How cultural tightness relates to risk perception

This webinar by Dr Janet Geipel presents findings from a large cross-cultural study examining the relationship between cultural tightness – the strength of social norms and expectations – and risk perception across diverse threat domains, including severe weather, water, work, crime, and mental health.

Using data from 51 countries and 834,099 participants, the study found that cultural tightness was largely unrelated to overall risk perception. However, domain-specific patterns emerged: tighter cultures were associated with higher perceived risk in work and mental health, and lower perceived risk in crime. Preregistered individual-level analyses in China, the UK, Germany, Italy, and Greece provided partial replication of these findings. The webinar will discuss the theoretical implications of these results for understanding how cultural norms shape perceptions of risk.