Fear Totally Explained

Everything about Fear totally explained

Fear is an emotional response to tangible and realistic dangers. Fear should be distinguished from anxiety, an emotion that often arises out of proportion to the actual threat or danger involved, and can be subjectively experienced without any specific attention to the threatening object.
Most fear is usually connected to pain (for example, some fear heights because if they fall, they may suffer severe injury or even die upon landing). Behavioral theorists, like Watson and Ekman, have suggested that fear is one of several very basic emotions (for example, joy and anger). Fear is a survival mechanism, and usually occurs in response to a specific negative stimulus.

Etymology

The Old English term fǣr meant not the emotion engendered by a calamity or disaster but rather the event itself. The first recorded usage of the term "fear" with the sense of the “emotion of fear” is found in a medieval work written in Middle English and composed around 1290. The most probable explanation for the change in the meaning of the word fear is the existence in Old English of the related verb fǣran, which meant “to terrify, take by surprise.” c

Varieties

Serious fear is a response to some formidable impending peril, while trifling fear arises from confrontation with inconsequential danger.
Fear can be described by different terms in accordance with its relative degrees. Personal fear varies extremely in degree from mild caution to extreme phobia and paranoia. Fear is related to a number of emotional states including worry, anxiety, terror, fright, paranoia, horror, panic (social and personal), persecution complex and dread.
Fears may be a factor within a larger social network, wherein personal fears are synergetically compounded as mass hysteria.

Paranoia is a term used to describe a psychosis of fear, described as a heightened perception of being persecuted, false or otherwise. This degree of fear often indicates that one has changed their normal behavior in radical ways, and may have become extremely compulsive. Sometimes, the result of extreme paranoia is a phobia.

Distrust in the context of interpersonal fear, is sometimes explained as the inward feeling of caution, usually focused towards a person, representing an unwillingness to trust in someone else. Distrust isn't a lack of faith or belief in someone, but a feeling of warning towards someone or something questionable or unknown. For example, one may "distrust" a stranger who acts in a way that's perceived as "odd." Likewise one may "distrust" the safety of a rusty old bridge across a 100 ft drop.

Terror refers to a pronounced state of fear - which usually occurs before the state of horror - when someone becomes overwhelmed with a sense of immediate danger. Also, it can be caused by perceiving the (possibly extreme) phobia. As a consequence, terror overwhelms the person to the point of making irrational choices and non-typical behavior. Fear can also affect the subconscious and unconscious mind, most notably through nightmares.
Fear can also be imagined, and the side effects can also be imagined.

Causes

Although fear is an innate response, objects of fear can be learned. This has been studied in psychology as fear conditioning, beginning with Watson's Little Albert experiment in 1920. In this study, an 11-month-old boy was conditioned to fear a white rat in the laboratory. In the real world, fear may also be acquired by a 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, enclosed spaces (claustrophobia) or of water (aquaphobia).
Researchers have found that certain fears (for example animals, heights) are much more common than others (for example flowers, clouds). They are also much easier to induce in the laboratory. This phenomenon has been called preparedness. Physiologically, the fear response is linked to activity in the amygdala of the limbic system.
The experience of fear may also be influenced by social norms and values. In the early 20th century, many people feared polio, a disease which cripples the body part it affects, leaving the body part immobilized for the rest of one's life.

Characteristics

Behavioral

In fear, one may go through various emotional stages. A good example of this is the cornered rat, which will try to run away until it's finally cornered by its predator, at which point it'll become belligerent and fight back with heavy aggression until it either escapes or is captured.
The same goes for most animals. Humans can become very intimidated by fear; causing them to go along with another's wishes without caring about their own input. They can also become equally violent, and can even become deadly; it's an instinctive reaction caused by rising adrenaline levels rather than a consciously thought-out decision. This is why in many cases the full penalty can't be made in cases of the court of law.
The facial expression of fear includes the following components:

One's eyes widen (out of anticipation for what will happen next)

The pupils dilate (to take in more light)

The upper lip rises

The brows draw together

Lips stretch horizontally.

Physiological

The physiological effects of fear can be better understood from the perspective of the sympathetic nervous responses (fight-or-flight), as compared to parasympathetic response, which is a more relaxed state.

muscles used for physical movement are tightened and primed with oxygen in preparation for a physical fight or flight response.

perspiration occurs due to blood being shunted from body's viscera to the peripheral parts of the body. Blood that's shunted from the viscera to the rest of the body will transfer, along with oxygen and nutrients, heat, prompting perspiration to cool the body.

when the stimulus is shocking or abrupt, a common reaction is to cover or otherwise protect vulnerable parts of the anatomy, particularly the face and head.

when a fear stimulus occurs unexpectedly, the victim of the fear response could possibly jump or give a small start.

the person's heart rate and heartbeat may increase. Fear is the flip side of anger in the inbuilt human 'fight or flight' response. Many people feel the effects of fear on a day to day basis in the workplace through the stress of a modern working environment. This fear has a direct correlation to one's working efficiency and has been crystallised into a chart through an ongoing linear study in Bristol. The fear-o-meter shows the range of emotions caused by the latent fear that a significant workload and impending deadline can create. Whilst one's ability to work effectively diminishes as the level of fear increases, productivity on the other hand increases exponentially as the impending deadline approaches. For example, a student might fail to start an essay until the level of fear reaches 5 or above, choosing to either go out or perform menial tasks until the fear has increased to the required level.

Satisfaction
Ennui
Despondency
Anxiety
Fear / Vexed
Despair / Anger
Apathy / Rage
Terror / Apoplectic

Neurobiology

The amygdala is a key brain structure in the neurobiology of fear. It is involved in the processing of negative emotions such as fear and anger. Researchers have observed hyperactivity in the amygdala when patients who were shown threatening faces or confronted with frightening situations. Patients with more severe social phobia showed a correlation with increased response in the amygdala. Studies have also shown that subjects exposed to images of frightened faces or people of another race exhibit increased activity in the amygdala.
The fear response generated by the amygdala can be mitigated by another brain region known at the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, located in the frontal lobe. In a 2006 study by Columbia University, researchers observed that test subjects experienced less activity in the amygdala when they consciously perceived fearful stimuli than when they unconsciounsly perceived fearful stimuli. In the former case, they discovered the rostral anterior cingulate cortex activates to dampen activity in amygdala, granting the subjects a degree of emotional control.
Suppression of amygdala activity can also be achieved by pathogens. Rats infected with the toxoplasmosis parasite become less fearful of cats, sometimes even seeking out their urine-marked areas. This behavior often leads to them being eaten by cats; the parasite then reproduces within the body of the cat. There is evidence that the parasite concentrates itself in the amygdala of infected rats.

In Religion

Fear of death

Some psychologists have addressed the hypotheses that fear of death may motivate one’s basic religious commitment, and on the other hand, may be allayed by some but not all religious orientations due to the religion's assurances about afterlife. The empirical experiments have been equivocal: According to Herman Feifel, those with religious beliefs had more fear of death than the nonreligious; Wendell M. Swenson's experiment showed otherwise and Adolph F. Christ found that there's no relation between the two. Otherwise healthy people have been known to be "scared to death," that is, to suddenly die under extreme fear or emotional trauma. People of all ages have died from fright brought on by everything from earthquakes to amusement-park rides.
While the mechanism isn't fully understood, it's believed that sudden death can occur from cardiac arrhythmia brought on by a terrifying event. While the otherwise instinctual flight-or-fight response, which prepares the body for impending danger, is countered by the parasympathetic nervous system when the danger has passed, in certain cases an excessive response can damage the heart enough to kill.. A German study has found that fear can make blood clot and increase the risk of thrombosis.

Further Information

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