Perils of Perception
In this section you can learn more about ‘why’ we work with constructive journalism. Here we present to you the key facts that underline the need for new ways of doing journalism.
Ipsos’ latest Perils of Perception survey looks at how accurate people are at guessing causes of death in 32 countries around the world.
“Perceptions are not reality:
things are not as bad as they seem.”
According to Ipsos every country for instance underestimates the coverage of vaccinations of infants in their country which is near universal in many cases. People in all countries hugely overestimate the levels of unemployment in their country.
Ipsos has been running its global Perils of Perception studies since 2012, exploring the gap between people’s perceptions and reality. This analysis of misperceptions examines why people around the world are so wrong about things like causes of death, climate change, immigrant numbers and much more.
Previous Reports
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Perils of Perception 2018 This study of over 19,000 people in 27 countries highlights how we think fake news, filter bubbles and post-truth are things that affect other people, much more than ourselves. -
Perils of Perception 2017 This 2017 study across 38 countries show that people are most inaccurate about murder rates and the number of people who die from terrorist attacks each year. -
European Union Perils of Perception This survey was published before the 2016 EU referendum and showed that many of the public were still very shaky on fundamental aspects of the relationship with the EU. -
Business and Tax Perils of Perception This 2015 study conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) examines how people significantly underestimate how much tax revenue comes from businesses.