Word: ropeik
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...from October through December 2001 there were 1,000 more highway fatalities than in the same period the year before, in part because there were simply more cars around. "It was called the '9/11 effect.' It produced a third again as many fatalities as the terrorist attacks," says David Ropeik, an independent risk consultant and a former annual instructor at the Harvard School of Public Health...
Then too there's what Ropeik and others call "optimism bias," the thing that makes us glower when we see someone driving erratically while talking on a cell phone, even if we've done the very same thing, perhaps on the very same day. We tell ourselves we're different, because our call was shorter or our business was urgent or we were able to pay attention to the road even as we talked. What optimism bias comes down to, however, is the convenient belief that risks that apply to other people don't apply...
...true since, in most cases, the gratification is immediate and the penalty, if it comes at all, comes later. With enough time and enough temptation, we can talk ourselves into ignoring almost any long-term costs. "These things are fun or hip, even if they can be lethal," says Ropeik. "And that pleasure is a benefit we weigh...
...Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly identified David Ropeik as a "former professor at the Harvard School of Public Health." In fact, Mr. Ropeik was a former annual instructor, not a professor, and he was not a member of the school's faculty...
...David Ropeik is the Director of Risk Communication at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. He is co-author of RISK! A Practical Guide for Deciding What’s Really Safe and What’s Really Dangerous in the World Around...