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Why we Worry About all the Wrong Things by Hilary Stohs-Krause

"Modern humans aren’t great at risk assessment.

We often blithely ignore that which could harm us, and are conversely intimidated by things that are quite safe. This inability to recognize threat has vast implications for many aspects of our lives, including our careers.

Do you want to be less stressed? Make better decisions? Learn strategies for identifying (and dealing with!) unnecessary worry? Let's explore the root causes of fear and anxiety together, and discover how we can start to deliberately rewrite our instincts."

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"Hilary Stohs-Krause is currently based in Madison, WI, where she's co-owner and software developer at Ten Forward Consulting. She came to tech by way of childhood website-building (a ""Buffy the Vampire Slayer"" fansite, to be exact).

She volunteers regularly with several tech and community organizations, and co-runs Madison Women in Tech, a local group with more than 2,000 members. She loves sci-fi/fantasy, board games and bourbon barrel-aged stouts. She tweets at @hilarysk."

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In her talk "Why We Worry About All the Wrong Things," Hilary Stohs-Krause delves into the complex relationship between modern human risk assessment and misplaced fears. She highlights how humans tend to overestimate risks while underestimating the actual dangers around us, causing unnecessary stress and affecting decision-making. Stohs-Krause begins by establishing that fear is a rational emotion but often misplaced, leading to what she refers to as 'misplaced fears.'

**Key Points Discussed:**
- **Common Misplaced Fears:** 
  - Examples include a fear of spiders despite only 12 out of 40,000 species being harmful, and a fear of flying despite low accident rates on commercial flights. In fact, one is more likely to die in a car accident than in an airline crash.

- **Implications of Misplaced Fears:**  
  - The gap between perceived and actual risk results in wasted emotional and physical energy, hindering effective decision-making and leading to poor health outcomes including stress-related ailments. Stohs-Krause emphasizes that misplaced worries can significantly impact career decisions, where individuals might avoid opportunities due to unfounded anxieties.

- **Origin of Fear and Decision-Making:**  
  - Fear originates in the brain, specifically in the amygdala that processes emotions. Misplaced fear often leads to an instinctive, reflexive response before the rational part of the brain (the prefrontal cortex) weighs in.

- **Addressing Fear:**  
  - Stohs-Krause suggests strategies for better risk assessment, such as acknowledging the role of luck in decision outcomes and reframing fear into a tool for growth. She advocates for cognitive-behavioral techniques, highlighting the importance of identifying and understanding personal fears, thereby reframing them into manageable challenges.

- **Social Influence on Fear:**  
  - Emotional contagion shows that fear can spread among individuals, indicating that being mindful of such influences is crucial for managing one's emotional state.

- **Concrete Strategies for Improvement:**  
  - Techniques like optimal stopping (knowing when to settle for an option), constraint relaxation (solving complex problems step-by-step), and information cascades (understanding the motivations behind behaviors) are discussed.

- **Reframing Perspectives:**  
  - Cognitive behavioral therapy principles encourage looking at fear as an opportunity rather than a setback, helping to build resilience against anxiety.

In conclusion, Stohs-Krause encourages the audience to recognize their fears, differentiate them from actual threats, and make informed decisions based on rational assessments rather than gut reactions. She emphasizes that managing fear and anxiety is possible through thoughtful strategies and awareness.

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