Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Based on the Grand Sum, the fear of public speaking was only ranked #45 (61.7%) out of 95 fears in the 2020/2021 Chapman Survey of American Fears


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From 2014 to 2019 Chapman University produced an annual survey of American fears. They didn’t do one in 2020. In late September they produced results from a seventh survey with 95 questions, described as Wave 7 (2020/2021). It was done between January 5 and 15 of 2021 on a sample of 1035 U.S. adults, so it has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.0%. They asked how afraid people were, with four possible answers of Very Afraid, Afraid, Slightly Afraid, or Not Afraid. For some questions there were a few non-responses listed a Web Blank. As usual, they reported their results via a blog post listing the ranks based on the Sum of percentages for Very Afraid plus Afraid (which I discussed in my blog post on September 26, 2021).

 

Another way to report the results is with the percentages for Slightly Afraid also added, to produce a Grand Sum, as shown above. This produces larger, scarier numbers for marketing purposes (but is slightly silly for including that possibly insignificant fear level).    

 

Also, I calculated the Fear Score for each question (on a scale from 1 to 4, where 1= Not Afraid, 2=Slightly Afraid, 3=Afraid, and 4=Very Afraid), as I described in a blog post about the 2015 survey. The following list shows the ranking for the Grand Sum (T), the ranking for the Sum (S), the question, question number, percentage, and the Fear Score. In this case public speaking was ranked #45 at 61.7% (versus #54 and 29.0% for the Sum).

 

T01} S01] Corrupt government officials Q21b, 94.0% 3.175

T02} S05] Widespread civil unrest Q16n, 88.6% 2.717

T03} S04] People I love becoming seriously ill Q10b, 87.6% 2.732

T04} S07] Economic/financial collapse Q16l, 87.5% 2.681

T05} S02] People I love dying Q10d, 86.1% 2.744

T06} S21] Identity theft Q18o, 85.2% 2.476

T07} S03] A loved one contacting the coronavirus (COVID-19) Q28b, 85.1% 2.739

T08} S06] A pandemic or a major epidemic Q16m, 85.0% 2.681

T09} S08] Cyber-terrorism Q15c, 84.9% 2.565

T10} S12] A terrorist attack Q16s, 83.9% 2.546

T11} S09] Pollution of oceans, rivers and lakes Q13c, 82.2% 2.542

T12] S10] Biological warfare Q16r, 81.0% 2.547

T13} S15] The US becoming involved in another world war Q16o, 80.6% 2.523

T14} S32] Credit card fraud Q18p, 80.1% 2.331

T15} S28] Air pollution Q13a, 79.2% 2.354

T16} S37] Being hit by a drunk driver Q18e, 78.6% 2.313

T17} S25] Government use of drones within the US Q21a, 77.6% 2.355

T18} S14] Not having enough money for the future Q14a, 77.5% 2.539

T19} S16] Government tracking of personal data Q15e, 76.6% 2.441

T20} S17] Corporate tracking of personal data Q15d, 76.1% 2.397

T21} S22] Iran using nuclear weapons Q16u, 76.0% 2.400

T22} S18] Pollution of drinking water Q13b, 75.8% 2.375

T23} S20] Government interference with the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine approval Q21d, 75.7% 2.400

T24} S38] The collapse of the electrical grid Q16i, 75.4% 2.269

T25} S52] Theft of property Q18l, 75.2% 2.176

T26} S26] North Korea using nuclear weapons Q16t, 74.9% 2.388

T27} S33] Becoming seriously ill Q10a, 74.9% 2.286

T28} S34] Catching the coronavirus Q14g, 74.2% 2.305

T29} S27] A nuclear weapons attack Q16j, 73.9% 2.399

T30} S19] Extinction of plant and animal species Q13d, 73.5% 2.365

T31} S13] Global warming and climate change Q13f, 73.0% 2.452

T32} S31] Terrorism Q18r, 72.7% 2.331

T33} S47] Break-ins Q18k, 71.5% 2.163

T34} S11] Government restrictions on firearms and ammunition Q21c, 71.2% 2.443

T35} S36] Random/mass shooting Q18j, 70.9% 2.281

T36} S29] Contracting the coronavirus (COVID-19) Q28a, 70.8% 2.201

T37} S30] A nuclear accident/meltdown Q16k, 69.8% 2.271

T38} S24] High medical bills Q14e, 69.6% 2.340

T39} S46] Heights Q17m, 68.7% 2.139

T40} S41] Oil spills Q13e, 68.7% 2.122

T41} S40] A devastating drought Q16f, 66.9% 2.135

T42} S53] Dying Q10c, 65.0% 2.072

T43} S23] White supremacists Q19b, 64.0% 2.283

T44} S61] Mugging Q18a, 63.1% 2.028

T45} S54] Public speaking Q17n, 61.7% 2.023

T46} S39] A devastating wildfire Q16g, 61.6% 2.101

T47} S67] Reptiles (snakes, lizards, etc.) Q17d, 60.6% 1.980

T48} S62] Computers replacing people in the workforce Q15a, 60.3% 1.973

T49} S48] A devastating tornado Q16c, 59.7% 2.024

T50} S51] Sharks Q17f, 59.2% 2.010

T51} S43] A devastating earthquake Q16a, 58.8% 2.046

T52} S73] Walking alone at night Q17r, 58.8% 1.902

T53} S35] Right wing extremists Q19g, 58.1% 2.001

T54} S44] Racial/hate crime Q18i, 57.8% 2.064

T55} S75] Germs Q17h, 57.5% 1.864

T56} S70] Insects/arachnids (spiders, bees, etc.) Q17c, 57.1% 1.876

T57} S55] Murder by a stranger Q18c, 56.1% 2.009

T58} S45] A devastating hurricane Q16b, 55.6% 2.008

T59} S59] A devastating flood Q16d, 55.5% 1.964

T60} S63] Financial fraud Q18q, 55.5% 1.931

T61} S58] Gang violence Q18m, 55.3% 1.985

T62} S66] A devastating blizzard/winter storm Q16e, 52.6% 1.878

T63} S49] Not having enough money to pay my rent or mortgage Q14c, 50.5% 1.867

T64} S56] Left wing extremists Q19h, 50.2% 1.786

T65} S50] Police brutality Q18f, 49.1% 1.949

T66} S42] The Proud Boys Q19d, 48.6% 1.756

T67} S68] Deep lakes and oceans Q17i, 48.3% 1.848

T68} S77] Murder hornets Q17l, 48.2% 1.768

T69} S57] Being unemployed Q14d, 47.5% 1.654

T70} S86] Strangers Q17q, 47.1% 1.621

T71} S81] Small, enclosed spaces Q17o, 46.7% 1.698

T72} S82] Technology that I don’t understand Q15b, 46.2% 1.669

T73} S60] Sexual assault by a stranger Q18g, 45.6% 1.899

T74} S80] Catching influenza (the seasonal flu) Q14f, 44.7% 1.657

T75} S76] Illegal immigration Q16q, 42.9% 1.746

T76} S69] Stalking Q18b, 42.3% 1.772

T77} S65] Abduction/kidnapping Q18n, 42.0% 1.838

T78} S64] Losing your job due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic Q28c, 41.0% 1.807

T79} S72] Antifa Q19a, 39.8% 1.513

T80} S78] A large volcanic eruption Q16h, 37.7% 1.651

T81} S74] Murder by someone you know Q18d, 36.1% 1.709

T82} S85] Flying Q17j, 34.6% 1.515

T83} S71] Sexual assault by someone you know Q18h, 32.9% 1.696

T84} S83] Black Lives Matter (BLM) Q19c, 31.3% 1.529

T85} S84] Needles Q17b, 31.3% 1.474

T86} S95] Animals (dogs, rats, etc.) Q17e, 27.1% 1.332

T87} S79] Not being able to pay off the college debt of myself or a family member Q14b, 26.4% 1.010

T88} S87] Being caught in an embarrassing moment on Zoom or video conference Q14h, 25.6% 1.075

T89} S91] Blood Q17a, 24.9% 1.354

T90} S88] Ghosts Q17k, 24.4% 1.379

T91} S90] Whites no longer being the majority in the US Q16p, 21.7% 1.350

T92} S92] Muslims Q19f, 19.0% 1.269

T93} S89] Zombies Q17p, 17.6% 1.318

T94} S93] Immigrants Q19e, 15.9% 1.217

T95} S94] Clowns Q17g, 15.0% 1.220

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was curious about whether the relative rankings shifted in going from the Sum to the Grand Sum. Only four fears had the exact same rank. A histogram for the differences is shown above. At a difference of 1 to 5 there are 26 changes versus – 1 to -5 where there are only 17 changes. Further negative, at larger differences, there is a fairly smooth curve.    

 


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