Reading 1 Why do we fear some things but not others? After t…
Reading 1 Why do we fear some things but not others? After the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, many people feared flying more than driving, even though Americans, according to the National Safety Council, were 40 percent more likely to die, mile for mile, in a car crash than on a plane trip. From 2002 to 2004, there were only 34 deaths among nearly 2 billion aircraft passengers, while in the same period, 128,000 Americans were killed in auto accidents. So why aren’t we more afraid of driving than of flying? Psychologists have determined that there are four factors that influence our personal fears. One reason for our fears comes from our ancestral history. Primitive humans were afraid of being trapped in small spaces, most likely because they would not be able to escape from predators, such as a hungry tiger that followed them into their cave. And they were afraid of heights because—as they learned 100,000 years ago—it was easy to fall from them. These primitive fears of confinement and heights are still with us, and they can be seen in our reactions to modern-day flying on airplanes. On a jumbo jet, hundreds of us are jammed into tiny spaces. What’s more, we’re forced to fasten our seat belts and keep them fastened until the aircraft reaches its cruising altitude . . . which can be 36,000 feet. No wonder we’re scared. Secondly, experts say we fear what we cannot control. Unless we are trained pilots, we do not control flying. When we fly, then, we are helpless passengers: unable to move or change direction, belted into our too-small seats in a huge metal prison hurtling through the skies more than six miles above the ground. However, when we drive, we’re in charge; we can choose how fast to go, what route to take, and whether or not to stop along the way. Therefore, our fear of flying commonly trumps any reservations we have about driving. Another influence on fear involves the possibility of immediate threat. For instance, fears related to flying are mainly condensed into the moments of takeoff and landing, which involve rapid, often bumpy ascents and descents. Once the plane is in the air and flying smoothly, our concerns usually subside. The dangers of driving, however, are scattered over a much longer period—from the beginning of the trip to the end—and therefore seem less threatening. Finally, we fear what is most readily available in our memory. Powerful, still-present memories of the 9/11 terrorist attacks generate a rationale for anxiety over air travel. In addition, whenever a large airplane crashes, vivid stories, including all the gory details and accompanied by gruesome photos, dominate national and local news. Unless we’re picking someone up at the airport, we never get to hear about the flights that arrive safely. In contrast, automobile accidents, unless they involve celebrities, rarely show up on the evening news, and countless safe car trips reduce or even eliminate fears about driving. Considering these fear factors helps us understand our own perceptions of risk. According to psychologists, our mindsets and our memories cause us to judge some events to be greater threats than they really are. Which sentence best states the main idea of the passage?