Fear: The Emotion of Darkness

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President Roosevelt once observed, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Nevertheless, people need fear, people love fear and people fear fear for multiple reasons. It fuels society and its decisions in ways that people do not realize. In fact, fear is one of the strongest and most influential emotions people experience. One’s perspective of fear might be vastly different from another, since it provides a unique experience for each human being. Nonetheless, fear, the emotion of darkness, is a weapon that cannot only be used against people by others, but be an obstacle one faces within one’s self. Fear is a basic human emotion that describes a feeling towards danger and threats. 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 responses such as fight or flight (Layton). According to child and adolescent psychologist, Arcy Lyness, fear activates the fight or flight response, which either prepares a person to stay and fight off the danger or flee from the scene that induced terror. The body stays in the state of fight or flight until the brain receives a signal, confirming that the fear stimulus is no longer there. Stated by psychologist, Dr. Vince Berger, fear is an in-built survival mechanism. A person is born only with two in-bornfears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noise; the rest of a person’s fears are learned. Psychiatrist, Maxie Clarence Maultsby, introduced the concept of four fatal fears: the fear of failure, the fear of rejection, the fear of being wrong and the fear of being emotionally uncomfortable. Maultsby, along with other Psychiatrist, believe these ... ... middle of paper ... ...r Fatal Fears." Clark Leadership Group. N.p., 11 Dec. 2013. Web. 27 May 2014. "Fears and Phobias." KidsHealth. Ed. Arcy Lyness. The Nemours Foundation, 01 May 2013. Web. 25 May 2014. "Franklin D. Roosevelt Quote." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 26 May 2014. Kalat, James W., and Michelle N. Shiota. Emotion. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2007. Print. Layton, Julia. "How Fear Works." HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks.com, 13 Sept. 2005. Web. 26 May 2014. Leitschuh, Cheryl. "Advertisement." Law Practice Today RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2014. Maultsby, Maxie C. Rational Behavior Therapy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1984. Print. "Phobia." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 28 May 2014. Smith, Melinda, M.A., Robert Segal, M.A., and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D. "Phobias & Fears." Phobias and Fears: Symptoms, Treatment, and Self-Help. N.p., Feb. 2014. Web. 26 May 2014.

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