Fear of the unknown
Fear of the unknown refers to anxiety around unpredictable situations or events. It can also link to things that people find unfamiliar or strange. Individuals are likely to experience fear of the unknown when there is a lack of information. Another name for the condition is intolerance of uncertainty. 1 Research has shown it has a biological basis and is a psychological component of how we approach unfamiliarity.
Features
The important factor is whether the fear motivates or paralyzes your efforts to learn.
Also, intolerance of uncertainty, is a human trait that indicates the level of threat caused by uncertainty or the unknown caused by the “perceived absence of salient, key, or sufficient information”.
Partially unknown, if balanced correctly with the perceived information, can cause a positive feeling of mystery. If the environmental stimuli are rightly balanced, the created mystery will have a positive effect on preference, but if not, the unknown will cross the threshold of fear.
Best antidote for fear is competence.
Fear of the unknown meets all the criteria for being a fundamental fear and could in fact be recognized as one. The unknown or “the perceived absence of information at any level of consciousness or point of processing” is frightening. It seems like, one of the first references to the fear of the unknown
Lucchetti, L. (2023). Understanding what fear of the unknown is and how to overcome it. Retrieved from https://shorturl.at/3pCcR
Raub, J. N. (2022). Knowledge, fear of the unknown, opinion, and the pandemic. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 79(5), 400-401. Retrieved from https://shorturl.at/4sT42
Semati, F., & Ghahremanpouri, H. (2020, December). Fear of the Unknown in Urban Atmospheres. In Proceedings of the 4th International Congress on Ambiances, Alloaesthesia: Senses, Inventions, Worlds (Vol. 1, pp. pp-360). Réseau International Ambiances. Ret