Fascination and fear both come from the unknown. How is it that two disparate emotions can have the same root? Rachel has been telling me about a book that she read last year about how to discipline children and that the author asserts that children's negative behavior is entirely driven by fear or avoidance thereof.
My initial thought was that this was bogus. Children have to be driven by more than just fear. Children are curious, sometimes they seem completely fearless when it comes to behavior, with no regard for consequences. However, the more I've thought about it, the more I've started to believe that fear is the primary emotion that everyone experiences.
Fear is truly an all-encompassing emotion. Its negative; fear of failure prevents us from attempting something new. Its positive; fear of consequences keep us from breaking the law. Most other emotions are very one-sided; anger can be construed in a positive and negative light, but an angry person is generally a person who has lost control. Love is universally considered a positive feeling. By not having a bias, fear becomes possibly the most primal emotion.
How is it, then, that some people are afraid of things, while other people are completely fascinated by the same thing? Take spiders for instance, most people are terrified of them. They're hairy, they behave strangely and we're always told that the average person eats 5 spiders in their sleep every year. Yet, people study spiders; other people keep taratulas as pets.
I really don't have an answer as to why certain people display fear while others are curious, but I think its something that is interesting to be aware of as you go throughout your day.
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3 comments:
Here's another thought that someone I respect recently shared with me: anger is an emotion that's rooted in fear. We become angry when we're afraid of something. Fear is the primary emotion. Interesting, no?
very interesting! This book Seth is talking about says that there are two primary emotions from which every other emotion/behavior stems from...love and fear. The idea of treating an angry child or student just as we would treat one who is afraid was new to me, but has had some pretty amazing, positive results!!
I think that fear is most definitely the primal emotion from which all other emotions kind of sprout from. Its just interesting to me that people respond differently to fear. Some continue to fear, and others investigate and get to the root of the fear/unknown and attempt to overcome it.
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