I've found this does indeed stop a lot of people. Either they are afraid they will damage something or they will "look stupid." A number of studies have pointed out that kids who just take failure as an intermediate step for success continue, and those for whom failure has been programmed as a deeply "bad" thing, either stop when things get rough or never start.

It is important to learn how self limiting this can be. Don't be afraid of screwing up, look forward to it. Look forward to learning something new and getting a better internal understanding of the world around you. Your parents/friends/spouse/etc will still love you.