When a threat to life is common, as are automobile and industrial accidents, only unusual instances tend to be prominently reported by the news media. █████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████████ █████ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ██████████
In situations that commonly threaten people’s lives (like car crashes and industrial accidents), the news only really reports unusual incidents. However, rare threats like product tampering are prominently reported. Also, people generally estimate the risk of different threats based on how much they hear about those threats.
The stimulus supports these conclusions:
News media are more likely to report on rare or unusual threats to life than on common threats.
People who estimate risk based on news reports likely underestimate the risk of common threats and overestimate the risk of rare or unusual threats.
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