Fear is
Fear happens to
all of us. It is, perhaps, nature's way of stopping us from doing things that may
hurt us, such as leaning out from a high cliff or trying to fight someone bigger than us.
Fear can range
from a little scare to paralyzing terror. At best, we feel some muscular tension.
At worst, our muscles either go completely rigid or totally flaccid. Either way, we collapse -
possibly losing the content of our bowels on the way. Fainting from fear is not uncommon,
perhaps as the brain switches off rather than countenance further terror.
A little fear can
also be quite exciting, for example when we are riding a roller- coaster, where
we cognitively know we are safe whilst deliberately triggering automatic fear reactions in order
to experience the thrill of the adrenalin rush as we hurtle around the track.
Fear also has a
duration element which has different effects. A short, sharp shock grabs our
attention and makes us jump, whilst low-level anxiety can wear us down over a long period.
We can also suffer
from extreme fears in irrational phobias such as the fear of spiders, open
spaces, food and so on.
Fear is the opposite
of desire, in that desire attracts whilst fear repels.
Triggering fear
Fear is triggered
by an immediate and obvious threat, such as when a person points a gun in
your face. When this happens, the amygdala may well trigger an automatic response that does
not even give you time to think (which can be a good thing -- you don't have time to muse
about what to do when a lion is jumping out at you).
Fear also occurs
after cognitive inference where we predict that either our needs or our goals
will be damaged in some way. Fear is thus triggered by an internal forecast.
Our need for control
is, to some extent, fear-driven. If I cannot control the world around me, it
may threaten me. Just my forecast of this is enough to cause me to fear.
Pessimism leads
to fear, as we habitually forecast that we will fail or that bad things will happen
to us. Because we can never fully forecast the future, we may live in a permanent state of fear.
Much has been made
of the fear of death, which we know we will all ultimately face. Samurai
warriors were famed for having no fear of death and would even commit suicide at the whim of
of their masters.
Fear can also happen
from confusion, which happens when we are unable to infer meaning.
The logic of this goes something like 'I can't find any meaning. I don't know if it will harm me.
I'd better feel frightened, just in case.'
So what?
Fear is probably
the ultimate negative motivators and is thus often used to move people,
although this is an avoidance method that can lead to unpredictable results. Sheep fear a
sheepdog - the result is that they scatter in all directions, which is not what the sheepdog really
wants.
The unsubtle approach
to using is physical threat. More subtle methods use hints and
insinuations of social exclusion or other things we seek to avoid.
Fear is thus useful
when you want to move a person away from something. It can also be used
to shake them out of their current complacency. Fear is a push strategy. It is often best
followed up with something that pulls the other person towards the desired objective.
See also
Lazarus, R. and
Lazarus, B. (1994), Passion and Reason, Oxford University Press, New
York
