Markn,
Has that experience changed how easily/much you get scared of heights outside VR?
It’s maybe helped a little. I’m certainly more comfortable now with heights in the game than in real life. One thing I’ve noticed is if I’m in a real life situation that resembles a situation in the game, like a high platform with another platform near it, I feel a slight compulsion to try to jump across to the other platform. Perhaps not an entirely good development.
So, I’m not the only one who gets a faint urge to joy ride in a police car when I see one driving down the street after playing GTA?
I have a phobia for heights. I get nervous and shut my eyes when watching a movie involving someone climbing a mountain or working on high steel. AFAIK, this is totally innate. Incidentally, looking out the window of an airplane doesn’t bother me at all. But I could not look over the rather low parapet in front of the Grand Canyon and look down. It would have taken a railing at least 5’ high for me to feel comfortable
On the other hand, I used to have a phobia for bees. That was entirely learned from my mother who had a full-blown panic attack when she saw a bee. But that phobia went away completely the first time I was stung. “WTF was that all about?” I mused and thenceforth bees never bothered me again. It was a little worse when I was stung by a wasp, but still no phobia.
I think I’ve heard that heights and loud noises are the only fears that humans are born with (though some, like snakes, are more easily picked up than others).
Some stuff is innate.
I recall a Scientific American article about a perceptual test. A Split-level box was painted inside with a large-square checkerboard pattern; the “cliff” across the middle of the box was visible through a glass floor. So the pattern looked like a hefty drop (4 feet or more) but the glass made it all a solid floor.
They tried putting several test subjects - crawling babies, puppies and kittens - in the box on the solid patterned half. All would go up to the glass floor edge and stop; even though they could feel the glass floor continuation, they refused to go further because their eyes told them there was a drop-off ahead. So some very basic perceptions and avoidances are just hard-wired into the brain even when there is no prior learned experience of the danger.
I get the impression that for at least some people, a phobia is a defining personal trait, like they lay on thick the histrionics for attention. Similar to some people delude themselves into think their mild allergies are interesting to anyone but them, and over play those the effect of the allergens.
“Oh, I’m terribly afraid of surfaces pocked with holes, so dare show me a picture of surinam toad to make me flail around like a lunatic. :mad:;):mad: Tee hee.”
My Aunt got so addicted to Katamari Damacy that she was frequently tempted to ram her car into the nearest objects so that she could add them to her katamari.
(For those that don’t know, it’s a Japanese game where you start with a little stuff ball that enables you to pick up objects (think of it like a ball of sticky tape that adds to it as you roll) and gradually make your katamari bigger and bigger until you can pick up things like houses. It’s pretty ridiculous but also fun.)