EXPLORING A MODEL IN TWO DOMAINS

Threat is related to policy choices; the greater the threat perceived, the lower the risk an individual is willing to take (Rokeach 1960). Threat is the perceived intent and ability of something or someone to inflict harm or to block the attainment of a goal. Still, to explain why one policy choice is chosen over another, or what connections are made between desired goals and the means to achieve those goals (Simon 1985), we need more information.

We should know, for example, whether a perceived threat corresponds to an objective threat. In addition, it is important to know whether a threat is perceived that way. Whatever the intention of the sender of the message, to be acted upon threat must be perceived. Threats can be intentional and actual in which case the situation includes both a sender and an intended receiver, but threats can also be unintended and yet perceived. “Perceived” can have the meaning of “received,” implying a sender, and it can also mean “imaginary.” Sometimes, even though no threat is sent one can feel very threatened and can react in a negative and hostile fashion to what or to whom we perceive as the origin of the threat. Foa, Steketee, and Olasov-Rothbaum (1989) developed a model of the development of post-traumatic stress disorder based on the finding that perceived threat is a better predictor of the disorder than objective threat.