A few random violent incidents generate outsized public fear

Evidence

There are three properties of criminal victimization that enable a few violent incidents to instill widespread public fear. First, there is unpredictability, with no forewarning of when or where violence might occur. Random crimes are especially frightening because they make everyone feel vulnerable (Heath, 1984). The second property is the gravity of the consequences. Individuals are unwilling to risk being maimed or killed or having their child abducted, killed, or critically injured, say, in a school shooting, even if the probability is extremely low. Finally, there is the sense of uncontrollability, a perceived helplessness should one be the victim of an armed crime. The prevalence of gun violence in broadcast media and the heavy focus on murders on local network news reinforce the fear that one can become the victim of an armed crime. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1040 (#expands, via linked claim)

The most pervasive effect of gun violence is its generalized impairment of the quality of life in a society. There are three properties of criminal victimization that enable a few violent incidents to instill widespread public fear. First, there is unpredictability, with no forewarning of when or where violence might occur. Random crimes are especially frightening because they make everyone feel vulnerable (Heath, 1984). The second property is the gravity of the consequences. Individuals are unwilling to risk being maimed or killed or having their child abducted, killed, or critically injured, say, in a school shooting, even if the probability is extremely low. Finally, there is the sense of uncontrollability, a perceived helplessness should one be the victim of an armed crime. The prevalence of gun violence in broadcast media and the heavy focus on murders on local network news reinforce the fear that one can become the victim of an armed crime. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1040 (#expands, via linked claim)

Terrorist acts include several features that allow a few incidents to incite widespread public fear even though the likelihood of being a victim of a terrorist attack is exceedingly low. The first feature is the unpredictability of who will be targeted and when or where terrorists will strike. Terrorists could attack busy markets, crowded streets, public events, public transportation, or airliners, making anyone a potential victim. The second feature is the gravity of terrorist acts. With the increasing lethality of conventional and improvised weapons, terrorists can wreak destruction on a massive scale. … The third feature is the sense of uncontrollability that they instill. People feel that there is little they can do personally to protect themselves from becoming victims of a terrorist attack. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2111 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Crackdowns traumatize protesters so deeply that false alarms trigger terror — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 534; A single shocking image of police violence galvanized mass attention. — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 389; Populations adapt to pervasive violence until it seems ordinary (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• A few violent incidents spread widespread fear through unpredictability, severity, and uncontrollability #expands (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1040
• Three features make rare violent crimes generate disproportionate public fear #expands (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 1040
• Unpredictability, scale, and uncontrollability make rare attacks terrorize whole publics #expands (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2111
• Unpredictability and destruction let rare attacks generate disproportionate public fear. #expands (0.93)
• A few random shootings can terrorize an entire community #exemplifies (0.92)
• Public warnings can provoke the panic they seek to avoid. #complicates (0.72) — Cohen, Stanley, Folk devils and moral panics, 617