---
title: Love is Blind … but what about Fear? | Trendlines by Gradient
description: We used an indirect form of survey questioning called a List Experiment to calculate the likelihood that Americans are hiding from public view their personal, deep-down fear of someone close to them contracting COVID-19.
image: https://www.gradientmetrics.com/hubfs/Methodology.png
---

![](https://www.gradientmetrics.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Methodology.png?width=300&name=Methodology.png)

[Thomas Vladeck](https://www.gradientmetrics.com/trendlines/author/thomas-vladeck)2020/03/26< 1 min read

# Love Is Blind…  But What About Fear?

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*How worried are you that someone close to you will contract COVID-19?*

 

Does reading the news or talking (from a distance) with your friends inflate your sense of worry? Or are you playing it cool to keep those around you calm?

 

We used an indirect form of survey questioning called a [List Experiment](https://email.gradientmetrics.com/t/t-l-nklljjl-l-jt/) to calculate the likelihood that Americans are hiding from public view their personal, deep-down fear of someone close to them contracting COVID-19.

 

**Americans are twice as likely to publicly say they are worried about someone they know contracting COVID-19 than they privately, truly, feel.**

 

That’s right. 66% of Americans ***publicly ***state they are worried. But when you ask them through an experimental condition where their privacy is guaranteed, only 33% reveal they are ***actually ***worried.

![avatar](https://www.gradientmetrics.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Landing%20Page/team_photos/gradient-tom.jpg?width=290&name=gradient-tom.jpg)

[Thomas Vladeck

](https://www.gradientmetrics.com/trendlines/author/thomas-vladeck)Tom was inspired to start Gradient by the cutting-edge market research performed by his advisors at Wharton, where he received his MBA in marketing and statistics. Prior to Wharton, Tom received a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and studied math at Pomona College. In a prior life, Tom produced quantitative models for global climate policy reports.

[mailto:tom@gradientmetrics.com](mailto:tom@gradientmetrics.com)<https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomvladeck/><https://twitter.com/tvladeck>

## RELATED ARTICLES

<https://www.gradientmetrics.com/trendlines/love-is-blind-but-what-about-fear#>

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