According to eight Chapman Surveys of American Fears, more adults fear sharks than fear public speaking – but neither is their top fear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Way back on October 27, 2009 I blogged about an often-quoted old survey (where public speaking was the top fear) in a post titled The 14 Worst Human Fears in the 1977 Book of Lists: where did this data really come from? In that post I noted:

 

“The movie Jaws came out in 1975, so by next year I suspect that sharks were ‘top of mind’ and would have made any list of top ten fears.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, starting in 2017, the annual Chapman Survey of American Fears asked about Sharks. As shown above for eight surveys, more people fear them than fear Public Speaking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, as also is shown above, Corrupt Government Officials were the top fear in ten surveys, and Public Speaking only ranked from #26 to #59.   

 

Cartoons of a shark and speaker came from OpenClipArt.