Humanity's Deepest, Darkest Fear

Most of us experience specific fears at one point or another, like of death or the future, but psychologists believe there might be one underlying fear from which all others originate.

Hosted by: Hank Green
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Sources:

[thehippieboy]

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." H.P. Lovecraft

[Babarudra]

I don't fear heights or falling, I fear the sudden stop at the bottom.

[rumplstiltztinkerstein]

So a psychologist said something in the 90s what Lovecraft already said on the 20s? "The oldest and strongest emotion in mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." - H.P. Lovecraft

[pae]

“Sometimes scientists... are a bunch of dorks.”

I’m going to remember that.

[PharaohofAtlantis]

I would have guessed "death" is the greatest fear. But "the unknown" makes a whole lot more sense.

[RedRogue]

If mushrooms could crawl around with a multitude of appendages like spiders do you're damn right I'd be scared of them

[AtarahDerek]

Mushrooms mind their own business. Spiders regularly violate my personal space. As an introvert, I find the idea of a creature that has no concept of the personal bubble to be absolutely horrifying. And do you know what that goes back to? Our REAL primary fear: The fear of having no control. The fear of the unknown ties back into this. Why do we fear the unknown, when it should instead excite us that there's something yet to learn? Because knowledge is power. When we have no knowledge of something, we have no power over it. We are not in control. And THAT is what truly terrifies us. It's why I'm afraid of tornadoes. It's why people are often afraid of wild animals, or why public speaking is such a prevalent phobia in our society. And it's why people are generally more afraid of their loved ones dying or coming down with a terminal illness than they are of suffering these things themselves. It's why mothers cry when their oldest and then their youngest leave the nest. Fear of losing control is the true source of all other fears.

[purplefire]

Bold of you to assume that I don't still dive under the covers and make sure my feet are covered so the monsters don't get me

[Gyrusdorf]

Hank: "Jo Rowling strikes again."

Meanwhile, I'm over here thinking "Well, Lovecraft did build an entire sub-genre of horror around that observation more than half a century before."

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." ~ H.P. Lovecraft

[linksbro]

"There are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to our fear of the unknown."
That is some next level meta-fear.

[AxisFlowers]

I think the fear of being alone is another fundamental fear. Not of being alone for a short period of time, but feeling alone as in being rejected, feeling like no one understands you, that you’re the only one who struggles with something... that deep sense of isolation. It creates a kind of pain that makes us reach out in different ways, good and bad, in order to alleviate it.

[clean]

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”

-H.P. Lovecraft

[Archontasil]

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown"

[seasong]

If you stare long enough into the abyss, the abyss stares back into you

[sizzle]

It’s not the dark that scares you, it’s what’s in it.




I hope you feel better now

[inkryption]

Fear is cool, but dopamine is also cool.
And I got a pretty good shot of dopamine when I scrolled down and read "Sources".

[nayandusoruth]

If this is the case, than the cure is knowledge...



Proceeds to use the random page button on wikipedia repeatedly...

[wwikobl]

There are times that I suddenly just get scared before sleeping and think about someday I'm gonna die and I don't know what will happen after or during death. The unknown really frightens me.

[StoopVital]

I dare all of you to stare into a mirror on low lighting for 10 minutes with your eyes fixed to your eyes. After the first 5 minutes you start seeing wired faces behind you and your face starts to deform.

[Ian-bfyk]

One fear to rule them all,
One fear to find them,
One fear to bring them all and in the
darkness bind them