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Assessing Disaster Resilience of Concrete with Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles
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Published on: November 14, 2025

Optimism following a tornado disaster.

Jerry Suls1, Jason P Rose, Paul D Windschitl

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, City, IA 52242, USA. jerry-suls@uiowa.edu

Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin
|March 5, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

After a severe weather disaster, people perceive themselves as less vulnerable to future risks. This perception of reduced personal risk, especially compared to peers, remained consistent over time.

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Last Updated: May 13, 2026

Assessing Disaster Resilience of Concrete with Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles
05:45

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Published on: November 14, 2025

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Disaster studies
  • Risk perception

Background:

  • Understanding how individuals perceive future vulnerability after experiencing severe weather events is crucial for public safety messaging.
  • Previous research indicates a general tendency for people to underestimate risks they have personally faced.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the long-term effects of severe weather disaster exposure on perceived future vulnerability.
  • To compare risk perceptions among different demographic groups (students, general public) and geographic locations (affected vs. unaffected neighborhoods).

Main Methods:

  • The study surveyed college students, randomly selected local residents, and residents from affected and unaffected neighborhoods at multiple time points post-disaster (1 month, 6 months, 1 year).
  • Participants provided both absolute and comparative risk estimates for future events, including "gut-level" likelihood assessments and statistical risk estimations.

Main Results:

  • Students and community residents consistently reported lower perceived vulnerability to future disasters compared to their peers over a year.
  • While absolute risk estimates became more optimistic over time, comparative vulnerability perceptions remained stable.
  • Residents of affected neighborhoods initially showed lower comparative vulnerability and likelihood estimates, which later converged with those of unaffected residents.
  • Perceived likelihood of injury from future tornadoes (10%-12%) significantly overestimated expert-calculated risks (1%).

Conclusions:

  • Experiencing a severe weather disaster can lead to a sustained, albeit potentially inaccurate, sense of reduced future vulnerability.
  • Individuals tend to perceive their personal risk as lower than that of their peers, even when statistical data suggests otherwise.
  • Disaster communication strategies should address the discrepancy between subjective (gut-level) and objective (statistical) risk assessments to improve public preparedness.