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The allure of the unknown in a tamed, mapped, and homogenized world

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2022

Liane Gabora Open the ORCID record for Liane Gabora [Opens in a new window]  and
Isabel Gomez
Liane Gabora
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology (Okanagan Campus), University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada liane.gabora@ubc.ca; https://people.ok.ubc.ca/lgabora/ mislabel.gomez@ubc.ca
Isabel Gomez
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology (Okanagan Campus), University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada liane.gabora@ubc.ca; https://people.ok.ubc.ca/lgabora/ mislabel.gomez@ubc.ca
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Abstract

As the physical world becomes tamed and mapped out, opportunities to experience the unknown become rarer; imaginary worlds provide a much-needed sense of potentiality. Potentiality is central to the Self-Other Re-organization theory of cultural evolution, which postulates that creativity fuels cumulative cultural change. We point to evidence that fear affects, not the magnitude of exploration, but how cautiously it proceeds.

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Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e282
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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