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Recommended: Fear and its effects
It has been said by many scientists that fear is a natural phenomenon that majorities of people have experienced at one point in time due to various stimuli with largely negative outcomes. Fear has been known to distort emotions, actions, and perceptions and people who have suffered as a result of this fear can lead to have uncontrollable ramifications. There are several factors that attribute to the brain’s development of fear and it reigns that the human brain processes specific experiences for every person and therefore plants the seed of fear.
Fear has been defined in a number of ways, the primary way in which it has been expressed, is as a “chain reaction in the brain that starts with a stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals”
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The end result of releasing chemicals is what internally happens when the body reacts to the stimulus. Fear is an unavoidable emotion and although the extent of fear varies from person to person, the general emotion and the end result from fear is typically the same. The brain is the most important yet extremely complex part of the human body that is not fully understood, but it is known that the body is programmed to react in specific ways when a stimulus is recognized. When coming in contact with a stressful situation or an experience where one feels endangered, the brain remembers this as a negative prompt and therefore future reactions will mirror those of the first.There have been multitudes of assessments through the use of scientific instruments and researchers that have investigated the hypothesis of the idea that fear content ranges due to differences in age, gender, culture, etc. After many studies were performed, it was found that many fears begin to expel as people increase in age and also that fear tends to relate to social surroundings (Gullone). However, despite the fact that fear might decrease as one increases age, overcoming fears is largely
Psychologists both now and in years past have investigated the concept of fear and its different forms, as well as its reason for existence. Some discovered that experiences, nurture, and nature create the emotion within people. Each of the five divisions of fear includes loss. Every human experiences fear of extinction, mutilation, loss of autonomy, separation, and ego-death yet encounter these emotions at various rates to assorted extents.
Through a lifespan, people will endure many stressful events and experiences. The severity of these events easily overwhelm them and as a result they will let their emotions overshadow sensible decisions. When in such an emotional state, it is common that people make impulsive decisions based off their feelings, but, this could lead to permanent consequences. Of the numerous emotions, fear predominantly is seen in times of crisis. Fear can be defined as, “An emotion of uneasiness that arises as a normal response to perceived threat that may be real or imagined” (Adamec). Fear may arise from a confrontation or from avoiding a threat, or it may come in the form of a discovery. Fear is often a direct result of one being scared due to a crisis
One of the most controversial topics of the century hinges on one simple question: What makes the world go round? Most will jump to say money. Some will argue in favor of their religion. Others will point out scientific facts. The truth is, none are correct. One emotion, one aspect of life shines above the others, extending its light on merely half of our beloved globe, leaving the other semi-circle to deal with pitch black: fear. To understand its impact, society’s definition of fear must be perceived. Fear is officially defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something dangerous will harm him/her. However, with his classic novel, Alan Paton shows that it extends far beyond that. An old man by the name of Stephen Kumalo leaves the comfort of his tribe in Ndotsheni, and embarks on a
Fear is a potent emotional response developed by the intrinsic need to learn in order for one to better their means of self-preservation. Though often overlooked, fear is a mental construct which presents great importance in understanding an individual’s thoughts and mannerisms. Children can help scientists to better recognize how these fears emerge. The early years of life can be considered the most daunting; everything in the environment surrounding a child is fairly new, strange, and unfamiliar. In the psychological community, it is widely accepted that fears are determined from two main constituents: biological and environmental factors. Both factors play an essential role in defining fear as well as the determination of what a child may
The definition of fear has proved to be an elusive mystery plaguing scientists. While there is much agreement as to the physiological effects of fear, the neural pathways and connections that bring upon these effects are not well understood. From the evolutionary standpoint, the theory is that fear is a neural circuit that has been designed to keep the organism alive in dangerous situations (1). How does it all work? Learning and responding to stimuli that warn of danger involves neural pathways that send information about the outside world to the amygdala, which in turn, determines the significance of the stimulus and triggers emotional responses like freezing or fleeing as well as changes in the inner workings of the body's organs and glands (1). There are important distinctions to make between emotions and feelings. Feelings are "red herrings", products of the conscious mind, labels given to unconscious emotions (2) whereas emotions are distinct patterns of behaviors of neurons. Emotions can exist of conscious experiencesas well as physiological and neurological reactions and voluntary and involuntary behaviors (3). But the components of fear goes beyond feelings and emotions. It is also the specific memory of the emotion. After a frightful experience, one can remember the logical reasons for the experience (e.g. the time and place) but one will also "feel" the memory, and his body will react as such (i.e. increased heart and respiration rate, sweating). In one recent case, after a near drowining incident, the victim could not only vividly remember each detail, but when doing so, his body reacted as though he were reliving the experience. These feelings of memory are stored in an ...
Fear motivates many people to act upon matters, right or wrong. This emotion has been important in many events in both works of literature, and in the real world. It has forced military geniuses into retreat, and influenced them to plan another method of attack. Fear can be both a positive and a negative acting force in one’s life, a quality that can motivate one to success as well as to downfall.
You’ve just finished a scary movie at your house and it’s now 10:47pm, and you remember you are the only one home. Its pitch black and you hear a creaking noise from upstairs so you begin to panic and become completely frozen, this is the feeling of fear. Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, and some people go out of their way to seek that feeling. This now creates the question why? Why do some people enjoy the feeling of fear? Author’s Allegra Ringo and Steph Yin articles about fear help discover the answer to that very question. While some people may think that this topic is pointless or not interesting, both Allegra Ringo and Steph Yin’s article will quickly change your mind.
“There is nothing to fear but fear itself” (Roosevelt). “Fear is a chain reaction in the brain that starts with a stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals that cause a racing heart, fast breathing and energized muscles, among other things, also known as the fight-or-flight response” (Layton). Fear affects the brain and can help people or make them in a worse situation than they were in the first place. Fear most motivates/influences people during times of crisis by clouding judgement and becoming a weapon of power.
In the words of Bertrand Russell, “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom” (Russell). Fear causes many problems in our lives. Fear influences many of a person’s actions and decisions. However, people usually regret the decisions or actions they made out of fear. Also, these actions and decisions can cause problems for those people in their future. Fear is a harmful emotion, for it clouds people’s judgement, disables them from taking action, and causes them to make decisions that they will regret later.
This paper is focused on how fear as a subject is being perceived by many as a dominant and primitive human emotion. An uncontrollable energy that’s exists and created within every individual, which is directed towards an object or a given situation that does not present an actual danger. The individual then analyzes that the fear is contradictory and thus cannot help the reaction. Gradually, the phobia aims to build up and aggravate as the fear of fear response takes hold. Eventually they distinguish their fear responses as negative, and go out of their way to avoid those reactions. ‘Fear is derived as a basic feeling and therefore created by us – it is not something we have, but something we do. The principle of fear is to keep us safe.’
Fear is an everyday emotion that the human race must face, and it can bring out the best and worst of us, but its how we choose to deal with it that truly defines us.
Fear is a human emotion everyone dislikes. Fear is in every person with no exception. It can be difficult problem to solve. We can overcome our fears by challenging ourselves by analyzing fear and developing a growth mindset.
But most of all, I continually find myself coming back to this one specific question that has no doubt not just been pondered by me, but many people across the world, “How do you overcome fear?” When trying to explain fear's purpose, in my eyes it’s relatively simple. Although I’ve never researched to see if my hypothesis is true, I have long assumed fear itself is just chemicals being released into our brains, to keep us out of danger and preserve our lives for as long as
Fear is the reason why students are writing an essay for a class. Fear is the anxiety of receiving a failing mark to a final exam that we never show to our parents. Fear is the uneasiness that we feel when our parents learn about a stupid thing that could make them disappointed. Fear is the inability to walk to a dark corridor after watching a horror movie. Fear is the negative state of mind that hinders us from doing anything. These are how we usually describe fear, danger, and suffering, the feeling of uneasiness that overwhelms our body. Understanding the true nature of fear gives us purpose and motivation to do better.
Experiencing overwhelming fear can destabilize our internal system of arousal and leads to a destruction in the ability for the individual process emotions