) Public speaking
The survey shows that the top five things Americans fear the most are:
1) Walking alone at night
2) Becoming the victim of identity theft
3) Safety on the internet
4) Being the victim of a mass/random shooting
5) Public speaking
Things you should be afraid of (imho):
1) Car accident
2) Prolonged unemployment
3) Messy divorce (bonus: with ugly custody battle)
4) Global warming
5) Heart disease/Cancer (tie)
Happy Friday, everyone.
posted by mhum at 1:39 PM on October 24, 2014 [25 favorites]
1) Car accident
2) Prolonged unemployment
3) Messy divorce (bonus: with ugly custody battle)
4) Global warming
5) Heart disease/Cancer (tie)
Happy Friday, everyone.
posted by mhum at 1:39 PM on October 24, 2014 [25 favorites]
What's the deal with the walking alone at night thing? I'm not an especially brave person, but I walk alone at night fairly often and have done since I was in college, and I've rarely felt frightened. I'm aware of the risks/dangers, especially given that I'm a woman, but I've rarely done said walking in an area that made me feel actively unsafe. And yet every time I tell people I have few compunctions about walking a few blocks after 9 PM to get some frozen yogurt or pick up some milk or whatever, they look at me like I've got a death wish. Is my risk calculation super off on this or something?
posted by yasaman at 1:44 PM on October 24, 2014
posted by yasaman at 1:44 PM on October 24, 2014
What about bears?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:44 PM on October 24, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:44 PM on October 24, 2014 [3 favorites]
6) Surveys
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:47 PM on October 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:47 PM on October 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
1) The future (unspecified)
2) Organismusangst, the anxiety of realizing that one is a seething bloodsack of ten thousand fragile systems that can fail at any time
3) The baleful red star Gacrux
4) Tube worms
5) Public speaking
posted by theodolite at 1:49 PM on October 24, 2014 [37 favorites]
2) Organismusangst, the anxiety of realizing that one is a seething bloodsack of ten thousand fragile systems that can fail at any time
3) The baleful red star Gacrux
4) Tube worms
5) Public speaking
posted by theodolite at 1:49 PM on October 24, 2014 [37 favorites]
I was hoping to see comprehensive results to find out if I alone am terrified of gas and ice giant planets.
posted by munchingzombie at 1:50 PM on October 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by munchingzombie at 1:50 PM on October 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
Top 4 things David Bowie is afraid of:
1) Americans
2) The world
3) I can't help it
4) I can't
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 2:09 PM on October 24, 2014 [22 favorites]
1) Americans
2) The world
3) I can't help it
4) I can't
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 2:09 PM on October 24, 2014 [22 favorites]
I've never gotten that either, yasaman. I walk at night all the time with no issues. Not in the world's best (or worst) neighborhoods either. Maybe I'm just reckless.
I'm not sure what my top 5 fears would be, but tsunamis would be up there, and that was the case before the more recent high-profile tsunamis.
Global warming is more a thing of concern or dread than fear.
posted by brundlefly at 2:23 PM on October 24, 2014
I'm not sure what my top 5 fears would be, but tsunamis would be up there, and that was the case before the more recent high-profile tsunamis.
Global warming is more a thing of concern or dread than fear.
posted by brundlefly at 2:23 PM on October 24, 2014
7) Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone.
posted by weston at 2:36 PM on October 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by weston at 2:36 PM on October 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
The list is completely understandable if you add "with clowns!" to the end of each item.
posted by Slap*Happy at 2:58 PM on October 24, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by Slap*Happy at 2:58 PM on October 24, 2014 [5 favorites]
In the natural disasters category, tornado/hurricane won. Odd, since those are different and unrelated phenomena, here grouped together.
If we're allowing Popolac fears, can we get fear of volcanunemployment on the list?
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:12 PM on October 24, 2014
If we're allowing Popolac fears, can we get fear of volcanunemployment on the list?
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:12 PM on October 24, 2014
Unsurprisingly,
Watching television talk shows with frequency proved to be strongly related to fear. It is a simple, straight-line effect – the more one watches talk TV, the more fearful one tends to be. Given the nature of our survey we cannot say with certainty whether people turn to talk TV because they are afraid or whether people have become afraid from watching talk TV, but the association is clear and powerful.
I'm guessing there's a similar association with talk radio.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:10 PM on October 24, 2014 [4 favorites]
Watching television talk shows with frequency proved to be strongly related to fear. It is a simple, straight-line effect – the more one watches talk TV, the more fearful one tends to be. Given the nature of our survey we cannot say with certainty whether people turn to talk TV because they are afraid or whether people have become afraid from watching talk TV, but the association is clear and powerful.
I'm guessing there's a similar association with talk radio.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 5:10 PM on October 24, 2014 [4 favorites]
Where is "fear itself?"
posted by srboisvert at 5:12 PM on October 24, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 5:12 PM on October 24, 2014 [8 favorites]
lain, I wouldn't be surprised if something happened to me at some point. But the intense fear of walking after dark just seems strange to me. I don't want to live in perpetual fear of strolling around my own neighborhood.
posted by brundlefly at 5:12 PM on October 24, 2014
posted by brundlefly at 5:12 PM on October 24, 2014
yasaman and brudlefly:
Just wait.
Is that, like, a threat, or...?
posted by Juffo-Wup at 5:15 PM on October 24, 2014 [3 favorites]
Just wait.
Is that, like, a threat, or...?
posted by Juffo-Wup at 5:15 PM on October 24, 2014 [3 favorites]
BOOGEYMAN?! You nail the windows shut, I'll get the gun!
posted by entropicamericana at 5:45 PM on October 24, 2014
posted by entropicamericana at 5:45 PM on October 24, 2014
I just don't get the perpetual "public speaking" thing. How many people have to worry about being asked to actually do that? And what constitutes "public"?
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 5:52 PM on October 24, 2014
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 5:52 PM on October 24, 2014
I watch Nancy Grace so I live in perpetual fear that I will find a box full of dead babies. SOMEONE KNOWS.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 5:59 AM on October 25, 2014
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 5:59 AM on October 25, 2014
A lot of these don't seem like fears to me. They seem like things the person hopes or wishes would not happen. Some of them are merely dispositional ("I would feel fear if this ever happened"), and others are such that a feeling of fear genuinely causes the person to differently structure his or her life. There seems to me to be a big difference between "I'm scared of my abusive parents" and "I'm scared that an asteroid might hit the planet."
I don't want to live in perpetual fear of strolling around my own neighborhood.
I used to love taking night walks. It gave me a feeling of freedom and invincibility, and I liked the privacy. A few years ago, I was mugged at gunpoint (not even late at night). I didn't think of it as a very traumatic experience. But I've noticed that since then, I hate walking around at night. It's something I can't help. I'm always on alert, and my attention shifts around to possible sources of danger. it's exhausting. It sucks and I don't like it. I lost something that I really enjoyed (and that as a guy, I had privilege to enjoy). But I think this is often something that just starts coming with age and it was bound to happen. You start appraising safety and danger differently. I lot of people report their fears shifting drastically after they have kids.
(I am trying to be *very* conscious about whether this shifts my voting patterns in any way, because I think that's a pretty common phenomenon.)
posted by painquale at 5:59 AM on October 25, 2014 [3 favorites]
I don't want to live in perpetual fear of strolling around my own neighborhood.
I used to love taking night walks. It gave me a feeling of freedom and invincibility, and I liked the privacy. A few years ago, I was mugged at gunpoint (not even late at night). I didn't think of it as a very traumatic experience. But I've noticed that since then, I hate walking around at night. It's something I can't help. I'm always on alert, and my attention shifts around to possible sources of danger. it's exhausting. It sucks and I don't like it. I lost something that I really enjoyed (and that as a guy, I had privilege to enjoy). But I think this is often something that just starts coming with age and it was bound to happen. You start appraising safety and danger differently. I lot of people report their fears shifting drastically after they have kids.
(I am trying to be *very* conscious about whether this shifts my voting patterns in any way, because I think that's a pretty common phenomenon.)
posted by painquale at 5:59 AM on October 25, 2014 [3 favorites]
1. Physical senescence.
2. Broccoli and Cauliflower.
3. Being targeted for extraordinary rendition because of an ironic tweet.
4. Clowns.
5. Fournier's Gangrene.
(NB: do not search for that last item with image loading enabled unless you are a qualified medical pathologist.)
posted by cstross at 6:44 AM on October 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
2. Broccoli and Cauliflower.
3. Being targeted for extraordinary rendition because of an ironic tweet.
4. Clowns.
5. Fournier's Gangrene.
(NB: do not search for that last item with image loading enabled unless you are a qualified medical pathologist.)
posted by cstross at 6:44 AM on October 25, 2014 [1 favorite]
1. The dreams are real
2. Spiders
3. The spiders are real
4. I can't wake up
5. Z̖̪̝̬͇͇̆A͚̩͉͕͕ͫ̎L̆͗̓G̳̼̗̖̟̜ͨ̇̅̕O̵͂ͫ
posted by Baby_Balrog at 7:05 AM on October 25, 2014 [4 favorites]
2. Spiders
3. The spiders are real
4. I can't wake up
5. Z̖̪̝̬͇͇̆A͚̩͉͕͕ͫ̎L̆͗̓G̳̼̗̖̟̜ͨ̇̅̕O̵͂ͫ
posted by Baby_Balrog at 7:05 AM on October 25, 2014 [4 favorites]
So people are no longer scared of Nuclear War and the Nuclear Winter anymore? Wow, imagine that.
I wonder how these compare to the top fears in other countries? Anyone got a handy comparison chart?
posted by marienbad at 1:56 PM on October 25, 2014
I wonder how these compare to the top fears in other countries? Anyone got a handy comparison chart?
posted by marienbad at 1:56 PM on October 25, 2014
The five things Americans should be most afraid of:
1) Economic collapse
2) Decline of the republic into a police state
3) Sharks gaining the ability to breathe air and attacking the surface world to fulfill the prophesy central to their religion and bring about the Empire of Biteyness
4) Heart disease
5) Me, bitches
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 2:10 PM on October 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
1) Economic collapse
2) Decline of the republic into a police state
3) Sharks gaining the ability to breathe air and attacking the surface world to fulfill the prophesy central to their religion and bring about the Empire of Biteyness
4) Heart disease
5) Me, bitches
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 2:10 PM on October 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
1) Scary things that belong to the emperor
2) Embalmed scary things
3) Scary things that are trained
4) Scary suckling pigs
5) Scary Mermaids (or Sirens)
6) Fabulous scary things
7) Scary stray dogs
8) Scary things that are included in this classification
9) Scary things that tremble as if they were mad
10) Innumerable scary things
11) Scary things drawn with a very fine camel hair brush
12) Scary things, et cetera
13) Scary things that have just broken the flower vase
14) Scary things that, at a distance, resemble flies
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:06 PM on October 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
2) Embalmed scary things
3) Scary things that are trained
4) Scary suckling pigs
5) Scary Mermaids (or Sirens)
6) Fabulous scary things
7) Scary stray dogs
8) Scary things that are included in this classification
9) Scary things that tremble as if they were mad
10) Innumerable scary things
11) Scary things drawn with a very fine camel hair brush
12) Scary things, et cetera
13) Scary things that have just broken the flower vase
14) Scary things that, at a distance, resemble flies
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:06 PM on October 25, 2014 [2 favorites]
"Is my risk calculation super off on this or something?"
No. Strictly speaking, the actual risk for most people (outside of a few neighborhoods) is quite low relative to things people don't much fear at all. But various studies have shown that how people naturally assess risk just isn't strictly commensurate with actual risk. There's some other stuff mixed in -- and I think it's arguable whether that stuff makes the assessment "wrong", or not. I'm inclined to think that it does. But YMMV.
In the case of walking alone after dark, the additional fear for many people is a combination of our instinctive, evolved fear of predators after dark (which is totally reasonable in the evolutionary context) and an additional premium related to how the expectation of how particularly unpleasant the experience of such assault would be. In a way, painquale's experience is related to this, as I think that one of the things people subconsciously fear about this is that subsequent pervasive loss of a sense of personal safety that would result. My sense is that many/most people have a vague sense that being assaulted alone outside in the dark would itself be unusually bad, even relative to other assaults, and would cause unusually lasting trauma, even relative to other assaults. So, to repeat, if you add our instinctive, evolved fear or predators in the dark to this specific sense of such an assault being particularly awful, then it strongly sways the risk calculations that people make.
I guess that whether that's rational or not is to weigh that against what they're giving up.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:55 AM on October 26, 2014
No. Strictly speaking, the actual risk for most people (outside of a few neighborhoods) is quite low relative to things people don't much fear at all. But various studies have shown that how people naturally assess risk just isn't strictly commensurate with actual risk. There's some other stuff mixed in -- and I think it's arguable whether that stuff makes the assessment "wrong", or not. I'm inclined to think that it does. But YMMV.
In the case of walking alone after dark, the additional fear for many people is a combination of our instinctive, evolved fear of predators after dark (which is totally reasonable in the evolutionary context) and an additional premium related to how the expectation of how particularly unpleasant the experience of such assault would be. In a way, painquale's experience is related to this, as I think that one of the things people subconsciously fear about this is that subsequent pervasive loss of a sense of personal safety that would result. My sense is that many/most people have a vague sense that being assaulted alone outside in the dark would itself be unusually bad, even relative to other assaults, and would cause unusually lasting trauma, even relative to other assaults. So, to repeat, if you add our instinctive, evolved fear or predators in the dark to this specific sense of such an assault being particularly awful, then it strongly sways the risk calculations that people make.
I guess that whether that's rational or not is to weigh that against what they're giving up.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:55 AM on October 26, 2014
1. Dying alone and unloved.
posted by El Mariachi at 1:40 AM on October 27, 2014
posted by El Mariachi at 1:40 AM on October 27, 2014
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