Biased Risk Perceptions Among Japanese: Illusion of Interdependence Among Risk Companions

In human history the unit of survival has often been the group rather than the individual. I hypothesized, therefore, that people would feel safer in the presence of risk companions (i.e., those who are exposed to the same risk source) than when they are on their own, even when such expectations are not justifiable on normative grounds. Two experiments lent support to the hypothesis. Participants were asked to estimate the risk level involved either in six hypothetical situa-tions (Experiment 1: N = 112) or real electric shocks (Experiment 2: N = 81) with varying numbers of risk companions. The participants’ perceived risk level decreased as the number of risk companions increased. People appear to use a cognitive heuristic, which I term interdependence heuristic, in risk perception.