Perceptions of Terrorism and Disease Risks: A Cross-National Comparison.

The paper (co-authored with Daniel Bailis and William Klein) discusses the findings from a July 2003 survey of American and Canadian students' perceptions of and attitudes toward the risks of terrorism and SARS. The survey's authors hypothesized that Canadian and American participants would perceive the distinctive risk for their country (SARS for Canadians, terrorism for Americans) as more serious than a nondistinctive risk (West Nile Virus) or the other country's distinctive risk, and that they would do so in direct proportion to their strength of self-identification with the country in which they live. The survey's purpose in examining the risk-perception functions of national identity is to gain a fuller appreciation of the possible gap between lay and expert assessments of risks such as SARS and terrorism and to explore relevant policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]