The fear of change

Started by Crasger, May 15, 2014, 11:59:54 am

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Crasger

We've all had a few experiences like that. We don't want things to change too quickly, sometimes.
It's a human thing.

Like when there's a software update that lots of people rant about, or finding out that you've been moved to another department/section/sector at work/school, when someone you like leaves and probably won't be coming back and whatnot.

Change happens all the time, but it would seem that sometimes we're afraid of it, aren't we?

Why do you think that's so?

Blizzard

May 15, 2014, 12:21:06 pm #1 Last Edit: May 15, 2014, 12:25:33 pm by Blizzard
Change can bring danger so stability is preferred to change, because of pure survival instinct. You will notice that heavy changes cause "depression", regardless whether the changes are bad or good. It just takes some time to process it all. This is even more evident in animals who don't take change as well as humans do. But you can also train yourself to withstand that instinct and to actually start liking change. If you are able to learn to love constant change, you also allow yourself to grow and become better much quicker. The fear of change comes mostly from the fear of the unknown. But even if you know what the change will cause, it is still "unknown" since you've never been there. e.g. You get promoted. Sure, you may know what your new responsibilities will be inside out, but if you've never done a job like that, you will be anxious about it since it's an unknown experience to you. Ever heard the phrase that somebody is afraid of success? Basically it all boils down to just fear of change in that regard.

EDIT: You will notice how this applies to even the most trivial things like seating order of the kids in a class. When a kid takes a place, it will most likely never change it while being in that class room. It's kinda funny, but this seating place becomes some sort of territory, some sort of comfort zone.

As much as human are trying to convince themselves that they are in control, most people just prefer to let their instincts and emotions do the work. Every once in a while they may snap out of it and actually do something else. But they are mostly doing what their subconsciousness tells them to. But for a mediocre life, that's good enough (at least for most people).
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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Neoend

With change, there's also a bit of irony in my opinion. Humans are naturally predisposed to change. Our climb from childhood to adolescence and heck even all the hormone shifts in adolescence is illustrative of turbulent and rapid change. People naturally change all the time, both physically and mentally, from childhood to old age. Really, you are never the 'same' person you were yesterday. But this sort of intrinsic form of change doesn't seem to register as much as the external changes. Does this speak to how aware people are of themselves? Blizzard's thought on control ring true in this case. People don't actively notice the subtle mechanics. Would a constantly changing inner environment, in a constantly changing outer environment possibly create subconscious drive for stasis or stability? And then would this drive be distorted and misinterpreted by the conscious mind as fear?

The end result is a fundamental fear or hesitance to change as Blizzard has so aptly described.
I feel that diving into the concept and trying to answer why it occurs would open a lot of doors and lead to many implications.
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Crasger

I guess the thing is, most folks usually don't care if they change, they don't usually notice it that often. There would be others who would care if that person changed. It's subtle, when a person's personality changes. Sometimes though, based on the given consequences and turn of events a person could change in an instant.

Here's an example: Look at Walter White. Look at how he actually likes his new ways, but his family and some of his friends don't. They are afraid of the change he went through, for obvious reasons, because they don't want to be in danger.

Spoiler: ShowHide

Walter White is the danger.

orochii

1. Not everyone can change at the moment that ANY thing gets out.
2. Not everyone HAS to change at the moment that ANY thing gets out.
3. All new things come with tons of errors, most companies hurry their development. Blame publishers. Examples: Windows 8, Battlefield 4 (or 5, or whatever, I don't care, that last one that was unplayable because of glitches).
4. Productivity comes with you being in control of something. If you make a change, you need a certain time of relearning, doesn't matters if it looks the same as previous one (Adobe stuff) or not. Again, investing on that change needs you to value #3, that is the actual state of the advance.

There is a difference between being "valiant", and being "reckless".

Blizzard

Lol, I think you went a bit off topic there. We're talking about change as a general concept in human nature/psychology/whatever, not specifically software.
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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Heretic86

It depends on the change itself.  If an individual wants the change, they will probably accept it without resistance.  Raise.  Promotion.  Bugfix.  If the change is unwanted, they will resist.  Fired.  Higher taxes.  More bugs or problems in general.

We've all benefitted and been burned by changes before, thus, I think we proceed with caution in regards to change.
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Crasger

Indeed we are afraid of certain changes, but we welcome others.

I mean, if our environment were to change, we probably wouldn't welcome that change with open arms.

Blizzard

May 17, 2014, 04:58:01 am #8 Last Edit: May 17, 2014, 07:05:39 am by Blizzard
Quote from: Heretic86 on May 16, 2014, 07:57:23 pm
It depends on the change itself.  If an individual wants the change, they will probably accept it without resistance.  Raise.  Promotion.  Bugfix.  If the change is unwanted, they will resist.  Fired.  Higher taxes.  More bugs or problems in general.

We've all benefitted and been burned by changes before, thus, I think we proceed with caution in regards to change.


No, I disagree. I already mentioned "fear of success". Many people may be saying that they want to be successful, but when they get an opportunity to move forward, they usually ignore and miss it. IDK if you were reading the "Your life here" topic in the recent weeks, but gameus was pissed at one moment at his GF (probably ex-GF now) who was like "I want to stay with your grandma until we can get on our own feet", but was actively avoiding the chance to move into their own place. This is a great example of that. People say shitloads of stuff, but the reality is that most of them are just good enough where they are that they won't try to get better and hence change. Most people resist change, whether good or bad. Some may accept incremental steps willingly, but the majority does not. In fact, the majority actually accepts incremental steps subconsciously.

e.g. Somebody wants to lose weight, but then they are like "Yeah, I am doing so great at this diet, I deserved myself a little treat" and then they go to MacDonalds. And again, and again and in 2 months they wonder why they aren't losing any weight. Because even if you try to do some change, your subconscious will try to prevent you from doing it (unless you have trained your subconsciousness to like change).
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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Crasger

Well, that's very interesting, Blizzard.
It's strange how the human mind works, it's so complex that even we, the ones who possess it do not fully and completely understand it in full depth, yet.

Blizzard

Actually it's not that complex. I mean yes, it IS complex, but it works following relatively simple rules. The apparent complexity only obscures how the mind works. The mere existence of the field Psychology is a great example of how simple the mind actually works. The details that add to the complexity are not nearly as important. And the worst thing, most people don't realize this. In order to become better humans, we have to understand ourselves. And on a basic level, we all work pretty much the same. The next layer is the subconscious which can be formed and altered over time. This is how somebody can change into a completely different person over the years. If they don't pay attention how their subconsciousness is affected, they may unwillingly change for the worse (which actually happens to too many people).
Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

orochii

Ah, now I get it. I think. Anyways, I always start ranting because I'm poor and life demands exceed my economical power.

If we mean about personal change, pyschological, behaviour, or even personality, then it is inevitable. If I'm not mistaken, the brain always loses details about the "past", and when it tries to access to some of these, it just makes them up. THEN I talk to someone and tell him/her about it, and he/she says "NAH, it was totally different!!", hits me in the face, and I cry because of my incompetence at retaining memories.

Now you know why changing things is bad.