Maybe we're risk averse because most interactions are mildly positive, but a tiny number are exceptionally bad, triggering the availability hueristic. Not sure.
Either way, we're probably more avoidant than we should be.
Raylan Givens
Especially when it comes to air travel, it's probably a self-fulfilling prophesy. There's the perception that people are grouchy when traveling (and doesn't seem to matter whether infrequent leisure traveler or road-warrior on business) and when we combine that with largely only remembering the negative reactions and...there you go.
Air travel has become so uncomfortable[0] and the loss of control feels so total that people seem more likely to enforce what little territory/control they have just because they can, not for any rational reason.
0 - Yes, yes, I know, mathematically it is cheaper, safer, more frequent, and so on... But it doesn't matter. It's turned passengers into self-loading cargo and every part of the experience, from queuing to be argued with when dropping off a bag (or dealing with a half-broken and poor user experience automated kiosk), then queuing to be yelled at through the shitty experience that passes for "air security" in the States, then queuing in a blob to get onto the pressurized metal tube then squeezing into ever-smaller seats[1], to be lectured at about how the twenty minutes of rules barked at me are for "my safety and comfort" meanwhile I can't even go pee once on a four-hour flight because of the seatbelt sign, and so on. People have compared it to "bus travel in the sky" but I have a far better experience riding King County Metro in Seattle--at least I can move around and pull the cord to get out wherever I want--than I do on almost every airline flight I take.
1 - Yes, yes, I know, you get what you pay for, but increasingly airlines are only willing to sell me two kinds of fares: a) rock-bottom, $79 each way each person, absolutely-nothing-included-except-maybe-emergency-oxygen, 37 rows back next to the aux power unit, and with add-ons bringing the per-way, per-person fare to $341.92; or 2) exotic business class with throne seats, flatware, a three-course meal served even on a flight from Dallas to Houston, no lines anywhere, and a personal thanks of gratitude from the Captain, First Officer, Purser, and Chief Baggage Handler, all for the low price of $4,027.88 per person, per way. On the handful of flights with "premium economy" (that get me a little more leg room, which I like, but no more seat width, which i don't), they're increasingly taken by the airline's Elite Travelers and what used to be $30-$60 to buy up has increased to $70-$100.