Fear is an emotion induced by perceived danger or threat, which causes physiological changes and ultimately behavioral changes, such as fleeing, hiding, or freezing from perceived traumatic events. Fear in human beings may occur in response to a certain stimulus occurring in the present, or in anticipation or expectation of a future threat perceived as a risk to oneself. The fear response arises from the perception of danger leading to confrontation with or escape from/avoiding the threat (also known as the fight-or-flight response), which in extreme cases of fear (horror and terror) can be a freeze response or paralysis.

In humans and other animals, fear is modulated by the process of cognition and learning. Thus fear is judged as rational or appropriate and irrational or inappropriate. An irrational fear is called a phobia.

Fear is closely related to the emotion anxiety, which occurs as the result of threats that are perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable.The fear response serves survival by engendering appropriate behavioral responses, so it has been preserved throughout evolution.

Sociological and organizational research also suggests that individuals' fears are not solely dependent on their nature but are also shaped by their social relations and culture, which guide their understanding of when and how much fear to feel.

...FEAR _-_ A...

Oderint dum metuant.

Let them hate, so long as they fear.

Lucius Accius from Atreus, quoted in Seneca, Dialogues, Books III–V "De Ira", I, 20, 4.

Fear is the foundation of most governments.

John Adams, Thoughts on Government (1776).

From remote times people have been accustomed to fear so-called death. They were always intimidated by hell, and at the same time were not told about the meaning of perfectment. One cannot ask people to be brave if they do not know why they are on Earth, and where they will be directed when liberated. We entrust Our co-workers to repeat as much as they can to people about the great Eternity and the continuity of life... We know what devastation fear produces in the human organism. Earthly physicians should distinguish a special kind of sickness caused by fear... Let them understand how harmful is fear.

•Fear, imposed from the top down- from shareholder to senior executive, senior executive to executive, and so on down the chain right to the maximally squeezed Manpower temp- is the dominant trope in the post-Reagan corporate culture. One of the simplest ways to instill this fear is to make employees acutely aware that their jobs are never safe.

Mark Ames, Going Postal: Rage, Murder and Rebellion: From Reagan's Workplaces to Clinton's Columbine and Beyond (2005), p. 103

Just remember, you can do anything you set your mind to, but it takes action, perseverance, and facing your fears.

Gillian Anderson, excerpt from the foreword in Girl Boss: Running the Show Like the Big Chicks

THE CORRUPT FEAR US · THE HONEST SUPPORT US · THE HEROIC JOIN US.

Anonymous motto, used in many placards, quoted at Anonymousuk.org

He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.

Variant: I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who overcomes his enemies.

Aristotle, Quoted in Florilegium by Joannes Stobaeus

Causes Of The FEAR

...Innate Fear...

Although many fears are learned, the capacity to fear is part of human nature. Many studies have found that certain fears (e.g. animals, heights) are much more common than others (e.g. flowers, clouds). These fears are also easier to induce in the laboratory. This phenomenon is known as preparedness. Because early humans that were quick to fear dangerous situations were more likely to survive and reproduce, preparedness is theorized to be a genetic effect that is the result of natural selection.

From an evolutionary psychology perspective, different fears may be different adaptations that have been useful in our evolutionary past.

They may have developed during different time periods. Some fears, such as fear of heights, may be common to all mammals and developed during the mesozoic period. Other fears, such as fear of snakes, may be common to all simians and developed during the cenozoic time period. Still others, such as fear of mice and insects, may be unique to humans and developed during the paleolithic and neolithic time periods (when mice and insects become important carriers of infectious diseases and harmful for crops and stored foods).

...Learned Fear...

Animals and humans innovate specific fears as a result of learning. This has been studied in psychology as fear conditioning, beginning with John B. Watson's Little Albert experiment in 1920, which was inspired after observing a child with an irrational fear of dogs. In this study, an 11-month-old boy was conditioned to fear a white rat in the laboratory. The fear became generalized to include other white, furry objects, such as a rabbit, dog, kitten and even a ball of cotton.

Fear can be learned by experiencing or watching a frightening traumatic accident. For example, if a child falls into a well and struggles to get out, he or she may develop a fear of wells, heights (acrophobia), enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), or water (aquaphobia). There are studies looking at areas of the brain that are affected in relation to fear. When looking at these areas (such as the amygdala), it was proposed that a person learns to fear regardless of whether they themselves have experienced trauma, or if they have observed the fear in others. In a study completed by Andreas Olsson, Katherine I. Nearing and Elizabeth A. Phelps, the amygdala were affected both when subjects observed someone else being submitted to an aversive event, knowing that the same treatment awaited themselves, and when subjects were subsequently placed in a fear-provoking situation.This suggests that fear can develop in both conditions, not just simply from personal history.

Fear is affected by cultural and historical context. For example, in the early 20th century, many Americans feared polio, a disease that can lead to paralysis.There are consistent cross-cultural differences in how people respond to fear. Display rules affect how likely people are to express the facial expression of fear and other emotions.

Fear of victimization is a function of perceived risk and seriousness.

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...Physiological Signs...

Many physiological changes in the body are associated with fear, summarized as the fight-or-flight response. An innate response for coping with danger, it works by accelerating the breathing rate (hyperventilation), heart rate, vasoconstriction of the peripheral blood vessels leading to blushing and sanskadania of the central vessels (pooling), increasing muscle tension including the muscles attached to each hair follicle to contract and causing "goosebumps", or more clinically, piloerection (making a cold person warmer or a frightened animal look more impressive), sweating, increased blood glucose (hyperglycemia), increased serum calcium, increase in white blood cells called neutrophilic leukocytes, alertness leading to sleep disturbance and "butterflies in the stomach" (dyspepsia). This primitive mechanism may help an organism survive by either running away or fighting the danger.With the series of physiological changes, the consciousness realizes an emotion of fear.

Physiological Responses to Pain

Physiological responses to pain are mainly aspects of the body's integrated defence response including Fight or Flight.  The two main systems are (1) the Sympatho-Adrenal (SA) system and (2) the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) system.

ΔPhysiological signs of pain may include:

•dilatation of the pupils and/or wide opening of the eyelids

•changes in blood pressure and heart rate

•increased respiration rate and/or depth

•pilo-erection

•changes in skin and body temperature

•increased muscle tone

•sweating

When Does Fear Become a Disorder?

A phobia is a distinct fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation, according to the DSM-5. It consistently provokes fear or causes distress, and the sufferer endures it with discomfort or avoids it entirely, such as taking the stairs to avoid an elevator. The fear is also disproportionate to the true danger the object or event poses.

ΔPhobias fall into five broad categories:

•Animals, such as a fear of spiders, dogs, or bugs

•The natural environment, such as a fear of heights or storms

•Blood, injury, and injection, such as a fear of needles or medical procedures

•Situational, such as a fear of flying or riding in elevators

•Others, such as a fear of vomiting or choking

Seven to 9 percent of Americans experience a specific phobia in a given year, according to the DSM-5, and women experience phobias twice as often as men do. It’s also common to have multiple fears: three-quarters of those diagnosed with specific phobia have more than one.

Some people can pin the origin of a phobia to a specific event, like news of a terrible plane crash or being attacked by a dog as a child. But many cannot identify a particular incident that prompted their fear.

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Next Chapter In This Novel We Are Gone Published By Concept of Phobias

Few Facts About Fear For You

*Fears are not caused by one, big, scary event. ...

*Certain fears are universal across cultures. ...

*Individuals with anxiety disorders experience normal fear responses to scary situations. ...

*Anxiety in childhood is normal. ...

*Fearless individuals do not have normal fear responses to scary situations. ...

*Fears can become extinct. ...