Fear

What causes fear?

Why do we fear?

Why do people fear what others don't?


I noticed that I the causes are said to be either learned or things we haven't seen. When I was little, a lot of scary movies frightened me, and now don't. At the same time, I had friends who literally weren't scared of anything (that I knew of). Till today, I still fear somethings while others don't. A lot are from bad experiences, but some aren't. For example, I'm Arachnophobic, but a lot of people aren't. I am scared of dark water (deep water, as in a cruise at night, or so).

This is a serious question, I read a lot of stuff tonight and in the last few nights, and I wanted to know peoples opinion and why the feel that way.

 

Fear is your body saying "shit shit shit wtf shiiiiit get me the fuck out of here"

 

Its all about mentality. Some people are just scared of everything, maybe because they have been sheltered to much as a kid. i mean if you grew up living with spiders then ofcourse you wont be scared of them.

Fear is just a state of mind, you can overcome it. If you sit in your room at night you can convince yourself that someone is outside about to kill you, and you can actually scare yourself. Tho if you think, hang on this is stupid i have nothing to worry about then youl be fine.

I think anyone can overcome there Phobias if they face them, if your scared of hights, force yourself to jump off something big (preferably into water) or learn to handle spiders, realise that there isnt anything hiding in the dark.

 

The first is real fear, or fear based on a real situation. If someone or something hurts you, you have a reason to fear it in the future. Second is realistic, or possible fear. This is fear based in reality that causes a person to avoid a threat in the first place (i.e. waiting to cross a busy road for safety reasons). Next, exaggerated or emotional fear deals with an individual "recalling past fears or occurrences and injecting them into a current situation." This type of fear is particularly relevant to conflict. Emotional fear affects the way people handle conflictual situations.

Conflict is often driven by unfulfilled needs and the fears related to these needs. The most common fear in intractable conflict is the fear of losing one's identity and/or security. Individuals and groups identify themselves in certain ways (based on culture, language, race, religion, etc.) and threats to those identities arouse very real fears -- fears of extinction, fears of the future, fears of oppression, etc.

For many people, the world is changing rapidly and their lives are being altered as a result. For some religious people, this change leads to the fear that young people will abandon the Church or Mosque, that the media will become more important and influential in the lives of their children, and that they are losing control of their own future. These threats to identity result in fear.

Similarly, in many ethnic conflicts, a history of "humiliation, oppression, victimhood, feelings of inferiority, persecution of one's group, and other kinds of discrimination" lead to a fear of similar wrongdoing in the future. These historical memories shape how groups and people see each other. As a result, historical violence between Israelis and Palestinians, Hutus and Tutsis, and Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland affects how these groups look at one another and often leads to fear of one another. Group fears often translate into individual fears, as group extinction is often associated with individual extinction.

These examples illustrate the important role that history plays in the development of fear. Memories of past injustices lead individuals to anticipate future oppression or violence with a sense of anxiety and dread.

Fear is a very important factor in intractable conflict. Emotions like fear can often cause extreme and seemingly irrational behavior in people, which can result in escalating conflict. According to James F. Mattil, the Managing Editor of Flashpoints: Guide to World Conflict, "The common thread that weaves violent political movements together is fear. It is not the only motivating factor behind political violence, nor necessarily the most obvious, but it is virtually always there. Whenever we ask why people hate, or why they are willing to kill or die for a cause, the answer is invariably fear."

People are social in nature, with shared values, religion, tradition, language, etc. Whenever the basic characteristics that tie a group together are threatened, the group will fear for its survival. As a result, the group will also attempt to get rid of the threat, sometimes through distorted or violent means.

History plays an important role in this process. Historical experiences shape how groups view threats. If a group has been hurt or wounded in the past, it affects their outlook today. For example, historical tensions and wrongdoing affect the way Israelis and Palestinians see each other today. Oftentimes, history is exaggerated -- meaning one group is portrayed as extremely heroic and another group portrayed as barbarian or inhuman. This in turn leads to more mistreatment, as it is easier to abuse or hurt a group that has been dehumanized. A cycle develops--someone is hurt, resulting in fear and the demonization of the person or group that hurt them. This, in turn, makes it easier for future wrongdoing to occur.

It is also important to note the impact that elites, or leaders, have on fear and conflict. Oftentimes, leaders use fear to their political advantage. Leaders need support from those they lead, and one way to gain this support is by playing on the fears of the people. Leaders in Northern Ireland can use the fear of either the Protestants or the Catholics to their own political advantage. Many have asserted that George Bush used the fear of another 9-11 to support the second U.S. war in Iraq. Leaders can even intentionally deepen these fears for their own purposes. Doing so can aggravate the already existing fears and lead to future difficulties.

We can deal with FEAR by.

1. becoming aware of it,
2. identifying the ways you express fear
3. recognizing the situations which trigger fear, and
4. using behavioral techniques to reduce fear and stress.

 

Fear is the perception of a situation through the senses of the beholder.

 

I think if someone is trying to kill me, which obviously people think of but never actually happen(unless you know it's gonna happen), I say to myself "So what if they kill me, it takes 10 secs. I die, then it's over. After saying that to myself it eases me.

 

That depends how they kill you, they might decide to torture you for hours or days just for the hell of it. Wouldn't that scare you? And you'll be missing out on a lot if you die. Of course you won't care since you're dead, but I'd prefer living over dying.

Have you ever been in that situation?

 

fear is being scared!!

Its when you are just..i dno how to articulate it.

 

Fear is a series of chemical reactions in your body triggered by the perception of a threat. This makes you perform better. You can run faster, better reactions, etc.

This is the same in most if not all organisms, to survive dangerous situations.

 

fear basically happens when we're scared of something, or when the body is not comfrotable with the situation its in with the outside world.

 

Dont fear anything fear comes from an inner childness from ur conciense only fear God, and what descisons he makes for u in ur life.

 

Every living thing fears anything it doesn't understand.

E.g some humans are scared of spiders, if they understood that spiders cannot harm you and exactly why they would harm you (if they are harmful spiders) they wouldn't be scared.

 

He's probably the scariest guy I know...

 

Fear is instinct. It makes you better able to handle harmful situations.

btw, I don't fear God, but the people who believe in God scare me.

 

Agreed, though I dont believe all people can come over their fears or phobias. Fear can be conquered, but not in all cases.

 

Well, basically only from my point of view on this. (not going to make this into a debate.)

"what causes fear" Well, To know what causes fear is like saying "what is fear" anyways It is an emotion that lets us know there is danger, rather it really be danger or not the body lets\makes us think this.

"Why do we fear" Basically it's a built in defense to know we shouldn't be in that particular situation and to get it out ( a survive instinct)

"why do some people fear what others don't" Basically it comes down to being able to control your emotions, as when some people as a child are afraid of the dark, the majority get over it because they learn to control there emotions. Which in one sense is good. But in another isn't because your not as alert if danger should come your way. But this also means in some instances you will be able to react with logic rather than just panicking.

So in a summary, It is just a emotion we have from when we are born to sense and observe the surroundings to know when danger is near. That you can eventually control with time. Which is why usually a 6 year old will be afraid of "scary" movies such as Friday the Th, nightmare on elm street, Texas chainsaw massacre etc. and an adult will not. Although if anyone gets into a movie enough it doesn't matter how much control they have if something unexpected happens it will at the very least make them jump.

 

So basically Im scary? Just because in what I believe in? Thats bull tbh.

 

Is it that hard to believe? You are supporting war, oppression, brainwashing, discrimination, etc. either directly or indirectly by being part of a religion. Don't try to deny that these things have been, are and will be happening on a large scale because of organized religion.

I'm scared shitless of you.


Back on topic: fear is not a bad thing, fear is a natural instinct which can be crucial for your survival in dangerous situations. Fear is a good thing.

 

+1. Religion is the scariest thing this world has.

Anything physical doesn't scare me. I figure if something is innevitable (within conditions of common sense) then why be scared of it? If it's going to happen, you're just putting yourself under more stress by fearing it.

 

The Fear of say spiders, would be the body realizing that they can be harmful to you, the body does not think in the tense of "yes if the spider bit be it would hurt but it wouldn't be dangerous" it only thinks of how to avoid the danger, the same goes for anything, it is your body telling you that you could end up hurt by this situation.

As for being afraid of say a murderer out to get you because of a scary movie you just watched, that is because you have tricked your mind into believing that there actually is a murderer out there looking for you, and therefore you should be able to overcome that fear.