The fear of the new/change is actually one of the main problems technological products and brands are facing and very few of them are managing to figure out a pedagogical approach (Apple is the perfect example of a brand that has mastered this problem). Even popular culture denies the fact that people are apprehensive about change and that technical knowledge has become power.

However, before thinking of the relationship between fear and technology, we had to understand why people fear the change in a broader context.

In this first post I will focus on reason why people fear the new and try to have some starters of answers thanks to the neuroscience and anthropology.

Neuroscientifical answers to the fear of the new

An analysis of our three parts of the brain (reptilian, limbic and the cortex) gives us some interesting insights into the fear of the new.

The reptilian brain is the primitive part of our brain. This part deals mainly with security, surviving, eating… The reptilian brain is always on stand by, for instance if we enter into a room and have the door open behind us, the reptilian brain is alert because it cannot know what is happening behind us. This is why we sometimes have odd reflexes; our reptilian brain thinks we are under threat…

The limbic brain is the part of the brain we use more often – approximately 95% of the time. The limbic brain is mainly dealing with memory, without the limbic we would have to re-learn our name every morning! This part of the brain hates the new. If we are confronted with a new situation, this part of the brain will try to relate it to something it already knows!

For example, if you are in the situation of finding a new job, which is a rational and positive thing for you and you are suddenly afraid… This is your limbic brain telling you that this is dangerous to get this job.

The more people listen to their limbic, the more their actions are recessed. The limbic is also full of preconceived ideas: what is good, what is bad, what I can do, what I can’t…

The last part of our brain is the cortex: this part is dealing with the imagination, creativity, relativising, and helping us reach our goals… the more we train this part of the brain the more we are able to face change.

Anthropological answers – mimetic desire

The theory: For Rene Girard, during our life our “mimesis” (from Greek) makes us copy everything. Our desire has always been designated for us by someone else. Since the beginning of civilisation it is a lie to say that we are unique and free to make our own choice. Check out this article to have a flavour of Rene Girard’s work.

The mimetic mechanism works for our desire, but it also releases rivalry. And when the model we are trying to copy (unconsciously) is close to us the rivalry is multiplied.

For Rene Girard, human beings are mimetic animals and thus enter in the circle of competition and conflict, violence…

So if our desire is mimetic what happen when we discover something totally new?

We are lost! (Example extracts from Marie-Claude Sicard’s book Les ressorts cachés du désir)

The observation she is making has nothing to do with Michael Moore’s movie Fahrenheit 9/11. What she is saying has nothing to do with politics, this is just to observe mimesis.

G. W. Bush is in primary school during the 9/11, he is listening to the teacher, when suddenly someone enters into the classroom telling him that the country is under attack. Michael Moore uses this as a testimony against GW Bush and his incompetence…

Now just what would Al Gore have done in his place? Probably the same thing… What could the cleverest politician have done? The same!

This sequence just proves that when something totally unexpected happens, we don’t know what to do; we haven’t any points of reference, any advice to get.

In our daily life (not on the same scale!) we sometimes find ourselves in the same situation and our behaviour depends on other people’s behaviour.