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posted by martyb on Sunday October 16 2016, @08:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the The-only-thing-we-have-to-fear-is... dept.

Chapman University recently completed its third annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears (2016). The survey asked respondents about 65 fears across a broad range of categories including fears about the government, crime, the environment, the future, technology, health, natural disasters, as well as fears of public speaking, spiders, heights, ghosts and many other personal anxieties.

In addition to the set of fears examined in previous waves, the survey team took a closer look at two fear related phenomena: Americans' beliefs in conspiracy theories and fear of Muslims, sometimes referred to as "Islamophobia."

In its third year, the annual Chapman University Survey of American Fears included more than 1,500 adult participants from across the nation and all walks of life. The 2016 survey data is organized into five basic categories: personal fears, conspiracy theories, terrorism, natural disasters, paranormal fears, and fear of Muslims.

The 2016 survey shows that the top 10 things Americans fear the most are:

  • Corruption of government officials (same top fear as 2015)
  • Terrorist attacks
  • Not having enough money for the future
  • Being a victim of terror
  • Government restrictions on firearms and ammunition (new)
  • People I love dying
  • Economic or financial collapse
  • Identity theft
  • People I love becoming seriously ill
  • The Affordable Health Care Act/"Obamacare"

http://phys.org/news/2016-10-americans-annual-survey-american.html

A comprehensive list of the all the fears is available from The Chapman Survey on American Fears 2016.

A video is also available at: https://youtu.be/Rr0XAFbe8b8

Previously:
What Americans Fear Most (2014)


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Monday October 17 2016, @03:05AM

    by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Monday October 17 2016, @03:05AM (#415072) Homepage Journal

    Interestingly, I've had the opposite experience.

    When I was a kid, I had no fear of heights. I didn't have any fear of heights until I was in my thirties and even then, while it would bother me, I could handle it without too much trouble. Heck, I even went bungee jumping! While that was kind of scary, it was neither debilitating nor panic inducing.

    As I've gotten older, the fear has gotten worse. I was recently on a balcony (third or fourth floor, IIRC) and I was completely panicked at being on the balcony, even though I was nowhere near the edge. I chided myself for my fear and attempted to ignore it. I repeatedly went out on the balcony and my panic level increased rather than decreased.

    It's not such a big deal, as I'm not required to do such things, but for me, repeated exposure seems to make things worse, not better. Go figure.

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
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  • (Score: 1) by jelizondo on Monday October 17 2016, @06:00AM

    by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 17 2016, @06:00AM (#415113) Journal

    That is very interesting. I get vertigo from even watching a movie full-screen of people climbing mountains or flying... but then I been afraid all my life and my climbing is purely will against my base instinct. Funny thing is, I am not bothered at all in a plane or helicopter. Go figure.

    What could have changed in your brain? I'm not qualified to even venture a guess but I find it interesting and somewhat unsettling that one could acquire fears as an older person because we are "set" in our ways, that is, barring a traumatic experience.

    Cheers

    • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday October 17 2016, @06:40AM

      by NotSanguine (285) <NotSanguineNO@SPAMSoylentNews.Org> on Monday October 17 2016, @06:40AM (#415119) Homepage Journal

      Airplanes and the like are just fine for me too. I guess it's not really just heights, but being high up where there is a place I could go over the side.

      Hiking in the mountains is no big deal for me either. But put me on a rooftop, a balcony or near the edge of a cliff and I get pretty freaked out.

      As for what triggered this? I have no idea.

      --
      No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
      • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday October 18 2016, @01:23PM

        by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 18 2016, @01:23PM (#415650) Homepage Journal

        I was told once by a doctor that fear of heights tends to start in the twenties, and gradually gets worse as one gets older.

        In me, it manifests as a sense of disorientation when high up, so I start to lose the natural ability to understand which direction to move to get away from the danger. I have to substitute explicit conscious mathematical reasoning for instinctive avoidance movements.

        That's scary.

        As I get older (I'm now 70), I also don't balance as well as I used to. That's a further reason to avoid places where I might fall. It applies to ladders as sell as icy streets.