Researchers surveyed about 1,500 adults living in the United States, and began by asking about what types (or, as the study calls them, domains) of things frightened them most: Options included crime, man-made disasters, natural disasters, and the participants’ personal future.
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Around 58% of Americans have admitted themselves to being “afraid or very afraid” of the possibility of having corrupt government officials.
A new element to this year’s survey was a question about whether people had acted out of fear. Buying a home alarm system and putting a child in private school were also two popular actions taken out to address fears.
Other tech-related fears cited in the survey were Robots Replacing Workforce and Trusting Artificial Intelligence to do Work. They are crime, personal anxieties (i.e., tight spaces, public speaking, heights), judgment of others (e.g., gender identity, appearance), environmental, daily life (such as rejection), technology, natural disasters, personal future (dying, illness, going broke), man-made disasters, and government-related issues (e.g., gun control, corruption, drones). As everyone’s Twitter feeds swirl with news of debates and shade thrown between presidential hopefuls, this might be the most practical fear to have at the moment. Further, 86 percent believe an emergency kit would improve their chances of surviving a disaster, but 72 percent indicate they have made no effort to put together such a kit.
Halloween is approaching, so a survey assessed what scares the bejesus out of Americans to find that while the top fears are relatively rational, quite a few of them are severely questionable.
Interestingly enough, around 40% of the surveyed respondents believe that places can be haunted by evil spirits.
20% of Americans believe both that aliens visited Earth in the many moons back, and that dreams can foresee the future. “But that also means half of Americans do not believe in anything paranormal”.
Technology-related concerns account for 3 of the top 5 biggest fears among Americans surveyed recently by Chapman University of Orange, Calif. – and a couple of the other concerns on the top 10 list could be considered tech-related worries as well.
The survey included items on paranormal beliefs ranging from Bigfoot and psychic powers to haunted houses and the power of dreams.
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A comprehensive list of all the fears from “The Chapman Survey on American Fears” can be found here.
