Fear

Lore & Background

The experience of fear involves a number of physiological changes, which in humans include more rapid breathing and heart rate, dilation of the pupils, spikes in cortisol levels, and elevated electrodermal activity. These qualities overlap considerably with the physiology of other negative, arousing emotions, such as anger, sadness, disgust, and anxiety. Fear also involves behavioural reactions like the startle response, the fight-or-flight response, and the freeze response. Like other emotions, the experience of fear is heavily affected by individual differences, situational factors, and cultural ways of thinking. For this reason, it can be unhelpful and inaccurate to assume that fear refers to a single, discrete, unified phenomenon. Fear is often identified in both non-human vertebrates and invertebrates through physiological and behavioural observations, but the inability of non-human animals to communicate their experiences in language makes this identification challenging. Fear has often been associated with 'lower' animals, hypothesized to arise from a more primitive part of the brain than advanced human cognitive capacities, but this view has no basis in contemporary neuroscience. Neural structures in vertebrate brains which are associated with emotional experiences are fully integrated into the dynamic, non-hierarchical cognitive systems by which animals, both human and non-human, address the complex situations in which they find themselves. Fear can therefore be understood as a facet of the mental life of animals, involved with cognition and with other related emotional states, which contributes to the ability to flexibly address complex, risky scenarios.

Reader's Guide

The source article does not provide a separate guide section. It describes physiological signs, causes, nature, conditioning, common triggers, phobias, and uncertainty, but these are not presented as a guide. Therefore, no guide is written.

Did You Know?

• Fear can be aroused by sounds that resemble screaming.
• Humans sometimes take pleasure in intentionally making themselves afraid.
• The physiology of fear overlaps with that of anger, sadness, disgust, and anxiety.
• Fear is identified in both non-human vertebrates and invertebrates through physiological and behavioural observations.
• The view that fear arises from a more primitive part of the brain than advanced human capacities has no basis in contemporary neuroscience.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Fear is a basic emotional sensation and response system ("feeling") initiated by an aversion to some perceived risk or threat." — Fear "We’ve become afraid of beautiful moments, as if we know they’ll one day become very painful memories." — Fear "Lucius Accius from Atreus, quoted in Seneca, Dialogues, Books III–V "De Ira", I, 20, 4." — Fear "Fear is the foundation of most governments." — Fear