Outrage—particularly the presence of an identifiable human face responsible for a risk—is a powerful magnifier of attention to worst-case scenarios; terrorism has a face (Osama bin Laden/Al Qaeda) that magnifies concern, while climate change has no villainous face and is therefore diminished in salience.
causalpending
Speaker
Cass SunsteinEvidence Quote
“if there's a person who is responsible for the creation of a risk that can be a tremendous magnifier on people's attention to the worst case scenario and if there isn't a face or a person associated with it that can be a diminishing factor now climate change doesn't have a face”
Created: 6/15/2026, 9:17:23 AM
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