Just in Time For Halloween – What Scares Us Most

Back in the spring, researchers from California’s Chapman University polled a random sample of 15-hundred Americans to find out what scared them the most. Survey-takers were asked to rate their level of fear for 88 different things in 10 "fear domains".

As a follow up, respondents were asked if they had taken any specific actions based on those fears. The results showed that fear had motivated voting, buying guns, purchasing alarms and sending kids to private schools.

UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 01: From left, Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., Chris Coons, D-Del., Mark Warner, D-Va., Ben Cardin, D-Md., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., conduct a news conference in the Capitol's Senate studio, October 1, 2015, to introduce the Iran Policy Oversight Act of 2015. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

The ten fear domains were: Crime; Daily Life; Environment; Government; Judgment of Others; Man-Made Disasters; Natural Disasters; Personal Anxieties; Personal Future; and Technology and the top ten fears as recorded by Chapman researchers:

• Corruption of government officials (58%)
• Cyber-terrorism (44.8%)
• Corporate tracking of personal information (44.6%)
• Terrorist attacks (44.4%)
• Government tracking of personal information (41.4%)
• Bio-warfare (40.9%)
• Identity theft (39.6%)
• Economic collapse (39.2%)
• Running out of money in the future (37.4%)
• Credit card fraud (36.9%)

Categories: Featured, Halloween