 Recollection Bias and Its Underpinnings: Lessons from Terrorism-Risk AssessmentsW Viscusi and Richard Zeckhauser Working Paper Series from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government Abstract: Recollection bias is a phenomenon whereby people, after observing a highly unexpected event, hold current risk beliefs about a similar event that are no higher than their recollection of their prior beliefs. This article explores the phenomenon of recollection bias with respect to individuals' perceptions of the risks of terrorism attacks. Over 60% of respondents in a national U.S. sample of over 900 adults believe that the risks of a future terrorist attack by either an airplane or in a public setting are no higher than they believed respectively before the 9/11 attack and the Boston Marathon bombing. Only one-fifth of respondents are free of any type of recollection bias. Recollection bias with respect to both events is negatively correlated with absolute levels of risk belief. Recollection bias - basically the belief that perceived risks have not increased - also dampens support for a variety of anti-terrorism measures, controlling for the level of risk beliefs and demographic factors. JEL-codes: D03 D80 H41 H56 (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ecl:harjfk:15-066 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Working Paper Series from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government Contact information at EDIRC. |
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