Here’s Why You’re Afraid Of The Dark (Blame Your Ancestors)

I found an interesting article written by Jillian Wilson and published in the Yahoo! News web site (at https://tinyurl.com/ncv6uzzb):

Are you afraid of the dark? You are not alone with that very normal and natural fear. 

Between horror movies and ghost stories, the dark is often associated with scary things. And for many people, that association can lead to actual fear of the dark — especially in kids.

There is a real reason behind this very common fear, and it goes way beyond the ghost stories and scary movies you’ve heard and seen (although they are part of it, too).

Here, experts share why many adults and children are afraid of the dark.

Being afraid of the dark is known as a “prepared fear.”

“I would see a fear of the dark as what we call a prepared fear,” said Martin Antony, professor of psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University and author of “The Anti-Anxiety Program.” “What that means is we’re prepared or predisposed to develop fears of some things more than others.”

These prepared fears stem from what would have been dangerous to our prehistoric ancestors — things like heights, spiders, snakes and the dark.

“We were probably built throughout evolution, through natural selection, to develop this fear, and the dark would be one of those situations that we’re predisposed to fear more easily,” Antony added.

If there are predators in the dark, you probably can’t see them, and this is as true today as it was for our ancestors thousands of years ago.

The full story is much longer. You can read the entire article at: https://tinyurl.com/ncv6uzzb.