Psychology Of Fear
To know more about the subject it is necessary to make several definitions among them, the fear, the brain before the reactions of fear and what is psychology.
Fear: Fear is an emotion based on an intense unpleasant sensation provoked by the perception of a danger, real or supposed, present, future or past.
The brain: Reactions to fear are recorded in the brain since the beginning of time and in fact, many parts of this organ are involved. The thalamus decides where to send sensory data, the sensory cortex interprets that data, the hippocampus stores and retrieves conscious memories and establishes the context, the amygdala (where fear memories and emotions are stored) decodes the emotions and determines the possible threat, and the hypothalamus activates the fight or flight response.
Psychology: studies the mental processes, sensations, perceptions and behavior of human beings in relation to the physical and social environment that surrounds them.
Knowing already some important terms to be able to focus on the subject of fear in psychology, let's start.
Fear is an emotion of the brain, the mechanism that triggers fear is found in the reptilian brain, which is responsible for regulating essential actions for survival such as heartbeat, breathing and eating. This system constantly processes, even during sleep, all the information received through the senses, and through the cerebral amygdala, which controls basic emotions such as fear and affection, it is responsible for locating the source of threat. When the amygdala is activated, the sensation of fear and anxiety is produced, the response can be flight, confrontation or paralysis. It has been found that the sensation of fear is mediated by the action of the antidiuretic hormone or "vasopressin" in the cerebral amygdala and that that of affection is mediated by the action of the hormone oxytocin, also in the amygdala.
Fear from different points of view
From a biological point of view, fear is an adaptive emotion, which is a survival and defense mechanism, created to allow the individual to respond to adverse situations quickly and effectively. In this sense, it is normal and beneficial for the individual and for his species.
From a neurological point of view, fear is a common form of nervous organization of the primary brain of human beings, which consists in the activation of the amygdala, in the temporal lobe.
From the point of view of psychology, fear is an affective and emotional state, necessary for the correct adaptation of the organism to the environment, which generates anguish and anxiety in the person, the person can feel fear without there seeming to be a clear reason.
From the social and cultural point of view, fear can be part of the character of a person or social organization. One can therefore learn to fear objects or contexts, one can also learn not to fear them, it is related in a complex way to other feelings (fear of fear, fear of love, fear of death, fear of ridicule) and is closely related to the different elements of culture.
For some, fear in the human being has no physiological relationship (as an alert), but is a product of the conscious self, which expands our level of knowledge.
Fear in art
The presence of fear in art is ubiquitous. It constitutes a narrative genre in its own right (tales of fear, horror novels) widely cultivated especially from the 19th century onwards by Romantic authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Howard Phillips Lovecraft or even Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. Literature has generated characters to portray terror and fear, such as Dracula or Frankenstein. Also a film genre. Western sculpture, especially medieval sculpture with its interpretations of the apocalypse, has elevated fear to the category of art.
Fear and society
Fear is an inherent characteristic of human society: it is at the base of its educational system and is a pillar of the socializing process. A large part of the normative system is based on fear, as shown by criminal law.
In the field of sociology, fear has been identified as one of the characteristics of postmodern society. Ulrich Beck calls it the Risk Society insofar as it is now the moment when for the first time the human species faces the possibility of its own destruction and extinction.
Fear and religion
Fear of disease, poverty, war and death are present in traditional apocalyptic iconography. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, engraving by Dürer (1497-1498).
Monotheistic religions evidence a type of religious fear, the fear of God, and each one, from Judaism to Islam, has developed its particular theology in this regard. It is noteworthy that certain religions resort to indoctrinate in the infantile learning period with threats of infinite and eternal suffering if one does not believe in their postulates and if one does not comply with their norms. Other religions, such as Buddhism, are based directly on the need to avoid pain and suffering, and therefore, indirectly, have a special relationship with fear.
Innate and learned fears?
"a rapid reaction of the organism to a threatening stimulus with two components: a psychological one and a physiological one which is the body's motor response". The psychological part includes the memory of bad experiences: our system reacts to situations that in the past have caused problems, and the physiological part is a reaction to something we see and observe as dangerous.
Conclusions
The question about instinctive fears is an old debate in neuroscience, but basically it can be said that "innate is the facility to associate certain stimuli with danger", such as the presence of bright colors or the way the spider's legs move.
"A newborn would not be afraid, but would have a facility to associate certain color schemes or shapes with a threat". What he will be afraid of later in life will be defined by experience.P.S: I want to let you know that English is not my native language, for that reason it is very likely that I may make some mistakes in the elaboration of this article. If this should happen, please feel free to correct me properly. It will help me in my learning process.
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P.S: I want to let you know that English is not my native language, for that reason it is very likely that I may make some mistakes in the elaboration of this article. If this should happen, please feel free to correct me properly. It will help me in my learning process.