THE GEOGRAPHY OF FEAR (By Daniel Treisman)

[Román Culebro Martínez]

Using data from six surveys, this paper find that levels of reported fear of different dangers correlate strongly across both individuals and countries. I construct indexes of fearfulness for 15-25 countries and map the prevalence of fear in Western Europe. About two thirds of the crossnational variation within Europe can be explained by differences in pessimism -the degree to which respondents exaggerate the likelihood of disasters. Among the countries for which I have date, the most robust correlates of fearfulness relate to countries´ religious traditions. Fear tends to be higher in countries where more people believe in Hell and where fewer believe in Heaven.   paper_Treisman.pdf