Fear

From Free net encyclopedia

For other uses, see Fear (disambiguation).

Fear is an unpleasant feeling of perceived risk or danger, whether it be real or imagined. Fear also can be described as a feeling of extreme dislike towards certain conditions, objects, people, or situations such as: fear of darkness, fear of ghosts, etc. It is one of the basic emotions and is linked heavily to the amygdala neurons.

Fear may underlie some phenomena of behavior modification, although these phenomena can be explained without adducing fear as a factor in them. Furthermore, application of aversive stimuli is also often ineffective in producing change in the behaviour intended to be changed. Fearing objects or contexts can be learned; in animals this is being studied as fear conditioning, which depends on the emotional circuitry of the brain.

Fear inside a person has different degrees and varies from one person to another (see also phobia). If not properly handled, fear can lead to social problems. People who experience intense fear have been known to commit irrational and/or dangerous acts.

Some philosophers have considered fear to be a useless emotion; other thinkers note the usefulness of fear as a warning of potentially unpleasant situations or consequences. Still others consider that fear is the fuel that feeds the ego's (as in "separating/judgmental agent") engine.

It might also be useful to note that "fear" in the sense of 'God Fearing' means "To regard with reverence and awe". (OED) This phrase is often misinterpreted on the internet.

1 Degrees of fear
- 1.1 Distrust
- 1.2 Paranoia
2 Terror
3 Expression
- 3.1 Facial
4 Cause of fear
5 Further reading
6 See also
7 External links

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Degrees of fear

Fear can be described by different terms in accordance with its relative degrees. Fear covers a number of terms - worry, terror, fright, paranoia, horror, persecution complex and dread.

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Distrust

Distrust is the period of warning before the actual fear begins, sometimes explained as the inward feeling of caution, usually focused towards a person or object. Distrust is a lack of faith or belief, described as a warning feeling towards something questionable or unknown. For example, having distrust in a rickety old bridge across a 10,000ft drop.

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Paranoia

Paranoia is a term used to describe a psychosis of fear, related to perception of being persecuted. (see also Guilt) This perception often causes one to change their normal behaviour in radical ways, after time their behavior may become extremely compulsive.

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Terror

Terror refers to a pronounced state of fear, when someone becomes overwhelmed with a sense of immediate danger. Thus, terror overwhelms the person to the point of making irrational choices and non-typical behavior.

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Expression

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Facial

In fear, ones eyes widen and the upper lip rises. The brows draw together and the lips stretch horizontally. The speech is slurred and it takes longer to think through what one wants to say in any given situation. Eyes tend to get wide when one has fear, out of anticipation for what will happen next.

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Cause of fear

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The causes of fear can vary to a surprising degree; fear is to a certain extent a "cultural artifact" (Clifford Geertz). In 19th century Britain, one of the biggest fears was of dying poor, unmourned, unremembered, and possibly ending up on an anatomist's dissection table. By the early twentieth century, this had given way to a fear of being buried alive, to the extent that those who could afford it would make all sorts of arrangements to ensure this would be avoided (eg glass lids, for observation, and breathing pipes, for survival until rescued). During the Second World War, fear of death by bombing was much less prevalent than during World War I, even though many more bombs fell; air wardens would complain of civilians continuing to gossip on street corners instead of taking shelter. Similarly, when cars were new, dislike of them from the public pushed laws required a guard with a red flag to walk in front of it to warn the public of traffic. In modern times, some are putting the blame on video games, minoritys, drugs, music, or basically anything which might serve as a suitable scape goat for society's problems.

In 2005, University of Toronto researchers traced the origin of memories to the prefrontal cortex of the brain.[1]

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