People always seem to be afraid of things coming. The upcoming interview, the upcoming surgery, the upcoming assessment... I'm afraid to think about it, aren't I? But why, why are we so worried about what hasn't happened yet?
In a word, there are all kinds of things that make human beings afraid. Not only humans themselves, but also aliens who have the opportunity to visit the earth in the future may be surprised. Why are humans afraid of so many things! In daily life, such things include specific animals (dogs, snakes, cockroaches, etc.), high altitude, blood, claustrophobia, dentists, flying, childbirth and anything else. As for less common symptoms such as social phobia and intensive phobia, I believe you are no stranger because they continue to appear on the Internet.
It is common for students to feel nervous, anxious and stressed in the face of an upcoming exam. This feeling of fear is called test anxiety. If you think that test anxiety only makes you produce some physical reactions without other effects, you are wrong. The study found that students with severe test anxiety have about 12 percentage points lower academic performance than students with low anxiety.
Interestingly, in addition to the proximity in time, the proximity in space also scares us. In front of handsome men and beautiful women, we often have the so-called "approach anxiety". For example, in a party, store or coffee shop, when a very attractive opposite sex attracts your attention, are you so afraid of approaching him / her that when he / she comes to you, your heart beats faster and you have difficulty breathing? This is a common phenomenon. Such proximity anxiety makes us stop in front of these attractive opposite sex.
It seems to be our nature to be afraid of what is coming. Any upcoming event contains uncertainty and makes people feel uneasy.
In the process of survival, human ancestors have found that the proximity of an object is more frightening than its distance. A lion running towards you will frighten you out of your wits, while a lion leaving you is no threat. The "proximity aversion effect" further shows that it's not just a running lion that scares people, but also a non dangerous deer running towards you.
In other words, no matter what it means to us, when it is coming, we will become negative!
This explains why we are always afraid of what is coming. You know, the upcoming exam is frightening, and winning ten million awards will also be frightening when the bonus is about to come! Fear is only because something is approaching and "coming", not because of what kind of "thing" it is. The coming negative things will make you afraid, while the coming neutral and positive things will also make you afraid.