Reading Dan Gardner’s new book produces two fascinating yet frustrating results: the simultaneous undermining of one’s fears about the many perceived dangers in modern life, and the awareness of one’s condition as a human being, saddled with the vestiges of a Stone Age brain and apparently incapable of escaping
those fears.

Employing results from countless studies (especially those from psychologist Paul Slovic) that analyze the interconnected factors determining the way humans perceive risk, Gardner, a journalist and columnist for the Ottawa Citizen, methodically and convincingly explains that our understanding of risk is predominantly governed by a kind of primitive emotional response, or what Gardner terms “Gut.” The rational mind – or “Head” – may intervene and temper Gut’s exaggerated fear of pedophiles, economic downturn, or terrorist attacks, but according to Gardner’s findings, it rarely does.

The real threat, Gardner suggests, is the combination of our tendency to react to risk with Gut, and the many institutions in our lives that knowingly appeal to this tendency, exploiting it by perpetuating illogical fear. No one is exempt in Gardner’s analysis. Politicians, drug companies, and security companies, as well as NGOs, activists, and charities are all guilty, regardless of their motives, of provoking fear and paranoia in people to achieve some end. Gardner takes the media to task too, noting that journalists, hard-pressed for time and interested in a good story, often feature and sensationalize bad news, especially when it involves particularly heinous crimes like murder. Despite their high profile on the evening news, these crimes occur much less frequently compared to a host of other more mundane crimes that go largely unreported by the media.

Gardner by no means dismisses the reality of risk in our lives, but he suggests that more attention should be given to real risks such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease – threats that are statistically more likely to take lives. Ultimately, Gardner advises that when confronted by the fear-provoking stimuli generated by societal influences, we should make a conscious effort to “think hard,” and force our rational minds to regulate our perceptions of risk.