Ipsos

The Perils of
Perception

Ipsos has been running studies on the Perils of Perception, exploring the gap between people’s perceptions and the reality since 2012 across the world. This site includes the full results from all the work we’ve undertaken in this area, across 40 countries with one hundred and fifty thousand interviews.

This unique analysis of misperceptions examines why people around the world are so wrong about basic facts about their population and covers everything from our guesses at levels of violence, the sex lives of young people, climate change, immigrant numbers, overcrowding in prisons and much more…

View the slides

Perceptions are not reality: things are NOT as bad as they seem

Ipsos’ latest Perils of Perception survey highlights how wrong the online public across 37 countries are about key global issues and features of the population in their country.

View the slides

This is the latest slide deck from Perils of Perception 2018. This includes findings from 37 countries and an updated Misperceptions Index.

Go to the slides

Take the quiz

How much do you think you know about sex, violence and climate change? Test yourself against the rest of the world in our updated quiz.

Go to the quiz

Visit the archive

We’ve been conducting work on public misperceptions for several years now. From military facts to personal finances we have a wealth of fascinating data which you can explore here.

Go to the archive

The book

Bobby Duffy has written a book on how wrong we are, why and what we can do about it.

More about the book

The perils of perception: Why we’re wrong about nearly everything

‘A superb and timely analysis of a genuine and growing threat to democratic debate.’

Alastair Campbell – author and former Downing Street Press Secretary

‘A masterful overview of how our perceptions are repeatedly off the mark. Consequential and timely.’

David Halpern – Chief Executive of the Behavioural Insights Team

‘Simply indispensable. Marrying fascinating data with superb analysis.’

Matthew d'Ancona – author of Post-Truth and Editor-in-Chief, Drugstore Culture

‘A tour-de-force. Required reading for all engaged citizens of the world.’

Dame Louise Casey – former senior British government official and former Deputy Director of Shelter