What is fear? To answer that question we must understand what emotion is. Emotion as we know it is a persons state of feeling. Scientific reasoning has drifted to different meanings and there is no consensus on a definition in the scientific community. “Emotion is often conjoined with mood, temperament, personality, and motivation” Wikipedi. Fear is an emotion we are all very familiar with. But how we really know what fear is? This paper will help unravel the misconceptions and false ideas on emotion and fear and brig to light to why is crucial to mankind.
In multiple theories, cognition is a very important aspect of emotion. Those acting only on emotion may appear as if they are not using logic, but mental processes are still needed, particularly in the procession of events. For example, the procession of danger and subsequent arousal of the nervous system is integral to the emotion of fear. Other theories, however, claim that emotion is completely separate from and can precede cognition. There are multiple theories on human emotions as well.
The main theories of emotion can be put into three major categories. Physiologists theorize that reactions within the body and mind are responsible for emotions. Neurological theories propose that chemical activity within the brain leads to emotional reflexes. Finally, cognitive theories argue that thoughts and mental activity play a vital role in the formation of emotions. As we know fear is a vital emotion to humanity, it keeps us from petting spiders and kissing snakes. So fear is a kind of defense mechanism to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes.
Fear is a vital reflex to physical or emotional danger, even if we didn’t feel it, we couldn’t prevent ourselves from legitimate threats. But for the most part we fear situations that are nowhere near life-or-death, and thus hold us back for no real reason. Traumas or bad experiences can trigger a fear reflex within us that is hard to reason. “Yet exposing ourselves to our own personal and unique fears is the best way to move past them” (Posttraumatic Disorder–Temporary or Permanent? ). So everybody has their own fears.
As I stated before bad experiences are a huge trigger for fear. A perfect example of a phobia is one that I have of spiders. When I was younger, possibly in the single digits, I wanted and tried to hold a pet a spider. The spider was scared of me and it bit me. , causing me to fear spiders almost to the point of paralysis. Every one experiences fear or more like its effects on the body and mind in different ways. However, many responses just make no sense, I would like to show case a few of them. Humans are social creatures, as we know.
Exploding into a ball of salty liquid is no good when you are trying to tell a harmless little lie like claiming you didn’t damage the car door of the angry man with the baseball bat. And yet there is always the somewhat general adrenal response. When people get nervous their body causes them to accelerate their heart rate so they can run faster, dilate their pupils so they can see farther and better than average, and sweat like hogs, so they don’t overheat. Of course, we can’t see farther than wolves, or run faster than bears, so we’re pretty much just pre-salting ourselves for them.
But there is actually a legitimate reason why. Contrary to popular belief dogs, horses, and bees cannot smell or sense human fear but other humans can. It is possible for our sweating to be linked with the safety of the community in mind to signal other humans. “A phobia is intense but unrealistic fear that can interfere with the ability to socialize, work, or go about every day life, brought on by an object, event or situation. ” We all are afraid of something, from spiders to dentists, no matter how unreasonable.
Phobias are a special type of fear that is technically a mental disorder known as an anxiety disorder. Why is it important to know what a phobia is? Because phobias and fears are two very different things when it comes to chemical responses in the brain. Phobias are separated into three categories specific phobias, social phobias, and agoraphobia. A specific phobia as the name suggests is an irrational fear related to exposure to specific objects or situations. The affected person tends to avoid direct contact with the objects or situations and, in very severe cases, any mention or imagery of them.
The fear is very be disabling to their daily lives even in jobs and in hobbies. The fear or anxiety may be activated by the presence and the anticipation of the specific object or situation. Anyone who encounters that of which they are phobic will show signs of fear or express mental or physical discomfort. It can result in a horrible panic attack. In many adults, the person may logically know the fear and understand it is unreasonable but still find it difficult or impossible to control the anxiety.
This condition can significantly impair the person’s mental and even physical health. Social phobias are a little more complex in a sense because they are not brought on by specific situations or things. A person with a social phobia is afraid that he or she will make mistakes and be embarrassed and or humiliated in front of others. The fear is being made worse by the lack of social skills or experience in social situations one might have. The fear for social anxiety can build up and cause horrifying panic attacks. As