Why are we so terrified of the unknown?

By: David Robson

Imagine that you are waiting for a response from a potential new employer for a very good job offer. Your interviewer was hard to read from the outside. Therefore, there is no way to predict the outcome.

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As the days go by, do you really want to know the outcome – be it bad news – rather than endure even one more minute of excruciating waiting? What about your feelings during the meeting? Would you rather someone tell you in advance that they won't see you again, rather than waiting for your phone to alert you with a new message?

In both scenarios – and many others – feeling insecure can cause a lot of discomfort. For some people, the general inability to react to ambiguous situations can even trigger chronic anxiety disorders.

"Uncertainty can intensify the sense of threat we have over a situation," says Ema Tanovic, a psychologist at "Boston Consulting Group," who has long researched the consequences of uncertainty for Yale University.

Scientists, including Tanovic, are now making great strides to explain why uncertainty can be so excruciating, and to determine the damaging consequences for our decision-making and behavior. By understanding these mechanisms, we can learn to alleviate these kinds of feelings, and perhaps be psychologically well even under the fear of the unknown.

Our knowledge of the effects of insecurity on the brain and body comes from a series of slightly sadistic studies. In a typical experiment, participants are attached to several electrodes capable of delivering harmless but mildly painful electrical shocks to the skin, while researchers measure physiological responses that tend to be associated with stress, such as skin perspiration or changes in baby size. of the eye.

Study after study, researchers have found that any element of unpredictability significantly increases people's anxiety, despite there being no objective difference in the intensity of the electric shock. Participants showed greater stress when there was a 50 percent chance that they could receive an electric shock, compared to situations where they had a 100 percent certainty that they would be electrocuted.

In a recent study, Tanovic asked participants to play a game called "Uncertain Waiting Tasks." It does not require much skill, and during various trials, participants have the opportunity to earn some money.

The outcome of each trial is random, but participants have the right to make a choice to know the outcome immediately, instead of waiting a few seconds before discovering it. But this foreknowledge comes at a cost: if they win the test, they will have less chance of winning, and the payoff will be smaller.

Despite being the most rational option, only 37 percent of participants chose to wait during each trial. The rest were ready to experience a financial loss, just to avoid the anxious anticipation of a state of uncertainty. Tanovici says that many situations in everyday life cause the same reaction.

"People can go to great lengths to reduce the uncertainty and anxiety that comes with it, such as constantly calling a loved one to make sure they're okay, texting incessantly when they haven't yet heard back etc. Sometimes it works, and the behavior resolves the uncertainty. But these actions can often be very costly in terms of time, effort and effect on the relationship," says Tanovic.

Neuroscientists are beginning to track the brain activity behind this decision-making. The studies are still ongoing, but the results so far offer some clues about the neural response to uncertainty. Thus there appears to be increased activity in the amygdala, which may reflect a state of "hypervigilance".

So we are more alert to potential dangers. Also, uncertainty appears to trigger activation of the frontal insula, which is involved in weighing the consequences of a particular event, and which can exaggerate the brain's assessment of potential harm in a given situation.

Our reactions to uncertainty may have made sense during evolution as well. The brain is constantly trying to predict what will happen next, and this gives it the opportunity to prepare the body and mind in the most effective way possible.

In uncertain situations, this planning is much more difficult. And, whether you're facing a predator or a human enemy, the wrong reaction can have deadly consequences. As a result, it can be beneficial to err on the side of caution—either by avoiding uncertainty altogether, or by putting your brain and body in an excited state that is ready to react to a changing situation.

"Treating strangers as potential threats is an adaptive behavior," says Nicholas Carleton, professor of psychology at Royal University of Canada. According to him, the "unknown" represents one of the "fundamental fears" of humanity, and is perhaps even more important to our behavior than the fear of death.

People who exhibit a high intolerance of uncertainty tend to have more stressful reactions to uncertain situations. Also, they tend to find it difficult to let go of fear, even after safety has been established. High intolerance to uncertainty greatly increases one's vulnerability to a variety of anxiety disorders and depression, once the fear lingers and after the potential threat has passed.

Carleton says many existing psychotherapies can increase people's tolerance for uncertainty. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy can teach people how to stop "catastrophizing" thoughts, which can be triggered by an unpredictable event, or question their ability to cope with uncertainty.

Whether you suffer from a clinical disorder or not, it's worth remembering that trying to predict the future is often completely futile. "When we worry, we think about the possible outcomes of an uncertain situation in an effort to be somewhat prepared. But in reality, worry does not reduce the uncertainty we face. On the contrary, it makes us feel more anxious," says Tanovic.

As the ancient Stoics once taught us, we would do much better to accept our inability to control the situation. In some cases, we may even be able to understand that uncertainty can be a source of excitement.

After all, life would be very boring if the outcome of every event were known in advance. By learning to accept this fact, we can be better prepared to face troubling moments. /Source: BBC/In Albanian from: Bota.al/