Airplane Crashes Not As Likely As You May Think
I am only writing my first blog about airplane crashes because I am deathly affraid of flying. After a near-death-experience last summer, I took it into my own hands to research the facts about plane crashes. It is much more likely for a person to die in a car crash than a plane crash. In fact, the chances of a person dying in a plane crash is about 1 in 11 million, while the chances of a person dying in an automobile accident are about 1 in 5000. Research reveals that a much higher percentage of people fear plane crashes rather than car crashes because plane crashes tend to make headline news. Obviously, if every plane crash that occurs is broadcasted all over the news, more people will fear planes as opposed to automobiles. This negative bias is what keeps alot of people out of the sky and on the streets instead.
http://www.fearless-flight.com/flight-safety/statistics.shtml
posted by Anonymous at
5:22 AM
1 Comments:
Interesting post and one that many of us can relate to in some way. This is an example of a cognitive bias. A cognitive bias is a statistical or memory error that all humans have and that can lead us to incorrect decision making. In the case of fear of flying we overestimate the probability of death by plane vs. death by car.
Here is a list of congnitive biasesThis is from the CIA on cognitive biases in intelligence analysisThis page contains links to more resources about cognitive biases.
By
John Topoleski, at 10:51 AM
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