I was reading this Psychology Today article, and I found it a very enlightening and interesting read. It’s about fear and how we fear obscure things more from our mindset when much more dangerous things exist all around us.
To me, fear is less of instinct, and more of a desire for change. When I fear a long term outcome of a habit or a pattern, I might tend to avoid that, or when I fear a hot stove, it’s a desire for change in the way that my hand should stay away from the stove.
The human mind is beautifuly adapted to judge things which are not our primary core instinct but more subtle and complex. For example, while most animals fear natural predators, we fear saying the wrong thing to a friend/relative and thus hurt the relationship, which just seems odd from an evolutionary point of view. We fear outcome of items which have no direct correlation to our immediate survival and well being. Yet we sometimes fail to fear what is important to be feared.
FTA:Fear feels like anything but a cool and detached computation of the odds. But that’s precisely what it is, a lightning-fast risk assessment performed by your reptilian brain, which is ever on the lookout for danger.
My opinions on why we fear wrong.
1. We let media tell us what to fear: A few days ago, you could go around without a care in the world, but now with reports of terrorism, hate crimes, shootings, and other incidents that happen in relatively isolated cases control how we live our daily lives. When one person is affected by a strange/new disease, everyone within a thousand kilometer radius starts panicking when they get a cold. Essentially, just a few people are hurt in a day in cases reported by the news, while thousands are hurt/killed by various other common causes.
2. We fear what is rare: I remember my little sister had issues with snakes a while back. Primarily influenced by Indian movies, which features the king cobra more often than other creature features, and the fact that they’re rare in my(or rather her) side of the ballpark. A person growing up around snakes would have the least fear of them, while someone who’s never seen it at all, is misinformed by wrong opinion might really get a shock.
3. We don’t fear what is common: You’re much much much more likely to be hit by a car than by a snake, but still we don’t really care.
Psychology Today explains it as: As a result of these evolved emotional algorithms, ancient threats like spiders and snakes cause fear out of proportion to the real danger they pose, while experiences that should frighten us—like fast driving—don’t. Dangers like speedy motorized vehicles are newcomers on the landscape of life.
4. Seperating risk from values: I remember seeing a south park episode (season 8 I think, good times with weapons) where the underlying message is that the parents ignore little boys violently playing with weapons, and rather forcibly pursue supressing a mild outbreak of sexuality. Often risks are tied up with values of the controlling authorities, and this is the fundamental reason why several practices and substances are banned, quoting safety as a criterion, while the associated values pose a far greater risk.
From the article: If the comparison feels absurd, it’s because judgments of risk are inseparable from value judgments. We value physical fitness and the lessons teens learn from sports, but disapprove of unearned pleasure from recreational drugs. So we’re willing to accept the higher level of risk of socially preferred activities—and we mentally magnify risks associated with activities society rejects, which leads us to do things like arresting marijuana smokers.
Please note that the statements are provided for sake of argument and do not represent my opinion. My opinion can be provided personally if solicited.
5. Fear itself: Let’s face it, fear is essentially an evolutionary characteristic designed to save your life. If you see a life threatening animal, device, etc, your instinct tells you to run in the opposite direction. Worry, paranoia, and complications built upon the structures of your own personal world aren’t fear and can be clearly and logically reasoned out.
To me, fear is not a feeling, it’s an answer. Fear tells you when something is wrong, or something has the potential to be wrong. Worry, anxiety, depression, etc do not share anything in common with it in my book. At the end, risk is only a number or a value made up in our head.
Btw, again, I’d suggest that if you’re interested in a more professional article than my burdology, read this article (10 ways we get the odds wrong).
I’m just hoping our lovely giant brains don’t phase out fear completely and when faced with a mountain lion, we go
“Hey there kitty! oh crap! you’re a mountain lion!”
“What does a mountain lion do?”
“Hold on, let me check wikipedia.”
“Goddamn internet ads. I hope I get wi-fi inside a mountain lion’s stomach”
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