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The essay contrasts the scientific approach to analyzing and making decisions about risk with the ways that ordinary people perceive and respond to risk. It highlights the importance of trust as a determiner of perceived risk. It describes relatively new research on "risk as feelings" and the "Affect Heuristic". Finally reflects on the importance of this work for risk communication and concludes with some observations about human rationality and irrationality in the face of risk.
Paul Slovic (2010) studied this question.