Young drivers tend to see themselves as less likely to be in a crash than others in their own age group. Young drivers also judge the risk of being in a crash as being greater when they are a passenger than when they are driving the vehicle, suggesting that perceived control is an important factor in their risk assessment. Young drivers who use safety belts tend to rate the risk of crash involvement as higher than those who are not using seat belts. Several factors may be involved in the misperception of risk. Young drivers, as compared to older drivers, tend to recall a small number of vividly remembered examples of crashes, not necessarily related to the actual number of crashes.
More exposure means more opportunity for an event to take place.
Attitude Formation and Change Attitudes can be thought of as relatively stable mental positions held towards ideas, objects, or people. Because attitudes are learned, they are susceptible to change through persuasion. In general, communications will be more persuasive if they are perceived to come from a highly credible and respected source. Messages that seem contrary to what we would expect from particular sources are also perceived to be especially trustworthy. Similarities between the communicator and the audience that have nothing to do with the message also affect the level of persuasiveness.