The Psychometric Study of Risk Perception

In industrialized societies, the question “How safe is safe enough?” has emerged as a major policy issue of the 1980s. The frequent discovery of new hazards and the widespread publicity they receive is causing more and more individuals to see themselves as the victims, rather than as the beneficiaries, of technology. These fears and the opposition to technology that they produce have perplexed industrialists and regulators and led many observers to argue that the public’s apparent pursuit of a “zero-risk society” threatens the nation’s political and economic stability (Harris, 1980; Wildavsky, 1979).