Would children be afraid of the dark if they were never exposed to ghost/monster stories/movies/etc.?
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Fear of the dark is a primal instinct. Ambush predators hide in the darkness of the forests and jungles. Evil humans use the cover of darkness to do their thing. Combine that with the growing imagination of a child, and the human trait of pareidolia where we see faces in inanimate objects, fear of the dark is normal.
Yes! We get our fear of the dark from our fairly poor night vision and the prevalence of more apex predators hunting in the evenings!
Yes.
Fear of the dark/unknown is innate in humans and occurs in children at a fairly young age, typically toward the end of infancy and before they are toddlers. Now this can definitely be heightened by watching scary movies or being told scary stories, but it is not created by them.
Would “the dark” be part of the stories if the intended audience wasn’t expected to already be afraid of it?
Yes, fear is like disgust, it prevents you from doing things that can cause you harm.
And not being able to see in a situation where other animals can certainly has potential to cause you harm.
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