Fear
From Encyclopædia
Fear is an emotional reaction characterized by unpleasant, often intense, feelings and by a desire to flee or hide. Although it is generally believed to be related to
anxiety, there is no consensus about how it is related. When recurring fear is out of proportion to any real danger, it is called a PHOBIA. Fear is accompanied by activity of the sympathetic
nervous system, the system that shifts blood flow and energy to the functions needed for fight or flight. Electrical stimulation of certain areas of the brain in animals will cause flight.The most common symptoms of fear are pounding heart, rapid pulse, muscle tension, irritability, dry throat, nervous perspiration, and "butterflies" in the
stomach. Some of these symptoms, such as pulse and heart changes, also occur when other
emotions are experienced. Other features, though not unique to fear, are more characteristic; among these are increases in muscle tension,
skin conductance, and respiration rate. These features are associated with the hormone epinephrine, whereas the symptoms characteristic of anger are associated with the additional action of norepinephrine.
rabbits show a predominance of epinephrine;
lions show more norepinephrine.Although most causes of fear are learned, some things cause fear the first time they are seen.
chimpanzees have been shown to fear the first snake or
skull they see. Both chimp infants and human infants in certain
stages show an innate fear of strangers.
bibliography: Coles, Robert, A Study of Courage and Fear (1967), vol. 1 in Children of Crisis; Cramer, K., and Pautz, P.D., eds., The
architecture of Fear (1989); Doctor, R.M., and Kahn, A.P., The
encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears and Anxieties (1989); Dollard, John, and Horton, Donald, Fear in Battle (1944; repr. 1977); Gray, Jeffrey, The
psychology of Fear and
stress (1971); Hydge, Margaret O., Fears and Phobias (1977); Kleinknecht, Ronald A., The Anxious Self: Diagnosis and Treatment of Fears and Phobias (1986); Marks,
Isaac, Fears, Phobias, and Rituals (1987); Zunotto, Andrew S., Fears and Phobias (1985).
