Do you have such an experience: standing on the edge of a high building or cliff, you will have the urge to jump, or fantasize about the scene after the fall, fantasizing that you fly, agile ......
Human beings are naturally afraid of heights
You may think that those extreme enthusiasts and high altitude selfie takers are not afraid of heights, but in fact "fear of heights" is innate in us.
Most human fears of specific things or situations are related to our upbringing, such as fear of dogs, fear of needles, fear of confined spaces, and fear of social situations. ...... However, there are some exceptions, such as snakes, where our instinctive fear is triggered by the sight of a picture of a snake.
Psychological studies have found that young children less than six months of age selectively avoid "cliffs" that look like they will fall off. This is despite the fact that these children are just learning to crawl and have never experienced a fall from a height. Visual cliffing is a common psychological approach. When a person is in a high place and cannot ensure his or her safety, a sense of panic inevitably arises.
Not only people, most creatures living on land have this ability, they are also afraid of heights. But many marine creatures do not have this ability, most sea turtles will have no fear of walking on the visual cliffs. Rats are also unable to distinguish between visual cliffs, not because they are not afraid of heights, but because they are nocturnal creatures with poor vision and perceive height and distance mainly through their tentacles. Cats' tentacles also have the ability to help them judge the terrain and environment.
Why do you feel the urge to jump?
Since humans are naturally afraid of heights, why do they have the urge to jump?
According to foreign surveys, more than half of the people who stand at a height and look down have had the idea of jumping, or have seriously thought about what would happen if they fell. Scientists explain this impulse as the instinct to die, which reflects the body's protective mechanism. The brain uses this absurd thought to alert you to the fact that you are too close to a dangerous place.
The human body needs to constantly adjust its posture in response to external feedback to maintain body balance, with visual stimulation being the most important feedback. With eyes closed, a person can't even do some of the simplest balance movements, such as standing on one leg. When you come to the open high, the person's vision will change dramatically, the horizontal direction of the lack of physical reference, the object below will produce a huge deformation, the body balance state in an instant is broken. The body needs to re-adjust its posture according to the visual information of these deformations, so the swing of the center of gravity will occur. This swinging information to the brain will immediately sound the alarm: what are you doing? Do not impulse! Therefore, in very high places, although there is safety protection, we still can not suppress their fear.
For more people who are afraid of heights, past experiences are one of the main reasons. If a person has had the experience of falling from a height or seeing someone else fall, a conditioned reflex association of fear will be established, and with the accumulation of experience, the fear of heights will gradually increase. That is, by exposing a person to a scary situation and persisting in it, the anxiety will be reduced.
Most of us have a fear of heights that actually changes with the height of urban buildings. People who have never been to a tall building may be afraid of heights when they first stand on a balcony of five or six stories. Most people who are flying for the first time will be scared when they look out the window.
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