Otherwise the tendency is to try and rationalize away a developing bad situation as something that isn't bad. "That guy who suddenly changed course toward me in the parking lot probably just wants to talk," or "The woman knocking on my door at 11:30PM just needs to use my phone."
Being aware that violence and predation can happen, and knowing the cues, are involved in what the late Dr. William Aprill referred to as "Having a mental parking space" for those events. Otherwise your brain just keeps driving in circles until reality crashes into it.
An example is this piece by Greg Ellifritz on the tendency of people to attribute the sound of gunfire in mass shootings to more innocuous reasons...
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