What is fear?

[Synarch]

More specifically, why do we fear the things we fear which are not immediate dangers? In other words, why does fear often manifest in a way that is maladaptive?

 

[jenocyde]

I'm not sure I follow (I've been battling insomnia and am quite slow these days...) but if I understand correctly, I would say that it's easier to solve a problem that's right in front of you. But when something is looming in the distance and you know you have to deal with it, but you have no control over when it happens, then maybe it becomes fearsome due to the anxiety and anticipation...? Is this what you mean?

 

[Synarch]

I'm not sure I follow (I've been battling insomnia and am quite slow these days...) but if I understand correctly, I would say that it's easier to solve a problem that's right in front of you. But when something is looming in the distance and you know you have to deal with it, but you have no control over when it happens, then maybe it becomes fearsome due to the anxiety and anticipation...? Is this what you mean?

Yes, but why.

Also, get off the computer if you have insomnia! Go take a hot bath and slow down. Being here just keeps you "high".

 

[jenocyde]

Thanks for the advice. I've tried everything. But I can't go to sleep right now because I am working (you know that one of my businesses is night-based). But that's a topic for another thread. Thanks, though.

Ok, why the fear sets in? Well for me, if something happens in front of me, I just jump in and handle it. But if I have to wait for the problem to manifest itself, my imagination runs wild, picturing all different types of scenarios. And you get scared because you can't see the demon you will face, but you can imagine it. *shudder*

 

[wildcat]

More specifically, why do we fear the things we fear which are not immediate dangers? In other words, why does fear often manifest in a way that is maladaptive?

Freud was right then.

 

[Snow Turtle]

It's a survival mechanism gone crazies...
Eitherway it's perceived something can harmful to you inducing loss or death. Then there's the other beliefs which is based on not receiving love which can be tied back to the original thing.

*Shrug*

 

[Fluffywolf]

Uncertainty.


If we shake our uncertainty of something, for example death. We can overcome our fear of it. It's a universal fact.


If I fall from a 3 story building, I will fear the fall, for it might hurt a lot and mutilate me. I can not be certain of it.
If I fall from a 20 story building, I would not have that fear for I am certain I will die. (Apart from the time it takes for me to reach this conclusion. It will most likely start with fear.)
I do not fear death because my beliefs are pretty solid. I will postpone my death for as long as I can however. For I value life much more than death.

 

[ajblaise]

Apprehension about a possible future negative mental, physical, or emotional state.

More specifically, why do we fear the things we fear which are not immediate dangers? In other words, why does fear often manifest in a way that is maladaptive?

Our ability too look into the future and see possible threats is an adaptive trait, it's not maladaptive.

 

[Snow Turtle]

I do not fear death because my beliefs are pretty solid. I will postpone my death for as long as I can however. For I value life much more than death.

Thats a wonderful line.

One point that I've argued with friends occasionally is whether fear of death is irrational/rational especially when I hear stories of old people finally accepting that they will die and not being bothered by it. But I did not have any counter arguement against the idea that if somebody is not afraid of death, then they would be killed willingly. That's not so!

(The whole thing started on the basis that depression does not exist because it goes against nature etc, and that human rationality)

 

[matmos]

Fear is an evolutionary seed that never grew into an tree. Fear eats the soul.

If there's one person you can trust, it's your enemy, whatever that is. Why fear a trusted one?

 

[Sentura]

instinctive fear. this is controlled by the lowest level of the mind (which is also the most primitive). while it may not seem logic to fear something just because there's an explanation for it, you'll have to remember that the core of any human being isn't made of logic.

 

[Nonsensical]

To me, fear is just the unknown. We (I) fear things that we just don't know enough about. Either we haven't experienced it, or we don't know about something. I think there's a difference between fear and adrenaline, like when you're about to go on a rollercoaster.

Usually when I fear things, like deadly diseases, as an example, I find out everything I can about them, and then I usually feel better.

 

[coberst]

First, there is emotion, then comes feeling, then comes consciousness of feeling.

What are the emotions? The primary emotions are happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust. The secondary or social emotions are such things as pride, jealousy, embarrassment, and guilt. Damasio considers the background emotions are well-being or malaise, and calm or tension. The label of emotion has also been attached to drives and motivations and to states of pain and pleasure.

Antonio Damasio, Distinguished Professor and Head of the Department of Neurology at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, testifies in his book “The Feelings of What Happens” that the biological process of feelings begins with a ‘state of emotion’, which can be triggered unconsciously and is followed by ‘a state of feeling’, which can be presented nonconsciously; this nonconscious state can then become ‘a state of feeling made conscious’.

”Emotions are about the life of an organism, its body to be precise, and their role is to assist the organism in maintaining life…emotions are biologically determined processes, depending upon innately set brain devices, laid down by long evolutionary history…The devices that produce emotions…are part of a set of structures that both regulate and represent body states…All devices can be engaged automatically, without conscious deliberation…The variety of the emotional responses is responsible for profound changes in both the body landscape and the brain landscape. The collection of these changes constitutes the substrate for the neural patterns which eventually become feelings of emotion.”

The biological function of emotions is to produce an automatic action in certain situations and to regulate the internal processes so that the creature is able to support the action dictated by the situation. The biological purpose of emotions are clear, they are not a luxury but a necessity for survival.

“Emotions are inseparable from the idea of reward and punishment, pleasure or pain, of approach or withdrawal, of personal advantage or disadvantage. Inevitably, emotions are inseparable from the idea of good and evil.”

Emotions result from stimulation of the senses from outside the body sources and also from stimulations from remembered situations. Evolution has provided us with emotional responses from certain types of inducers put these innate responses are often modified by our culture.

“It is through feelings, which are inwardly directed and private, that emotions, which are outwardly directed and public, begin their impact on the mind; but the full and lasting impact of feelings requires consciousness, because only along with the advent of a sense of self do feelings become known to the individual having them.”

First, there is emotion, then comes feeling, then comes consciousness of feeling. There is no evidence that we are conscious of all our feelings, in fact evidence indicates that we are not conscious of all feelings.

Human emotion and feeling pivot on consciousness; this fact has not been generally recognized prior to Damasio’s research. Emotion has probably evolved long before consciousness and surfaces in many of us when caused by inducers we often do not recognize consciously.

The powerful contrast between emotion and feeling is used by the author in his search for a comprehension of consciousness. It is a neurological fact, states the author, that when consciousness is suspended then emotion is likewise usually suspended. This observed human characteristic led Damasio to suspect that even though emotion and consciousness are different phenomenon that there must be an important connection between the two.

Damasio proposes “that the term feeling should be reserve for the private, mental experience of an emotion, while the term emotion should be used to designate the collection of responses, many of which are publicly observable.” This means that while we can observe our own private feelings we cannot observe these same feelings in others.

Empirical evidence indicates that we need not be conscious of emotional inducers nor can we control emotions willfully. We can, however, control the entertainment of an emotional inducer even though we cannot control the emotion induced.

I was raised as a Catholic and taught by the nuns that “impure thoughts” were a sin only if we “entertained” bad thoughts after an inducer caused an emotion that we felt, i.e. God would not punish us for the first impure thought but He would punish us for dwelling upon the impure thought. If that is not sufficient verification of the theory derived from Damasio’s empirical evidence, what is?

In a typical emotion, parts of the brain sends forth messages to other parts of the body, some of these messages travel via the blood stream and some via the body’s nerve system. These neural and chemical messages results in a global change in the organism. The brain itself is just as radically changed. But, before the brain becomes conscious of this matter, before the emotion becomes known, two additional steps must occur. The first is feeling, i.e. an imaging of the bodily changes, followed by a ‘core consciousness’ to the entire set of phenomena. “Knowing an emotion—feeling a feeling—only occurs at this point.”

Quotes from “The Feelings of What Happens” by Antonio Damasio

 

[yenom]

The only think I can think of fear is pain and death. Or eternal suffering. Eternal suffering is determined by the state of mind. Pain itself is subjective.

 

[sculpting]

More specifically, why do we fear the things we fear which are not immediate dangers? In other words, why does fear often manifest in a way that is maladaptive?

fear=avoidance=higher probibility of survival=better chance of passing along genetic material

high fear=over avoidance/too little risk=lower chance of being competitive with respect to passing of genetic material

low fear=too much risk=death/no passing of gentic material=young ISTP

Take fear out of the context of immediate risk to life and limb. To survive we not only have to avoid dangerous animals and falling off cliffs but must be able to integrate into society in a reciprocal manner with others and cooperate. No fitting in with society=no passing of genetic material

This Thus now adds fear of rejection/loss of loved ones/loss of social security provided by society which all = less chance of passing on genetic material.

Evolution provided us with a handy tool-fear-to keep us in line, when we become too risky in our behaviors. It draws an emotional line where our cognition fails to fully grasp inherent risks.

The better we can employ that tool-looking forward-the higher chance we have of avoiding high risk activities and thus passing on genetic material. However this requires predictive cognitive ability to decide when something is high risk vs low risk. high fear vs low fear. PTSD suggests that the high fear pump can be "primed" to be hyper viligant to things which would normally be low risk...

(welcome to puppy's 6 am stream of conciousness.....)

fuck if i know...

 

[ThatGirl]

Fear is the single biggest contributer to mental illness

 

[Thalassa]

Fear is the single biggest contributer to mental illness

Actually chemical imbalances caused by genetics and triggered by traumatic events are the biggest contributers to mental illness.

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

More specifically, why do we fear the things we fear which are not immediate dangers? In other words, why does fear often manifest in a way that is maladaptive?

Your brain helps you by generalizing. If an hissing cat bites you, you brain said "avoid hissing altogether." So you end up compiling a whole catalogue of secondary fears, and your life gets fucked up. LOL

 

[527468]

Fear is what everyone wants, but can not live with.

 

[AOA]

Fear is what everyone wants, but can not live with.

What do you mean?