Fear of threats linked to social circle size

Humans’ fear level toward threats may be determined by the typical size of our social circles, a new study has revealed.
People fear threats that would kill 100 people more than those that would kill 10 people, but equally fear those that would kill either 100 or 1,000 people, the researchers said.
Social groups tend to be on the order of about 100 people.
The researchers, Mirta Galesic of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany and Rocio Garcia-Retamero of the University of Granada in Spain, also found that this effect was not due to lack of differentiation between 100 and 1,000.
The researchers concluded that the work could have important implications for raising awareness about specific risks to the general public.
The finding was published in the open access journal PLoS ONE.
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