"Being frightened is an experience you can't buy." We are a society that adores fear. We thrive off of it; creating horror movies, shows like "Fear Factor", and the media in general are only a few examples. At the same time there are people who are afraid to leave their house and are possibly restricted to a single room. So what is fear? What is the purpose of being afraid? Why is it that some people will run and scream when they see a snake while others collect and breed them for their love of these majestic reptiles?
Fear is a feeling we have all dealt with at one time or another. It is something that we first experience as children, and are conditioned to respond to in many different ways. In a controversial experiment in 1920 John B. Watson shows us with "Little Albert" how a young child can be conditioned to fear a white rat, which he had originally not been afraid of. With the baby sitting on the ground the rat was presented to him; there was no obvious fear but there was extensive curiosity. A loud gong was sounded and frightened Albert. This was repeated every time the rat was presented until Albert connected the white rat with the scary noise. Finally when the rat came out the baby would start to cry and try to get away. Now Watson was able to deduce through his experiment that phobias were generally expected to be conditioned responses. He declared that phobias were either a fear of the initial stimulus or that they had been shifted to another stimuli, as the person grew older. Adult personalities, Watson believed, are shaped through early childhood events. Watson also had behavioral evidence that proved that learned responses in childhood shifted across stimuli and environments, carrying over a pe...
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...ive disorder. Anxiety disorders are not just a case of "nerves." One cannot overcome an anxiety disorder through willpower alone, nor can the symptoms be ignored or wished away. Anxiety disorders cause the person to feel anxious most of the time, making some seemingly simple situations so uncomfortable, the person may avoid them entirely.
Fear is a possibly very hindering emotion. Irrational, even fatal, or self-preserving fear is a primitive sensation used to possibly save people's lives. Whether fear is a natural response to danger or a conditioned response from early childhood experiences everyone is afraid of something. To live a full and enjoyable life one must learn what their fear is, and how to deal with it. This is shown is a quote by Dorothy Thompson, she states, "Fear grows in darkness; if you think there's a bogeyman around, turn on the light."
The Dangers of Fear Irish Playwright, George Bernard Shaw, once said, “The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity.” Inhumanity is mankind’s worst attribute. Every so often, ordinary humans are driven to the point where they have no choice but to think of themselves. One of the most famous examples used today is the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night demonstrates how fear is a debilitating force that causes people to lose sight of who they once were.
Fear is a powerful emotion. Wikipedia.com describes fear as “an emotion induced by threat perceived by living entities, which causes a change in brain and organ function and ultimately change behavior, such as running away, hiding or freezing from traumatic events.”Most people tend to avoid fearful situations, not realizing that something positive may come out of the event or experience. Victor Villaseñor focuses on the topic of fear in his novel titled Burro Genius. Villaseñor demonstrates to readers how growing up he was extremely fearful of any situation. Victor also tells his readers how he turned his fear into motivation into motivation to keep going and reach his ultimate goal of becoming a published author.
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.
A simple definition of the human psyche is the embodiment of the human spirit. However, when one takes a more in-depth look, it becomes much more complex than the tidy little package that the definition would infer. The psyche has a direct link to thoughts, emotions, reactions and consequences. Of these components, emotions have the most significant impact on the human essence. The way in which humans view and react to the world around them is directly linked to the conscious and subconscious feelings associated with a particular activating event. The human psyche is driven by a wide variety of emotions ranging from love, hate, anger, happiness, fear, and courage to name but only a few. Of these, fear has the power to disrupt the body and spirit in profound ways as it encompasses all emotions. Therefore, it is the strongest emotion associated with the human condition.
In observational learning, a child takes note of what his or her mother or father considers to be threatening. On the other hand, children can also be conditioned by their own life experiences through a process called operant conditioning (SOURCE). In some instances, children tend to generalize their fears, subsequently forming a phobia. For example, a young girl who became increasingly cautious of flying insects after an unpleasant encounter with a nest of agitated yellow jackets. After being assaulted by these creatures, she associated all flying bugs with the painful sting of a yellow jacket. Of course, children can also be classically conditioned to display a fearful response; that is, they learn to associate an unconditioned fear-relevant stimulus with a conditioned stimulus, provoking a conditioned, fearful response. One of the most well-known examples of this is an experiment involving a young boy, famously dubbed Little Albert. Little Albert learned to fear small furry animals in a laboratory setting when the presence of these creatures was paired with loud banging noises (SOURCE). From the aforementioned experiments and studies, it is undeniable that external circumstances and experiences assist in the configuration of fear in
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.
One of the most famous example of fear conditioning is the Little Albert experiment conducted by Watson and Rayner in 1920. In this experiment, an infant, Albert, was presented with a white rat, and as expected, Albert initially displayed no signs of fear and began touching and playing with the rat. Soon, the experimenters began pairing the presentation of the rat with a loud noise (US) produced by banging a hammer on a steel bar. The noise caused Albert to startle and cry (UR). After several pairing, Albert learned to fear the rat (CS) and would crawl away or cry (CR) when the rat was subsequently presented (Watson and Rayner, 1920)
Have you ever had something ever get to you or make you you scared? That is called fear and tons an tons of people have different fears. Fear is an emotion that makes you feel afraid or something is frighten. Some fears many include spiders, clowns and even death. ‘’Fear Prompts Teens To Act Impulsively’’ by Laura Sanders, ‘’Stress for Success’’ by Alison Pearce, and ‘’And Uncomfortable Bed’’ By Guy Maupassant all explain the idea of fear.
Fear influences people to make irrational decisions and take extreme measures. Often times, these actions are done to protect one’s reputation. Fear causes people to lie and manipulate to those they care about in order to escape what they are scared of most. Fear of failure has caused higher levels of anxiety, and has made society put blame on each other, rather than owning up to their mistakes. Fear can also cause one to forget one’s true identity and lose one’s values. There are two options that one can take when being faced with a fear: run away from the fear, or go through it and learn a valuable lesson in the end that will make you a stronger person. Fear is a harmful emotion that everyone has to go through in order to succeed.
The word fear makes my mind draw a blank. I am trying to make sense of it but I can not, at least not for everyone. It is a word that is left up to a person’s digression. It almost seems unfair to have a clear cookie-cutter definition of what it is. The word is too broad to be sectioned off by one definition.
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.
Fear can be caused by many different things and can be a result of different situations. “Fear is a primary emotion. It is an evolved and adaptive physiological response that occurs automatically in response to particular
Fear has controlled the world and shaped humans into what they are now. New technologies have been created, because of the fear humans have. Over time new fears have evolved, and illnesses occurred due to anxiety and depression from these fears. The terror that runs through each individual is different. Without fear there would be no evolution or protection.
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 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.