Rats behave as if they have the capacity for being fearful, surprised, or sexually aroused.
There is little evidence, however, to suggest that they experience any of the emotions we call pride, sadness, joy, anxiety, guilt, shame, anger, jealousy, disgust, love, or moral outrage. These two uses suggest there are several fear states, each with its own genetics, incentives, physiological patterns, and behavioral profiles. These related states of fear should be distinguished from states of anxiety, in which future aversive events are anticipated. For two decades I have been involved in studying a large group of children from whom we have learned that different combinations of temperament and life history can produce an excessively fearful or anxious adolescent or adult. Different fears demand different therapeutic interventions.