<unk> , cainotophobia or cainophobia is the fear of anything new, especially a persistent and abnormal Fear processing in the brain|fear. In its milder form, it can manifest as the unwillingness to try new things or break from routine. Mild manifestations are often present in young children (who want the small portion of the world that they "know" to remain constant) and elderly people (who often cope using long established habits and don't want to learn "new tricks").[citation needed] But<unk>  could also be fear of losing what one has -- e.g., the fear that if anything changes, one might never be happy again.
In biomedical research,<unk>  is often associated with the study of taste. Food<unk>  is an important concern in pediatric psychology.
Norway rats and house mice are thought to have evolved increased levels of<unk>  as they became commensals|commensal with humans because humans were routinely devising new methods (e.g., mousetraps) to eradicate them.<unk>  is also a common finding in aging animals, although apathy could also explain, or contribute to explain, the lack of exploratory drive systematically observed in aging. Researchers argued that the lack of exploratory drive was likely due neurophysiologically to the dysfunction of neural pathways connected to the prefrontal cortex observed during aging.
Robert Anton Wilson theorized in his book Prometheus Rising that<unk>  is instinctual in people after they begin to raise children. Wilson's views on<unk>  are mostly negative, believing that it is the reason human culture and ideas do not advance as quickly as our technology. His model includes an idea from Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, which is that new ideas, however well proven and evident, are implemented only when the generations who consider them "new" die and are replaced by generations who consider the ideas accepted and old.
The word<unk>  comes from the Greek νέος, neos, meaning "new, young", and φόβος, phobos, for "fear". Cainophobia comes from the Greek καινός, kainos, meaning "new, fresh".
Neophobia
Bathmophobia
Chronophobia
Anglophobia
Anthophobia
Emetophobia
Nosophobia
Heliophobia