Have you ever wondered why you’ve been so afraid of something you just don’t know why? I know I have. My biggest fear is snakes and I can’t even look at a picture of one without freaking out and I can’t explain why. That’s why I’ve decided to do this topic to get more information on why I have such a big fear of snakes and why we have fears.
So, what exactly is fear and why does it exist? Fear is a chain reaction in your brain that starts with a stressful stimulus, in my case snakes, and ends with a release of chemicals. These chemicals cause your heart to race, your muscles to tense, fast breathing, and the fight-or-flight response. The fight-or-flight response is when you either fight for your life or run for your life, hence the term “fight-or-flight”. For more information on the fight-or-flight response click here.
If we didn’t have fear, we wouldn’t survive long. “We’d be walking into oncoming traffic, stepping off of rooftops, and carelessly handling poisonous snakes.” Says Julia Layton, “In humans and in all animals, the purpose of fear is to promote survival”. Basically she is saying that if we didn’t fear anything, we would be getting ourselves into trouble and we need it to help us survive.
There are many ways that fear can come about but one way is through classical conditioning. John Watson, an American psychologist taught an infant (Albert) to fear white rats. “Little Albert showed no fear to any type of small furry animal before the conditioning took place. John Watson then placed a white rat in front of “Little Albert” and whenever he would reach for the rat they would play a loud noise that was terrifying to Albert. After a few times, Albert not only feared white rats but he also feared small fury animals also like rabbits. I thought this was very interesting because many people can form fears this way. Even if its just seeing someone else being afraid of something multiple times it can make you be afraid of that too.
Here’s a video on the experiment conducted on “Little Albert”.
Sources
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/emotions/fear.htm
This was a really neat blog post. I took a psychology class last year in high school and I remember learning about Little Albert. Doesn’t seem like a very ethical experiment now, does it? Your post got me thinking. What actually is fear? Check out this article that explains a little bit about what fear is.
What to take away from this:
-Fear is programmed into the nervous system.
-Fear works like instinct.
-Fear helps us protect.
-“When we sense danger, the brain reacts instantly, sending signals that activate the nervous system.”
-The physical changes include: faster heartbeat, rapid breathing, and an increase in blood pressure.
I personally find fear to be an interesting topic (is that weird?). It’s mainly because of the reason you said: if we didn’t have fear, would we be able to live? It’s a very interesting question and there is so much research done on the subject. I researched fear more in-depth in a psychology class i once took, and minor fears are good, but when we get into irrational fears and phobias, it can really mess with a person’s life. Such as your fear of snakes. It actually kind of sounds like a phobia. The treatments for such things is also extremely interesting. There’s also the matter of inherited fear and trauma which caused fear. You definitely got me thinking for the night. Thanks for the article!