![\"\"](\"http:\/\/geraldguild.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/photo-4-764x1024.jpg\" "\\"Rock")
<\/a>To be clear there was some risk associated with this crossing. But, in my mind, the risk took on unreasonable proportions.<\/p>\n
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Frankly, I was both embarrassed and befuddled by this situation. Were it a stream of equal width, I would have easily hopped over it.<\/p>\n
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I stood there at battle with myself for what seemed like an eternity. In reality, it was probably only a minute or two.\u00a0 My body was hostage to a cognitive tug-of-war between my rational brain urging me to leap. “Come-on” I uttered to myself “It’s only three feet across!” “You can do this!”<\/p>\n
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Another force in my brain countered with incapacitating doubt.\u00a0 Kevin, my backpacking companion, patiently waited on the other side of the crevasse after easily leaping across. I saw him do it with no difficulty.\u00a0 I had clear evidence that the crossing was easily within my capabilities; but, the cost of a slip and a fall, far overshadowed my confidence. The frustration I felt over this coup of sorts, was immense. Finally, I was able to muster up enough confidence to take the leap. It was, in fact, quite easy.\u00a0 We hiked on and no further mention of this humbling pause was made.<\/p>\n
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Many fears are like this. Whether it is a fear of mice, or bees, spiders, or snakes. These stimuli impose, in most circumstances, no grave threat, but the flight response they trigger in the phobic is immense. Even when a person knows that there is no reason for fear, it persists.<\/p>\n
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This response is akin to the reluctance that most people have about eating chocolate fudge in the shape of dog feces, or eating soup from a clean unused bedpan, or drinking juice from a glass in which a sterile cockroach has been dipped. Psychologist Paul Rozin, in his famous studies on disgust<\/a>, discovered that when presented with these circumstances, most people choose not to eat the fudge or the soup, or drink from the glass – even knowing there is no real danger in doing so.\u00a0 It is the irrational essence of contagion that drives these inhibitions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n These situations are all very different than rock climbing without ropes, where there is clear and present danger. When we are compelled to flee a truly benign stimulus, we are likely driven by an internal cognitive force that screams “RISK!” even when there is no true danger.\u00a0 Intriguing isn’t it, that this innate force is so powerful that even our capacity to use reason and evidence pales in comparison.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n