Psychological Theory: The fear of heights, isn't of heights

[Mr_Tibbels]

His videos make me think.

 

[Matt_The Dreamer]

Too long, didn't read. I don't like words.

 

[Zeno]

I read this all very closely, until the part about you wanting to push your loved one off a cliff....

 

[Ikanacanyon7]

Thanks to a recent Vsauce video, I found myself discovering something odd about the fear of heights, the video can be found here but I suggest watching it post reading this thread.



I find myself, like many others, having one of the most common fears in existence, the fear of heights, Acrophobia. The fear of being near a ledge or being high in the air unprotected. The fear that you could fall at any moment. But for centuries what we've been calling the fear of heights, may be the fear of something else. Something that finds itself planted in your mind when near heights. In this post I will describe several things leading up to my conclusion, I will analyze the fear of heights, and what makes us afraid of it. Place it in a category as one of the three types of fears, and then finally reveal what deeper fear that "Heights" conceals.


Let's start by talking about the three types of fear, Gross-out, Horror, and Terror.
Gross-out describes anything that looks or feels obviously unusual or for lack of a better term, disgusting. For example, fear of gore, or a pungent or odor, or maybe even of diseases or germs, can be categorized as such.
Horror is what I like to call, realistic fears. The feeling you get when you know something can hurt you or someone you love, realistically. A feeling of horror can come over you when someone pulls a gun, or a jump scare occurs, maybe a figure emerging from a shadow when no one was there. These fears are all warranted, and cause a much more immediate response compared to terror, you may shriek because of a horror scare, but cry because of a terror scare.
Terror is the most odd type of scare. It is what I like to call the fear of the unknown. Terror is often caused by the thought that you feel something, but you don't. Maybe you feel breathing on your neck, but turn around to see no-one. Or perhaps, you think you hear talking in another room, only to realize you're home alone. Terror is very closely associated with the feeling of chills, or the creeps.

When figuring out which of the three the fear of heights is, we can immediately cross out the gross-out, as it is entirely unrelated to heights. The other two, happen to be much more similar. In the end, it is terror. When high up you won't necessarily be in realistic danger, please note that the fear of falling is horror, as it does have a legitimate consequence. While heights and the fear of them, is much more based on the possibility of falling. The thought of falling, which implies an actual danger, causes horror. The possibility that heights and ledges give of falling, cause an unease, the unknown possibility that you can fall causes the terror.

But that's not it, we still consider the terror that heights cause a fear. No, next we need to actually peer over an edge, and think. What do you think? You become uneasy. You feel almost as if someone is pushing you lightly towards the edge, you realize how easy it would be to jump, you almost want to. What about sitting on an edge next to a loved one, you realize how easy it is to push them, you almost want to.

This in fact, the sensation and thoughts you have when looking over an edge are a type of cognitive dissonance. When looking over an edge, triggers two opposing instincts in your body. Your mind begins to realize that the fall or ledge poses a possible threat, and attempts to jump back. The motor systems in your body will not allow for this odd, unwarranted jump, so you stayed glued to the edge. Your mind is confused by this, and then your subconscious does what it does best, and fills in the blanks. It causes that feeling being held in place, and occasionally makes you think you want to jump, so you won't notice the dissonance between you motor systems, and mind. The same goes for the pushing of a loved one, for another reason. You fear that they will fall, and your mind kicks in and wants to pull them from the edge. Again, your motor systems will counter this odd movement, and your subconscious will kick in again to keep you from noticing the dissonance, by giving you a reason to want them to stay on the ledge.

And now that we understand everything about the terror of heights, and the idea behind the cognitive dissonance that causes said terror, we can come to a conclusion. We do not fear the height in and of itself. We don't fear standing atop a mountain, we fear the feeling of terror we get near a ledge. Ready for the bombshell? We do not fear the height, we fear the cognitive dissonance it causes... Indirectly. We do not fear the thoughts we get when near an edge, about murder and suicide, we fear the clash between our motor skills and subconscious. We are afraid because the clash is part of the unknown, the terror, the fact that our conscious mind plays no part between deciding whether to stay on the ledge or jump back.

We are afraid to not have the choice, the inability to decide, out fear of heights is actually based around our fear of the fealing of AMBIGUITY


Ambiguity: A lack of decisiveness or commitment resulting from a failure to make a choice between alternatives.

The fear of heights is the fear of ambiguity. The fear of failing to being able to make a choice.​

This sounds very interesting and possible too actually. Great job random! But the part about feeling you want to push a loved one or jump yourself really confused me I know Ive got Acrophobia (thanks to you I finally know its name! ) but I cant relate to those feelings. Im guessing I missunderstood what you meant there but I dont know, its just confused me.

 

[Saucycmeister]

That video shared the sh*t out of me :c

 

[TheRandomMan1000]

I read this all very closely, until the part about you wanting to push your loved one off a cliff....

This sounds very interesting and possible too actually. Great job random! But the part about feeling you want to push a loved one or jump yourself really confused me I know Ive got Acrophobia (thanks to you I finally know its name! ) but I cant relate to those feelings. Im guessing I missunderstood what you meant there but I dont know, its just confused me.

It's a very specific feeling, and actually not everyone does get it. But I can explain more closely about my theories on why these things happen and what they truly mean.

A. When I said want I meant rather, your mind gives you a weak urge to. The actually feeling is caused by the fact that they are a loved one, and your subconscious worries that they will fall. Which initiates the same response as you looking over an edge (The cognitive dissonance). Want is a bad word for it, its more of your mind distracting you with the thoughts of giving you a reason to leave them in place, it won't always be an urge, occasionally your subconscious will just allow you to realize that you could push them.
B. On to my theories. I believe there a three factors that go into this feeling, based on the strength of each you will get this feeling. This specific theory only regards the feeling you get on a ledge with a loved one, and why only some people get them.
1. Strength of Dissonance - Depending on how much your mind is conflicted about the person, is when the mind actually decides what the feeling you have will be. It is possible for there to be no dissonance, which is why not everyone gets these feelings. The dissonance is caused by the mixture of two different personal feelings.
2. Personal Anxiety - Dependent on the feeling of personal anxiety, on average, will feed into the strength of the feeling. Based on how anxious you are, the feeling would be more potent. This is due to the fact that the more anxious you are, the more prevalent worries of your loved one falling would be.
3. The other factor is how close the loved one is, the closer they are, the stronger the dissonance is (and then how drastic the feeling is). For example, you my have a stronger urge to push a brother, over a friend or a stranger, due to the fact that you love them more.

So the feeling you get regarding a loved one is actually a positive one, because it directly relates to how closely you love them, and how worried you are for them.


Ikana, it seems you have much more true acrophobia. Since you have no dissonance, and therefore don't get the feeling of ambiguity, you are truly afraid of heights.

 

[Ikanacanyon7]

It's a very specific feeling, and actually not everyone does get it. But I can explain more closely about my theories on why these things happen and what they truly mean.

A. When I said want I meant rather, your mind gives you a weak urge to. The actually feeling is caused by the fact that they are a loved one, and your subconscious worries that they will fall. Which initiates the same response as you looking over an edge (The cognitive dissonance). Want is a bad word for it, its more of your mind distracting you with the thoughts of giving you a reason to leave them in place, it won't always be an urge, occasionally your subconscious will just allow you to realize that you could push them.
B. On to my theories. I believe there a three factors that go into this feeling, based on the strength of each you will get this feeling. This specific theory only regards the feeling you get on a ledge with a loved one, and why only some people get them.
1. Strength of Dissonance - Depending on how much your mind is conflicted about the person, is when the mind actually decides what the feeling you have will be. It is possible for there to be no dissonance, which is why not everyone gets these feelings. The dissonance is caused by the mixture of two different personal feelings.
2. Personal Anxiety - Dependent on the feeling of personal anxiety, on average, will feed into the strength of the feeling. Based on how anxious you are, the feeling would be more potent. This is due to the fact that the more anxious you are, the more prevalent worries of your loved one falling would be.
3. The other factor is how close the loved one is, the closer they are, the stronger the dissonance is (and then how drastic the feeling is). For example, you my have a stronger urge to push a brother, over a friend or a stranger, due to the fact that you love them more.

So the feeling you get regarding a loved one is actually a positive one, because it directly relates to how closely you love them, and how worried you are for them.


Ikana, it seems you have much more true acrophobia. Since you have no dissonance, and therefore don't get the feeling of ambiguity, you are truly afraid of heights.

Well, now I get it better. This is very interesting!

(*cough* also youve got the perfect excuse if you ever commit a murder by pushing someone, "it was my dissonance! not me!" Radom can now get rid of his enemies with no concequences, fear him! XD *cough*)

 

[Cubes]

Vsauce. <3

 

[BritishShoop]

Love VSauce :3

 

[EllaTheAwesome]

I know that I have Acrophobia, but it's only from man-made structures. For example, I went on the Grand Canyon Skywalk (It's an unsupported U-Turn, clear/glass platform going about 30 feet off the edge of a high point of the Grand Canyon). I looked at that and was perfectly fine. Thinking back on it, I think it might've just been that it was delusional, because things that looked like bushes were 20 foot trees and pebbles were giant boulders.

Anyways, I was looking out the window on the 20th story of some building, and I just freaked out. I thought about if the building would fall, if an earthquake were to happen, all of the things above me, if the ceiling were to collapse, etc. After watching the video, I am pretty sure that is considered terror.

So I'm not exactly sure if that is the same as Ambiguity, but it's a fear, nonetheless.

 

[RC_4777]

I'm overcoming my acrophobia by pushing myself to do things I'm afraid of. It's working well actually.

 

[Cave_Johnson]

This theory is very good, but it needs one more thing from your part TheRandomMan1000.... Thinking with portals!

You could push from a cliff whoever you want if you just shoot a portal down there and then another one where you are. Good way to get over Acrophobia (or increase it) aproved by Cave Johnson.