Fear

**Fear** is a feeling induced by perceived danger or threat that occurs in certain types of organisms, which causes a change in metabolic and organ functions and ultimately a change in behavior, such as fleeing, hiding, or freezing from perceived traumatic events. Fear in human beings may occur in response to a specific stimulus occurring in the present, or in anticipation or expectation of a future threat perceived as a risk to body or life. The fear response arises from the perception of danger leading to confrontation with or escape from/avoiding the threat (also known as the fight-or-flight response), which in extreme cases of fear (horror and terror) can be a freeze response or paralysis.

In humans and animals, fear is modulated by the process of cognition and learning. Thus fear is judged as rational or appropriate and irrational or inappropriate. An **irrational fear** is called a phobia.

Psychologists such as John B. Watson, Robert Plutchik, and Paul Ekman have suggested that there is only a small set of basic or innate emotions and that fear is one of them. This hypothesized set includes such emotions as acute stress reaction, anger, angst, anxiety, fright, horror, joy, panic, and sadness. Fear is closely related to, but should be distinguished from, the emotion anxiety, which occurs as the result of threats that are perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable. The fear response serves survival by generating appropriate behavioral responses, so it has been preserved throughout evolution. Sociological and organizational research also suggests that individuals’ fears are not solely dependent on their nature but are also shaped by their social relations and culture, which guide their understanding of when and how much fear to feel.

**Fear** is a primeval emotion that humans have known since they were very young. Even as a child, humans typically have not experienced real fear at this age, but a child develops a fear of the monster in their closet.

## Society and culture

### Death

The fear of the end of life and its existence is in other words the fear of death. The fear of death ritualized the lives of our ancestors. These rituals were designed to reduce that fear; they helped collect the cultural ideas that we now have in the present. These rituals also helped preserve the cultural ideas. The results and methods of human existence had been changing at the same time that social formation was changing. One can say[by whom?] that the formation of communities happened because people lived in fear. The result of this fear forced people to unite to fight dangers together rather than fight alone.

When people are faced with their own thoughts of death, they either accept that they are dying or will die because they have lived a full life or they will experience fear. A theory was developed in response to this, which is called the Terror Management Theory. The theory states that a person's cultural worldviews (religion, values, etc.) will mitigate the terror associated with the fear of death through avoidance. To help manage their terror, they find solace in their death-denying beliefs, such as their religion. Another way people cope with their death related fears is pushing any thoughts of death into the future or by avoiding these thoughts all together through distractions. Although there are methods for one coping with the terror associated with their fear of death, not everyone suffers from these same uncertainties. People who have lived a full life, typically do not fear death because they believe that they have lived their life to the fullest.

### Religion

Religions are filled with different fears that humans have had throughout many centuries. The fears aren't just metaphysical (including the problems of life and death) but are also moral. Death is seen as a boundary to another world. That world would always be different depending on how each individual lived their lives. The origins of this intangible fear are not found in the present world. In a sense we can assume that fear was a big influence on things such as morality. This assumption, however, flies in the face of concepts such as moral absolutism and moral universalism – which would hold that our morals are rooted in either the divine or natural laws of the universe, and would not be generated by any human feeling, thought or emotion.

From a theological perspective, the word "fear" encompasses more than simple fear. Robert B. Strimple says that fear includes the "... convergence of awe, reverence, adoration...". Some translations of the Bible, such as the New International Version, sometimes replace the word "fear" with "reverence".

Fear in religion can be seen throughout the years, however, the most prominent example would be The Crusades. Pope Urban II allowed for Christian mercenary troops to be sent on a mission in order to recover the Holy Lands from the Muslims. However, the message was misinterpreted and as a result, innocent people were slaughtered. Although the Crusades were meant to stay between the Muslims and the Christians, the hate spread onto the Jewish culture. Jewish people who feared for their lives, gave into the forced conversion of Christianity because they believed this would secure their safety. Other Jewish people feared betraying their God by conceding to a conversion, and instead, secured their own fate, which was death. It can also be argued that Christians feared their religion not being the primary religion, and this is why they committed mass murder.

### Manipulation

Fear may be politically and culturally manipulated to persuade citizenry of ideas which would otherwise be widely rejected or dissuade citizenry from ideas which would otherwise be widely supported. In contexts of disasters, nation-states manage the fear not only to provide their citizens with an explanation about the event or blaming some minorities, but also to adjust their previous beliefs.

Fear can alter how a person thinks or reacts to situations because fear has the power to inhibit one's rational way of thinking. As a result, people who do not experience fear, are able to use fear as a tool to manipulate others. People who are experiencing fear, seek preservation through safety and can be manipulated by a person who is there to provide that safety that is being sought after. "When we're afraid, a manipulator can talk us out of the truth we see right in front of us. Words become more real than reality" By this, a manipulator is able to use our fear to manipulate us out the truth and instead make us believe and trust in their truth. Politicians are notorious for using fear to manipulate the people into supporting their will. Through keywords and key phrases such as, "it is for your safety," or "it is for the safety of this country," politicians invoke fear within people that their safety is at stake, and people will ultimately follow in line in order for their safety to be restored.

### Fiction and mythology

Fear is found and reflected in mythology and folklore as well as in works of fiction such as novels and films.

Works of dystopian and (post)apocalyptic fiction convey the fears and anxieties of societies.

The fear of the world's end is about as old as civilization itself. In a 1967 study Frank Kermode suggests that the failure of religious prophecies led to a shift in how society apprehends this ancient mode. Scientific and critical thought supplanting religious and mythical thought as well as a public emancipation may be the cause of eschatology becoming replaced by more realistic scenarios. Such might constructively provoke discussion and steps to be taken to prevent depicted catastrophes.

*The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was* is a German fairy tale dealing with the topic of not knowing fear.
Many stories also include characters who fear the antagonist of the plot. One important characteristic of historical and mythical heroes across cultures is to be fearless in the face of big and often lethal enemies.