The Role of Personal Experience in Contributing to Different Patterns of Response to Rare Terrorist Attacks

An examination of the behavioral effect of repeated terrorist attacks reveals that local residents (of the attacked area) appear to be much less sensitive to this risk than international tourists. Furthermore, the limited sensitivity on the part of local residents seems to diminish with time, even when the attacks continue. An experimental study shows a similar pattern in a laboratory experiment that focuses on a basic decision task: when making a single decision based on a description of the problem, people tend to be more risk averse. Personal experience with the problem reduces this sensitivity. These results highlight an interesting relationship between basic decision-making research and the study of the response to traumatic events.