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Psychological Perspectives on Perceived Safety: Social Factors of Feeling Safe

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Perceived Safety

Part of the book series: Risk Engineering ((RISK))

Abstract

What makes people feel safe? How do people conclude whether a certain situation, choice, or behavior is safe or not? In the present chapter we take the view that social factors influence perceived safety. We discuss the social determinants of perceived safety both as a general subjective state and as a safety-related estimation or judgment. From this perspective, we first discuss what humans need to feel safe. We present psychological insights on basic human needs and argue that the fulfillment of those needs is a general condition for the state of perceived safety. Second, we discuss how social factors (i.e. what others do and say and how one relates to these others) influence safety judgments and decisions. We illustrate how individuals adapt their judgments and behaviors to group norms and discuss why group discussions can lead to extreme judgments and decisions. We aim to complement the existing literature on perceived safety by highlighting the importance of social factors of safety perception.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, Leopoldstr. 13, 80802, Munich, Germany

    Eric Eller & Dieter Frey

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  1. Eric Eller
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  2. Dieter Frey
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Correspondence to Eric Eller .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. AgeLab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Martina Raue

  2. Institute of Psychology—RiskLab, UMIT—Private University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall in Tyrol, Tyrol, Austria

    Bernhard Streicher

  3. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany

    Eva Lermer

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Eller, E., Frey, D. (2019). Psychological Perspectives on Perceived Safety: Social Factors of Feeling Safe. In: Raue, M., Streicher, B., Lermer, E. (eds) Perceived Safety. Risk Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11456-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11456-5_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-11454-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-11456-5

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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