Tali Sharot: Why We Fear What We Can’t Control: Airplanes, Hospital, Old Age

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Fear is a motivator—often, when we’re scared, we feel that we want to leave a situation. That so-called “pull” that you feel often has more to do with wanting to be in a place of agency and control than it does, say, being scared of the dark, or flying. Actually, fear of flying is a great example for what Tali Sharot proposes. We all know that we couldn’t actually fly the plane if we were giving the controls, but we’re more-so afraid of giving up all of our perceived control. You’re three times more likely to crash in a car than crash in a plane but we all feel as if we are in control… which is why you don’t have many people scared of driving. Tali does a great job explaining the mentality behind fear, and her video here is worth a watch.

[Video and text source: Big Think YouTube channel]