Anonymous
Favorite Answer
Fear.
Disembodied Heretic
Maybe it's an evolutionary throwback? Back in the mists of evolutionary time, when our ancestors were dumb hairy hominids huddled together in caves, things that were radically different from our normal experience might well have been things that would kill us and eat us. Less dramatically, embracing hominids from different clans would probably put serious strain on our limited resources and capacities. Extreme caution and xenophobia may have made a lot more sense back then than they do today, but the impluse that still exists might be an atavistic throwback, partly hardwired somewhere deep in our brains.
meggus31
Things that people are not used to, or different, put them out of their "comfort zone". Some will fight tooth and nail to get back in their comfort zone, and that may include being unaccepting of things they find different.
Anonymous
Anything that is not the same is seen as a threat. To change the way one thinks is a threat to the ego. Change itself is scary. Fear of the unknown means the lack of control, not to be in control is a threat to the ego. The ego is like a big baby that has its diaper twisted up in a knot screaming it wants what it wants when it wants it. Anything that is different or changing threatens that.
inquisitor1125
Because when you are so used to one thing it can sometime be extremely hard to addapt to something different/new. I think a lot of times we are afraid of trying something different because we are in the "comfort zone" and anything out of this zone is the unfamaliar.