Tri States Public Radio Staff Mon December 17, 2012 Why
Tragedies Alter Risk Perception Originally published on Mon
December 17, 2012 4:44 am DAVID GREENE, HOST: After the tragedy
in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday, many parents dropping their
kids off at school this morning are facing a lot of anxiety.
Today in Your Health, we asked NPR's science correspondent
Shankar Vedantam to come by to talk about how tragedies shape
our perceptions of risk. Shankar, good morning. SHANKAR
VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Good morning, David. GREENE: So tell us what
we know from school shootings of the past. I mean, what sort of
impact will this tragedy have on parents and how they think?
VEDANTAM: Well, David, if the history of these mass shootings is
any guide, many parents are going to wake up this morning being
fearful about sending their kids to school. You know, I was at a
children's birthday party over the weekend, and many of the kids
were the same age as the victims in Newtown. And I couldn't stop
myself from imagining these rea