How does one become afraid?

Last night when I was trying to sleep, I was chewing on a thought. Is fear taught or is it an unavoidable emotion? After seeing the new Amityville movie, I get chills when I go to the bathroom at night. Is fear a thought or an emotion? Thought the members of ATS could shed some light...Thanks

KellyMcQ

I believe that fear is an emotion that can be manipulated by thought. This manipulation can either increase or decrease fear.

[edit on 27-4-2005 by Raphael_UO]

I believe that fear is the body's reaction to situations that the brain is finding difficult to process either because there is not enough information or the situation is novel. Of course, some fear is taught so as to elicit a reaction geared towards survival. Remember, fear is your friend. Fear can keep you alive and safe. Fear is healthy and only becomes unhealthy when we lose reason and panic.

yea,

i think fear is a response to a thought. Ever heard of the "fight or flight reponse" everybody has it. its scientifically proven. Your body has ways of letting you know when you are about to be in danger...such as that anxious feeling you get or sweating, or your heart pounding. This natural response of the body can be triggered the more vivid your thoughts become.

here is what an online encyclopedia says about it


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Fear is an unpleasant feeling of perceived risk or danger, real or not. Fear also can be described as a feeling of extreme dislike to some conditions/objects, such as: fear of darkness, fear of ghosts, etc. It is one of the basic emotions.

Fear may underlie some phenomena of behavior modification, although these phenomena can be explained without adducing fear as a factor in them. Furthermore, application of aversive stimuli is also often ineffective in producing change in the behaviour intended to be changed. Fearing objects or contexts can be learned; in animals this is being studied as fear conditioning, which depends on the emotional circuitry of the brain.

Fear inside a person has different degrees and varies from one person to another (see also phobia). If not properly handled, fear can lead to social problems. People who experience intense fear have been known to commit irrational and/or dangerous acts.

Some philosophers have considered fear to be a useless emotion with uniformly bad consequences; other thinkers note the usefulness of fear as a warning of bad situations.


Hope this helps!

Digital Grl

Babies have no fear. Research proved that a child will do something that is fatal because they have no concept of injury or death.

Once the concept of injury, death or abandonment is understood, fear is the natural response.

but if you sneak up behind a baby and then jump out and go BOO!! it cries.

Also why does a baby cry when someone else holds him/her sometimes?

I think it is because of fear. Babies may not have fear developed in the same way as us but i believe it to be an inherient aspect of all human beings regardless of age.

How does one become afraid?

I could give you some chemical info on how the brain reacts
to stimulus and the chemicals it releases .... but here is some
lite reading on fears, phobias, and disorders. It's probably
more interesting than a science class.

www.psychologyinfo.com...
www.psychologyinfo.com...
www.psychology.about.com...
www...

Now if my topic on books wasn't moved to BTS (it really annoyed me) I'd have the chance to do some research into J. Krishnamuratis thoughts on FEAR. I did in another topic but I'd really have to whip out the book and I don't have it now. Its very intresting though... basically fear is nothing but a thought or perception of what might happen if... snake did... he did.. it did... this that or the other = Fear.

I'm about to make a call to a client who needs to borrow a few million pounds (real example) I'm afraid because the client might not, like me, he might not want me trying to sell him money, I'm afraid of what might happen if/when I pick up the phone = Fear.... Gotta go and do it now. lol. Knees shaking, bones jarring.

Peace

I believe that fear is simply the anticipation of pain. (not just physical)
Fear and Hatred are two completely seperate emotions. Hatred comes from the self-conditioning of avoiding that which you fear.
The saying "the only way to ease yourself of your fears, is to face them, head on", ie. once you realise that your fear of something is nothing but a pointless anticipation of pain (of which will have been dissolved by facing that fear), you will cease to fear it, and in turn, you will no longer hate it.
An example might be a kid who is bullied in school, confronts his bully after being afraid of and hating him, for years, suddenly realises that he had nothing to fear, and actually begins to laugh at his own idiocity. The act of laughing at your own pointless fears, can make you associate the thing that you used to be afraid of, with happiness and joy, and you will eventually train your mind to 'love' it.
Another term for this might be 'positive reinforcement', I believe...

I think people have it all wrong when they suggest certain things make them afraid, or induce fright in them. No object or entity, imo, has the absolute property or attribute of "fright." That is, with any two objects or concepts, one can not objectively measure the amount of possible fright contained in either.

In the end, you make yourself afraid. The ghost across the hall didn't frighten you; you frightened yourself after you saw the ghost. That being said, it is entirely realistic for us to control our fears, even to a point of lacking fear (be it healthy or not). However, I am a believer in a perfect ratio -- the perfect balance, and as such, I would suggest both too much and too little fear would not be very rational.

Fear.

'One's reaction to stimuli due to one's preconcieved perspective.' - Nazgarn

In other words, if you *think* you should fear something more often than not you will 'feel' fear (as an emotion) for it.

Anxiety, worry and past experiences contribute to this emotion immensely.

- Nazgarn

Fear is a natural, instinctive reaction to dangerous situations, the effects of which can be exacerbated given the time to think about the cause of fear. Animals experience fear, but not in the lingering sense that humans do, as they lack the intelligence to ponder the causes of their fear.

Hatred comes from the self-conditioning of avoiding that which you fear.
The saying "the only way to ease yourself of your fears, is to face them, head on", ie. once you realise that your fear of something is nothing but a pointless anticipation of pain (of which will have been dissolved by facing that fear), you will cease to fear it, and in turn, you will no longer hate it.

i like that one, been thinking about homophobia and racism. Fear of what is not understood.

Racism = Fear or intimidation of another group of people. The racist does not understand the people he dislikes and shows hatred due to that.

Alpha male senario, fear that another male will out do or take what the other male has. Be it jobs/space what ever.

antisipation of pain

Or emotion.

Damn it, I got lost there...

Animals are diffrent though, and they're probably more intelligent than us just in a diffrent way. If a cat/sheep could talk i'm sure we'd have a lot to learn from it.

Do they lack the intelligence to, or have they surpassed that with their own understanding?