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{{Short description|Basic emotion induced by a perceived threat}}
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{{Redirect-multi|3|Scared|Scares|Feared|the group of islets|The Scares|the Swedish band formerly known as Feared|Ola Englund|the list of fears|List of phobias|other uses|Fear (disambiguation)|and|Scared (disambiguation)}}
[[File:"Fear" from Le Brun, Characters des passions, circa 1720. Wellcome L0010224.jpg|thumb|"Fear", from Charles le Brun: "Caractères des passions", {{Circa|1720}}]]
{{Emotion}}

'''Fear''' is an unpleasant subjective [[Emotion|emotional]] state arising in response to [[perception|perceived]] dangers or [[Threat|threats]] and which, when experienced, is typically associated with [[Physiology|physiological]] and [[Psychology|psychological]] changes.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=McVeigh |first1=Kieran |last2=Kleckner |first2=Ian R. |last3=Quigley |first3=Karen S. |last4=Satpute |first4=Ajay B. |date=March 2024 |title=Fear-related psychophysiological patterns are situation and individual dependent: A Bayesian model comparison approach. |journal=Emotion |language=en |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=506–521 |doi=10.1037/emo0001265 |issn=1931-1516 |pmc=10882564 |pmid=37603002}}</ref> These changes frequently lead to [[behavior]]al reactions such as [[fight-or-flight response|fight-or-flight responses]] or, in extreme cases, immobilization ([[freeze response]]). Unlike most (perhaps all) other animals, humans can experience fear in response to a present or [[anticipation|anticipated]] [[stimulus (physiology)|stimulus]] and to [[Imagination|imagined]] events.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wilson-Mendenhall |first1=Christine D. |last2=Barrett |first2=Lisa Feldman |last3=Barsalou |first3=Lawrence W. |date=2013 |title=Situating emotional experience |journal=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |volume=7 |doi=10.3389/fnhum.2013.00764 |doi-access=free |issn=1662-5161 |pmc=3840899 |pmid=24324420}}</ref>

Most internalizing [[Psychopathology|psychopathologies]] ([[Depression (mood)|depression]], [[anxiety disorder|anxiety]], [[Suicide|suicidal thoughts and behaviors]], and so forth) are associated with and maintained by dysfunctional, anxious, or fearful feelings and thoughts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shackman |first1=Alexander J. |last2=Fox |first2=Andrew S. |date=2021-02-01 |title=Two Decades of Anxiety Neuroimaging Research: New Insights and a Look to the Future |journal=American Journal of Psychiatry |language=en |volume=178 |issue=2 |pages=106–109 |doi=10.1176/appi.ajp.2020.20121733 |issn=0002-953X |pmc=7863577 |pmid=33517754}}</ref> [[Phobia|Phobias]], or exaggerated and often disabling fears, are usually similarly dysfunctional.

Fear is often framed as a distinct product of [[Evolution of emotion|evolution]].<ref name="Olsson">{{cite journal | vauthors = Olsson A, Phelps EA | title = Social learning of fear | journal = Nature Neuroscience | volume = 10 | issue = 9 | pages = 1095–102 | date = September 2007 | pmid = 17726475 | doi = 10.1038/nn1968 | s2cid = 11976458 }}</ref> This hypothesis, however, is becoming increasingly problematic because the psychological, (neuro)physiological, and behavioral changes and features associated with fear are consistently found to be shared with other negative, highly arousing emotional states such as anger, sadness, disgust, and anxiety.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Siegel |first1=Erika H. |last2=Sands |first2=Molly K. |last3=Van den Noortgate |first3=Wim |last4=Condon |first4=Paul |last5=Chang |first5=Yale |last6=Dy |first6=Jennifer |last7=Quigley |first7=Karen S. |last8=Barrett |first8=Lisa Feldman |date=April 2018 |title=Emotion fingerprints or emotion populations? A meta-analytic investigation of autonomic features of emotion categories. |journal=Psychological Bulletin |language=en |volume=144 |issue=4 |pages=343–393 |doi=10.1037/bul0000128 |issn=1939-1455 |pmc=5876074 |pmid=29389177}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Durán |first1=Juan I. |last2=Fernández-Dols |first2=José-Miguel |date=October 2021 |title=Do emotions result in their predicted facial expressions? A meta-analysis of studies on the co-occurrence of expression and emotion. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/emo0001015 |journal=Emotion |language=en |volume=21 |issue=7 |pages=1550–1569 |doi=10.1037/emo0001015 |pmid=34780241 |issn=1931-1516|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Xu |first1=Pengfei |last2=Peng |first2=Shaoling |last3=Luo |first3=Yue-jia |last4=Gong |first4=Gaolang |date=2021-08-01 |title=Facial expression recognition: A meta-analytic review of theoretical models and neuroimaging evidence |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763421002335 |journal=Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews |volume=127 |pages=820–836 |doi=10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.05.023 |pmid=34052280 |issn=0149-7634|url-access=subscription }}</ref> A more scientifically defensible product of evolution is ''flexibility'', or the capacity to both change bodily states and address bodily needs through various behaviors,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Headley |first1=Drew B. |last2=Kanta |first2=Vasiliki |last3=Kyriazi |first3=Pinelopi |last4=Paré |first4=Denis |date=2019-07-17 |title=Embracing Complexity in Defensive Networks |journal=Neuron |language=English |volume=103 |issue=2 |pages=189–201 |doi=10.1016/j.neuron.2019.05.024 |issn=0896-6273 |pmc=6641575 |pmid=31319049}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wise |first1=Toby |last2=Charpentier |first2=Caroline J. |last3=Dayan |first3=Peter |last4=Mobbs |first4=Dean |date=2023-08-29 |title=Interactive cognitive maps support flexible behavior under threat |journal=Cell Reports |language=English |volume=42 |issue=8 |article-number=113008 |doi=10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113008 |issn=2211-1247 |pmc=10658881 |pmid=37610871}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sladky |first1=Ronald |last2=Kargl |first2=Dominic |last3=Haubensak |first3=Wulf |last4=Lamm |first4=Claus |date=March 2024 |title=An active inference perspective for the amygdala complex |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1364661323002838 |journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences |language=en |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=223–236 |doi=10.1016/j.tics.2023.11.004 |pmid=38103984 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and, later, for humans, through language too (e.g., by employing categories like "fear").<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Binder |first=Jeffrey R. |date=August 2016 |title=In defense of abstract conceptual representations |url=http://link.springer.com/10.3758/s13423-015-0909-1 |journal=Psychonomic Bulletin & Review |language=en |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=1096–1108 |doi=10.3758/s13423-015-0909-1 |issn=1069-9384}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barrett |first=Lisa Feldman |date=2017-01-02 |title=Categories and Their Role in the Science of Emotion |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1047840X.2017.1261581 |journal=Psychological Inquiry |language=en |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=20–26 |doi=10.1080/1047840X.2017.1261581 |pmid=29276364 |issn=1047-840X}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Gelman |first=Susan A. |title=Essentialist Reasoning about the Biological World |date=2009 |work=Neurobiology of "Umwelt": How Living Beings Perceive the World |series=Research and Perspectives in Neurosciences |pages=7–16 |editor-last=Berthoz |editor-first=A. |place=Berlin, Heidelberg |publisher=Springer |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-85897-3_2 |isbn=978-3-540-85897-3 |editor2-last=Christen |editor2-first=Yves}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pessoa |first=Luiz |date=December 2019 |title=Neural dynamics of emotion and cognition: From trajectories to underlying neural geometry |journal=Neural Networks |language=en |volume=120 |pages=158–166 |doi=10.1016/j.neunet.2019.08.007 |pmc=6899176 |pmid=31522827 |arxiv=1902.00337 }}</ref> Attributing fear to nonverbal animals, whether an invertebrate or vertebrate,<ref>{{cite web |last=Cassella |first=Carly |date=2 October 2023 |title=Simple Worms Might Experience Basic, Fear-Like Emotions |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/simple-worms-might-experience-basic-fear-like-emotions |work=Science Alert}}</ref> is equally problematic because the human observer is always imposing that label.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Barrett |first=Lisa Feldman |date=July 2009 |title=The Future of Psychology: Connecting Mind to Brain |journal=Perspectives on Psychological Science |language=en |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=326–339 |doi=10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01134.x |issn=1745-6916 |pmc=2763392 |pmid=19844601}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Brick |first1=C. |last2=Hood |first2=B. |last3=Ekroll |first3=V. |last4=de-Wit |first4=L. |date=March 2022 |title=Illusory Essences: A Bias Holding Back Theorizing in Psychological Science |journal=Perspectives on Psychological Science |language=en |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=491–506 |doi=10.1177/1745691621991838 |issn=1745-6916 |pmc=8902028 |pmid=34283676}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dar-Nimrod |first1=Ilan |last2=Heine |first2=Steven J. |date=September 2011 |title=Genetic essentialism: On the deceptive determinism of DNA. |journal=Psychological Bulletin |language=en |volume=137 |issue=5 |pages=800–818 |doi=10.1037/a0021860 |issn=1939-1455 |pmc=3394457 |pmid=21142350}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lindquist |first1=Kristen A. |last2=Gendron |first2=Maria |last3=Oosterwijk |first3=Suzanne |last4=Barrett |first4=Lisa Feldman |date=2013 |title=Do people essentialize emotions? Individual differences in emotion essentialism and emotional experience. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0032283 |journal=Emotion |language=en |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=629–644 |doi=10.1037/a0032283 |pmid=23668818 |issn=1931-1516|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Delgado |first=José M. R. |date=September 1982 |title=Animal and human emotionality |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0140525X00012802/type/journal_article |journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences |language=en |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=425–427 |doi=10.1017/S0140525X00012802 |issn=0140-525X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Nonverbal animals displaying an emotion "akin to fear" are rather fundamentally exhibiting reflexive defensive behaviors—your fear may be their withdrawal, avoidance, or defensiveness.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pessoa |first1=Luiz |last2=Medina |first2=Loreta |last3=Desfilis |first3=Ester |date=2022-02-14 |title=Refocusing neuroscience: moving away from mental categories and towards complex behaviours |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |language=en |volume=377 |issue=1844 |article-number=20200534 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2020.0534 |issn=0962-8436 |pmc=8710886 |pmid=34957851}}</ref> It is therefore no surprise that human fear, along with other negative emotions, is inextricably linked to [[culture]], social context, and trait-level differences.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ogren |first1=Marissa |last2=Barrett |first2=Lisa Feldman |last3=Hoemann |first3=Katie |last4=LoBue |first4=Vanessa |date=2023 |title=Heightened fearfulness in infants is not adaptive |journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences |language=en |volume=46 |article-number=e73 |doi=10.1017/S0140525X2200187X |pmid=37154371 |pmc=10243669 |issn=0140-525X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Yiyu |last2=Kragel |first2=Philip A. |last3=Satpute |first3=Ajay B. |date=2024-11-13 |title=Neural Predictors of Fear Depend on the Situation |journal=The Journal of Neuroscience |language=en |volume=44 |issue=46 |pages=e0142232024 |doi=10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0142-23.2024 |pmc=11561869 |issn=0270-6474}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Brooks |first1=Jeffrey A. |last2=Chikazoe |first2=Junichi |last3=Sadato |first3=Norihiro |last4=Freeman |first4=Jonathan B. |date=2019-08-06 |title=The neural representation of facial-emotion categories reflects conceptual structure |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=116 |issue=32 |pages=15861–15870 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1816408116 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=6689944 |pmid=31332015 |bibcode=2019PNAS..11615861B }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Collardeau |first1=Fanie |last2=Dupuis |first2=Hannah E. |last3=Woodin |first3=Erica |date=May 2023 |title=The role of culture and social threats in constructing shame: Moving beyond a western lens. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/cap0000329 |journal=Canadian Psychology / Psychologie Canadienne |language=en |volume=64 |issue=2 |pages=132–143 |doi=10.1037/cap0000329 |issn=1878-7304|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jackson |first1=Joshua Conrad |last2=Watts |first2=Joseph |last3=Henry |first3=Teague R. |last4=List |first4=Johann-Mattis |last5=Forkel |first5=Robert |last6=Mucha |first6=Peter J. |last7=Greenhill |first7=Simon J. |last8=Gray |first8=Russell D. |last9=Lindquist |first9=Kristen A. |date=2019-12-20 |title=Emotion semantics show both cultural variation and universal structure |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaw8160 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=366 |issue=6472 |pages=1517–1522 |doi=10.1126/science.aaw8160 |bibcode=2019Sci...366.1517J |hdl=1885/220045 |issn=0036-8075|hdl-access=free }}</ref>

==Physiological signs==
[[File:Manscared.gif|thumb|A man showing signs of fear]]
Many physiological changes in the body are associated with fear, summarized as the [[fight-or-flight response]]. An innate response for coping with danger, it works by accelerating the breathing rate ([[hyperventilation]]), heart rate, [[vasoconstriction]] of the peripheral blood vessels leading to blood pooling, [[pupillary dilation|dilating]] the pupils, increasing muscle tension including the muscles attached to each hair follicle to contract and causing "[[goose bumps|goosebumps]]", or more clinically, [[piloerection]] (making a cold person warmer or a frightened animal look more impressive), [[perspiration|sweating]], increased blood glucose ([[hyperglycemia]]), increased [[calcium in biology|serum calcium]], [[leukocytosis|increase in white blood cells called neutrophilic leukocytes]], alertness leading to sleep disturbance and "[[butterflies in the stomach]]" ([[dyspepsia]]). This primitive mechanism may help an organism survive by either running away or fighting the danger.<ref>{{cite web|vauthors=Edmundson LD|title=The Neurobiology of Fear|url=http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro00/web2/Edmundson.html|publisher=Serendip|access-date=9 April 2012|archive-date=23 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623123502/http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro00/web2/Edmundson.html}}</ref> With the series of [[physiology|physiological changes]], the [[consciousness]] realizes an emotion of fear.

There are observable physical reactions in individuals who experience fear. An individual might experience a feeling of [[dizziness]], [[lightheadedness]], like they are being choked, sweating, [[shortness of breath]], [[vomiting]] or [[nausea]], [[hypoesthesia|numbness]] or shaking and any other like symptoms. These bodily reactions inform the individual that they are afraid and should proceed to remove or get away from the [[Stimulus (physiology)|stimulus]] that is causing that fear.<ref>{{cite web |date=27 July 2022 |title=Symptoms-phobias |url=https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/phobias/symptoms/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221020180503/https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/phobias/symptoms/ |archive-date= 20 October 2022|access-date=30 March 2023 |website=nhs.uk/}}</ref>
[[File:The Haunted House (1921) by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton.webm|thumb|The Haunted House- People running away due to being scared]]
In the CNN article "This is your brain on a haunted house”, the appeal of haunted houses have people arguing on why we pay to be scared. The primal thrill of surviving the experience is the main reason. This feeling which is part of a booming, billion-dollar Halloween industry biologically causes fright triggers and a fight-or-flight response (amygdala and cortisol surge) but also releases pleasurable neurochemicals like dopamine (from novelty) and Oxycontin (from bonding). Experts emphasize that the key to enjoyment is the combination of intense terror and safety, as visitors know the threat is merely a theatrical illusion. Culturally, the experience provides a catharsis for fears of death and an escape from a mundane daily life, allowing attendees to feel confident and brave afterward. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Cappellano |first=Isabel Rosales, Jason Morris, Cynthia Salinas |date=2025-10-25 |title=This is your brain on a haunted house |url=https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/25/travel/haunted-houses-fear-response-netherworld |access-date=2025-11-13 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

==Causes==
An influential categorization of stimuli causing fear was proposed by psychologist [[Jeffrey Alan Gray]];<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Gray JA |title=The Psychology of Fear and Stress |edition=2nd|date=1987|location =Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> namely, [[Intensity (physics)|intensity]], [[novelty]], special evolutionary dangers, stimuli arising during social interaction, and [[Classical conditioning|conditioned]] stimuli.<ref name=":Adolphs">{{cite journal | vauthors = Adolphs R | title = The biology of fear | journal = Current Biology | volume = 23 | issue = 2 | pages = R79–93 | date = January 2013 | pmid = 23347946 | pmc = 3595162 | doi = 10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.055 | bibcode = 2013CBio...23..R79A }}</ref> Another categorization was proposed by Archer,<ref name=":Archer">{{cite book | vauthors = Archer J |chapter=The organization of aggression and fear in vertebrates |year=1976 | veditors = Bateson PP, Klopfer PH |title=Perspectives in Ethology (Vol. 2) |pages=231–298 |location=New York|publisher=Plenum }}</ref> who, besides conditioned fear stimuli, categorized fear-evoking (as well as [[aggression]]-evoking) stimuli into three groups; namely, [[pain]], novelty, and [[frustration]], although he also described "[[looming]]", which refers to an object rapidly moving towards the visual sensors of a subject, and can be categorized as "intensity". Russell<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Russell PA |chapter= Fear-evoking stimuli |year=1976 | veditors = Sluckin W |title= Fear in Animals and Man |pages=86–124 |location=Wokingham, UK |publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold }}</ref> described a more functional categorization of fear-evoking stimuli, in which for instance novelty is a variable affecting more than one category: 1) Predator stimuli (including movement, suddenness, proximity, but also learned and innate predator stimuli); 2) Physical environmental dangers (including intensity and heights); 3) Stimuli associated with increased risk of predation and other dangers (including novelty, openness, illumination, and being alone); 4) Stimuli stemming from [[conspecifics]] (including novelty, movement, and spacing behavior); 5) Species-predictable fear stimuli and experience (special evolutionary dangers); and 6) Fear stimuli that are not species predictable (conditioned fear stimuli).

=== Nature ===
Although many fears are learned, the capacity to fear is part of [[human nature]]. Many studies<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Garcia R | title = Neurobiology of fear and specific phobias | journal = Learning & Memory | volume = 24 | issue = 9 | pages = 462–471 | date = September 2017 | pmid = 28814472 | pmc = 5580526 | doi = 10.1101/lm.044115.116 }}</ref> have found that certain fears (e.g., animals, heights) are much more common than others (e.g., flowers, clouds). These fears are also easier to induce in the laboratory. This phenomenon is known as [[preparedness (learning)|preparedness]]. Because early humans that were quick to fear dangerous situations were more likely to survive and reproduce; preparedness is theorized to be a genetic effect that is the result of [[natural selection]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ohman A, Mineka S | title = Fears, phobias, and preparedness: toward an evolved module of fear and fear learning | journal = Psychological Review | volume = 108 | issue = 3 | pages = 483–522 | date = July 2001 | pmid = 11488376 | doi = 10.1037/0033-295X.108.3.483 | s2cid = 7920871 }}</ref>

From an [[evolutionary psychology]] or [[evolutionary psychiatry]] perspective, different fears may be different [[adaptation]]s that have been useful in our evolutionary past. They may have developed during different time periods. Some fears, such as [[fear of heights]] ([[acrophobia]]), may be common to all [[mammal]]s and developed during the [[mesozoic]] period. Other fears, such as [[fear of snakes]], may be common to all [[simian]]s and developed during the [[cenozoic]] time period (the still-ongoing geological era encompassing the last 66 million of history). Still others, such as [[fear of mice]] and [[entomophobia|insects]], may be unique to humans and developed during the [[Paleolithic]] and [[Neolithic]] time periods (when mice and insects became important carriers of infectious diseases and harmful for crops and stored foods).<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bracha HS | title = Human brain evolution and the "Neuroevolutionary Time-depth Principle:" Implications for the Reclassification of fear-circuitry-related traits in DSM-V and for studying resilience to warzone-related posttraumatic stress disorder | journal = Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry | volume = 30 | issue = 5 | pages = 827–853 | date = July 2006 | pmid = 16563589 | pmc = 7130737 | doi = 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2006.01.008 | url = http://cogprints.org/5013/1/2006_P.N.P._Neuro-evolution_of_fear_circuit_disorders.pdf }}</ref> 

=== Conditioning ===
{{Main|Fear conditioning}}

Nonhuman animals and humans innovate specific fears as a result of learning. This has been studied in psychology as [[fear conditioning]], beginning with John B. Watson's [[Little Albert experiment]] in 1920, which was inspired after observing a child with an irrational fear of dogs. In this study, an 11-month-old boy was conditioned to fear a white rat in the laboratory. The fear became generalized to include other white, furry objects, such as a rabbit, dog, and even a Santa Claus mask with white cotton balls in the beard.

Fear can be learned by experiencing or watching a frightening [[Psychological trauma|traumatic]] accident. For example, a child falling into a well and struggling to get out may develop a fear of wells, heights ([[acrophobia]]), enclosed spaces ([[claustrophobia]]), or water ([[aquaphobia]]). There are studies looking at areas of the brain that are affected in relation to fear. When looking at these areas (such as the [[amygdala]]), it was proposed that a person learns to fear regardless of whether they themselves have experienced trauma, or if they have observed the fear in others. In a study completed by Andreas Olsson, Katherine I. Nearing and Elizabeth A. Phelps, the amygdala were affected both when subjects observed someone else being submitted to an aversive event, knowing that the same treatment awaited themselves, and when subjects were subsequently placed in a fear-provoking situation.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Olsson A, Nearing KI, Phelps EA | title = Learning fears by observing others: the neural systems of social fear transmission | journal = Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience | volume = 2 | issue = 1 | pages = 3–11 | date = March 2007 | pmid = 18985115 | pmc = 2555428 | doi = 10.1093/scan/nsm005 }}</ref> This suggests that fear can develop in both conditions, not just simply from personal history.

Fear is affected by cultural and historical context. For example, in the early 20th century, many Americans feared [[polio]], a disease that can lead to paralysis.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001402.htm |title=Polio: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia |access-date=2017-01-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129024916/https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001402.htm |archive-date=2017-01-29 }}</ref> There are consistent cross-cultural differences in how people respond to fear.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kim K, Markman AB |title=Differences in Fear of Isolation as an explanation of Cultural Differences: Evidence from memory and reasoning |journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |date=3 May 2005 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=350–364 |doi=10.1016/j.jesp.2005.06.005 }}</ref> [[Display rules]] affect how likely people are to express the facial expression of fear and other emotions.

Fear of [[Victimisation|victimization]] is a function of perceived risk and seriousness of potential harm.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Fear of Victimization: A Look at the Proximate Causes|journal= Social Forces |year=1983|volume= 61 |issue=4|pages= 1033–1043 | doi=10.1093/sf/61.4.1033| author1 = Warr M |author2= Stafford M }}</ref>

== Common triggers ==
=== Phobias ===
{{see also|Phobia}}
According to surveys, some of the most common fears are of [[demon]]s and [[ghost]]s, the existence of [[evil]] powers, [[cockroach]]es, [[spider]]s, [[snake]]s, [[Acrophobia|heights]], [[water]], [[Claustrophobia|enclosed spaces]], [[tunnel]]s, [[bridge]]s, [[Hypodermic needle|needles]], [[social rejection]], [[failure]], [[Test (assessment)|examinations]], and [[public speaking]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/media/things-americans-fear-most-2015/|title=Things Americans fear most| vauthors = Welch A |date=October 15, 2015|work=CBS News|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622001419/http://www.cbsnews.com/media/things-americans-fear-most-2015/|archive-date=June 22, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/30/clowns-are-twice-as-scary-to-democrats-as-they-are-to-republicans//|title=America's top fears: Public speaking, heights and bugs| vauthors = Ingraham C |date=October 30, 2014|newspaper=The Washington Post|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005055946/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/30/clowns-are-twice-as-scary-to-democrats-as-they-are-to-republicans/|archive-date=October 5, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/1891/snakes-top-list-americans-fears.aspx|title=Snakes Top List of American's Fears| vauthors = Brewer G |date=March 19, 2001|publisher=Gallup|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160714071803/http://www.gallup.com/poll/1891/snakes-top-list-americans-fears.aspx|archive-date=July 14, 2016}}</ref>

Regionally some may more so fear [[Terrorism|terrorist attacks]], [[Fear of death|death]], [[war]], [[Fear of crime|criminal]] or [[gang violence]], [[Fear of being alone|being alone]], the future, [[nuclear war]],<ref>[http://www.gallup.com/poll/15439/What-Frightens-Americas-Youth.aspx Gallup Poll: What Frightens America's Youth] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081121100308/http://www.gallup.com/poll/15439/What-Frightens-Americas-Youth.aspx|date=2008-11-21}}, gallup.com (29 March 2005).</ref> [[Fear of flying|flying]], [[Coulrophobia|clowns]], [[Fear of intimacy|intimacy]], [[Fear of people|people]], and [[Driving phobia|driving]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/clickwhatmillion00tanc|title=Click: What millions of people are doing online and why it matters| vauthors = Tancer B |year=2008|publisher=Hyperion|isbn=978-1-4013-2304-2}}</ref>

===Uncertainty===
{{See also|Xenophobia|Neophobia}}
Fear of the unknown or '''irrational fear''' is caused by negative thinking ([[worry]]) which arises from [[anxiety (mood)|anxiety]] accompanied by a subjective sense of apprehension or dread.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Zerwekh J |title=Illustrated Study Guide for the NCLEX-RN® Exam|date=2013 |publisher=Mosby, Inc. |isbn=978-0-323-08232-7 |pages=178–179 |edition=8th |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zHpRYbGaQFcC&q=irrational%20unknown%20anxiety%20worry%20dread&pg=PA179 |access-date=7 July 2020}}</ref> Irrational fear shares a common neural pathway with other fears, a pathway that engages the nervous system to mobilize bodily resources in the face of danger or threat. Many people are scared of the "unknown". The irrational fear can branch out to many areas such as the hereafter, the next ten years or even tomorrow. Chronic irrational fear has deleterious effects since the elicitor stimulus is commonly absent or perceived from delusions. Such fear can create [[comorbidity]] with the [[anxiety disorder]] umbrella.<ref name="BarrettLewis2016">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDBqDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA751|title=Handbook of Emotions| vauthors = Barrettn LF, Lewis M, Haviland-Jones JM |publisher=Guilford Publications|year=2016|isbn=978-1-4625-2534-8|pages=751–773|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302032508/https://books.google.com/books?id=bDBqDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA751|archive-date=2017-03-02|url-status=live}}</ref> Being scared may cause people to experience [[Anticipation|anticipatory]] fear of what may lie ahead rather than planning and evaluating for the same. For example, "continuation of scholarly education" is perceived by many educators as a risk that may cause them fear and stress,<ref name="Burton">{{cite journal| vauthors = Burton LD |year=2011|title=Fear|journal=Journal of Research on Christian Education|volume=20|issue=2|pages=113–116|doi=10.1080/10656219.2011.592801|s2cid=216092318}}</ref> and they would rather teach things they've been taught than go and do research.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}}

The ambiguity of situations that tend to be uncertain and unpredictable can cause anxiety in addition to other psychological and physical problems in some populations; especially those who engage it constantly, for example, in war-ridden places or in places of conflict, terrorism, abuse, etc. Poor [[parenting]] that instills fear can also debilitate a child's psyche development or personality. For example, parents tell their children not to talk to strangers in order to protect them. In school, they would be motivated to not show fear in talking with strangers, but to be assertive and also aware of the risks and the environment in which it takes place. Ambiguous and mixed messages like this can affect their self-esteem and self-confidence. Researchers say talking to strangers is not something to be thwarted but allowed in a parent's presence if required.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Fox ER | title = Fear of the unknown | journal = The Western Journal of Medicine | volume = 146 | issue = 6 | pages = 759–760 | date = June 1987 | pmid = 18750277 | pmc = 1307488 | doi = 10.1108/17578043200800026 | s2cid = 72767139 }}</ref> Developing a sense of [[equanimity]] to handle various situations is often advocated as an antidote to irrational fear and as an essential skill by a number of ancient philosophies.

Fear of the unknown (FOTU) "may be a, or possibly the, fundamental fear" from early times when there were many threats to life.<ref name="Carleton2016">{{cite journal | vauthors = Carleton RN | title = Fear of the unknown: One fear to rule them all? | journal = Journal of Anxiety Disorders | volume = 41 | issue = June2016 | pages = 5–21 | date = June 2016 | pmid = 27067453 | doi = 10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.03.011 | doi-access = free | hdl = 10294/15842 | hdl-access = free }}</ref>

==Behavior==
Although fear behavior varies from species to species, it is often divided into two main categories; namely, avoidance/flight and immobility.<ref name=":Archer"/> To these, different researchers have added different categories, such as threat [[Display (zoology)|display]] and attack,<ref name=":Misslin">{{cite journal | vauthors = Misslin R | title = The defense system of fear: behavior and neurocircuitry | journal = Neurophysiologie Clinique = Clinical Neurophysiology | volume = 33 | issue = 2 | pages = 55–66 | date = April 2003 | pmid = 12837573 | doi = 10.1016/s0987-7053(03)00009-1 | s2cid = 35133426 }}</ref> protective responses (including [[Startle response|startle]] and [[looming]] responses),<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Blanchard RJ, Blanchard DC, Rodgers J, Weiss SM | title = The characterization and modelling of antipredator defensive behavior | journal = Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews | volume = 14 | issue = 4 | pages = 463–472 | year = 1990 | pmid = 2287483 | doi = 10.1016/s0149-7634(05)80069-7 | s2cid = 10132051 }}</ref> defensive burying,<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = De Boer SF, Koolhaas JM | title = Defensive burying in rodents: ethology, neurobiology and psychopharmacology | journal = European Journal of Pharmacology | volume = 463 | issue = 1–3 | pages = 145–161 | date = February 2003 | pmid = 12600707 | doi = 10.1016/s0014-2999(03)01278-0 }}</ref> and social responses (including alarm vocalizations and submission).<ref name=":Misslin"/><ref name=":Archer1979">{{cite book | vauthors = Archer J |chapter=Behavioural aspects of fear |year=1979 | veditors = Sluckin W |title=Fear in Animals and Man |pages=56–85 |location=Workingham, UK |publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold }}</ref> Finally, immobility is often divided into [[Freezing behavior|freezing]] and [[tonic immobility]].<ref name=":Misslin"/><ref name=":Archer1979"/>

The decision as to which particular fear behavior to perform is determined by the level of fear as well as the specific context, such as environmental characteristics (escape route present, distance to refuge), the presence of a discrete and localized threat, the distance between threat and subject, threat characteristics (speed, size, directness of approach), the characteristics of the subject under threat (size, physical condition, speed, degree of [[crypsis]], protective morphological structures), social conditions (group size), and the amount of experience with the type of the threat.<ref name=":Adolphs"/><ref name=":Archer"/><ref name=":Archer1979"/><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Stankowich T, Blumstein DT | title = Fear in animals: a meta-analysis and review of risk assessment | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 272 | issue = 1581 | pages = 2627–2634 | date = December 2005 | pmid = 16321785 | pmc = 1559976 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2005.3251 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Osborn JW, Liard JF, Cowley AW | title = Effect of AVP on pressor responses to peripheral sympathetic stimulation in the rat | chapter = The Economics of Fleeing from Predators | series = Advances in the Study of Behavior | volume = 252 | issue = 4 Pt 2 | pages = H675–H680 | date = April 1987 | pmid = 3565586 | doi = 10.1016/S0065-3454(08)60192-8 | isbn = 978-0-12-004516-7 }}</ref>

==Mechanism==
{{anchor|Fear in animals}}
Often laboratory studies with rats are conducted to examine the acquisition and extinction of [[fear conditioning|conditioned fear]] responses.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Morgan MA, LeDoux JE | title = Differential contribution of dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex to the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear in rats | journal = Behavioral Neuroscience | volume = 109 | issue = 4 | pages = 681–688 | date = August 1995 | pmid = 7576212 | doi = 10.1037/0735-7044.109.4.681 | s2cid = 3167606 }}</ref> In 2004, researchers conditioned rats (''Rattus norvegicus'') to fear a certain stimulus, through electric shock.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Cammarota M, Bevilaqua LR, Kerr D, Medina JH, Izquierdo I | title = Inhibition of mRNA and protein synthesis in the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus blocks reinstallment of an extinguished conditioned fear response | journal = The Journal of Neuroscience | volume = 23 | issue = 3 | pages = 737–741 | date = February 2003 | pmid = 12574401 | pmc = 6741935 | doi = 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-03-00737.2003 }}</ref> The researchers were able to then cause an extinction of this conditioned fear, to a point that no medications or drugs were able to further aid in the extinction process. The rats showed signs of avoidance learning, not fear, but simply avoiding the area that brought pain to the test rats. The avoidance learning of rats is seen as a [[conditioned response]], and therefore the behavior can be unconditioned, as supported by the earlier research.

Species-specific defense reactions (SSDRs) or [[avoidance learning]] in nature is the specific tendency to avoid certain threats or stimuli, it is how animals survive in the wild. Humans and animals both share these species-specific defense reactions, such as the flight-or-fight, which also include pseudo-aggression, fake or intimidating aggression and freeze response to threats, which is controlled by the [[sympathetic nervous system]]. These SSDRs are learned very quickly through social interactions between others of the same species, other species, and interaction with the environment.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Davis S |title=21st Century Psychology: A Reference Handbook, Vol. 1|year=2008|publisher=Sage Publications, Inc.|location=Thousand Oaks, California|isbn=978-1-4129-4968-2|pages=282–286}}</ref> These acquired sets of reactions or responses are not easily forgotten. The animal that survives is the animal that already knows what to fear and how to avoid this threat. An example in humans is the reaction to the sight of a snake, many jump backwards before cognitively realizing what they are jumping away from, and in some cases, it is a stick rather than a snake.

As with many functions of the brain, there are various regions of the brain involved in deciphering fear in humans and other nonhuman species.<ref>{{cite web| vauthors = Robert P |title=The Amygdala and Its Allies|url=http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/a/a_04/a_04_cr/a_04_cr_peu/a_04_cr_peu.html|website=2002|publisher=The Brain|access-date=2 October 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806074559/http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/a/a_04/a_04_cr/a_04_cr_peu/a_04_cr_peu.html|archive-date=6 August 2013}}</ref> The [[amygdala]] communicates both directions between the [[prefrontal cortex]], [[hypothalamus]], the [[sensory cortex]], the [[hippocampus]], [[thalamus]], [[septum]], and the [[brainstem]]. The amygdala plays an important role in SSDR, such as the ventral amygdalofugal, which is essential for [[associative learning]], and SSDRs are learned through interaction with the environment and others of the same species. An emotional response is created only after the signals have been relayed between the different regions of the brain, and activating the sympathetic nervous systems; which controls the [[Fight, Flight or freeze|flight, fight, freeze, fright, and faint response]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Schmidt NB, Richey JA, Zvolensky MJ, Maner JK | title = Exploring human freeze responses to a threat stressor | journal = Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry | volume = 39 | issue = 3 | pages = 292–304 | date = September 2008 | pmid = 17880916 | pmc = 2489204 | doi = 10.1016/j.jbtep.2007.08.002 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bracha HS | title = Freeze, flight, fight, fright, faint: adaptationist perspectives on the acute stress response spectrum | journal = CNS Spectrums | volume = 9 | issue = 9 | pages = 679–685 | date = September 2004 | pmid = 15337864 | doi = 10.1017/s1092852900001954 | url = http://cogprints.org/5014/1/2004_C.N.S_Five_Fs_of_FEAR%2D%2DFreeze_Flight_Fight_Fright_Faint.pdf | s2cid = 8430710 }}</ref> Often a damaged amygdala can cause impairment in the recognition of fear (like the human case of [[S.M. (patient)|patient S.M.]]).<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Adolphs R, Gosselin F, Buchanan TW, Tranel D, Schyns P, Damasio AR | title = A mechanism for impaired fear recognition after amygdala damage | journal = Nature | volume = 433 | issue = 7021 | pages = 68–72 | date = January 2005 | pmid = 15635411 | doi = 10.1038/nature03086 | url = https://authors.library.caltech.edu/55911/2/nature03086-s1.doc | s2cid = 2139996 | bibcode = 2005Natur.433...68A }}</ref> This impairment can cause different species to lack the sensation of fear, and often can become overly confident, confronting larger peers, or walking up to predatory creatures.

[[Robert C. Bolles]] (1970), a researcher at University of Washington, wanted to understand species-specific defense reactions and avoidance learning among animals, but found that the theories of avoidance learning and the tools that were used to measure this tendency were out of touch with the natural world.<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Bolles R |title=Species-Specific Defense Reactions and Avoidance Learning|journal=Psychological Review|year=1970|volume=77|issue=1|pages=32–48|doi=10.1037/h0028589}}</ref> He theorized the species-specific defense reaction (SSDR).<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Crawford M, Masterson FA | title = Species-specific defense reactions and avoidance learning. An evaluative review | journal = The Pavlovian Journal of Biological Science | volume = 17 | issue = 4 | pages = 204–214 | year = 1982 | pmid = 6891452 | doi = 10.1007/BF03001275 | s2cid = 142436039 | url = https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03001275 | url-access = subscription }}</ref> There are three forms of SSDRs: flight, fight (pseudo-aggression), or freeze. Even domesticated animals have SSDRs, and in those moments it is seen that animals revert to atavistic standards and become "wild" again. Dr. Bolles states that responses are often dependent on the reinforcement of a safety signal, and not the aversive conditioned stimuli. This safety signal can be a source of feedback or even stimulus change. Intrinsic feedback or information coming from within, muscle twitches, increased heart rate, are seen to be more important in SSDRs than extrinsic feedback, stimuli that comes from the external environment. Dr. Bolles found that most creatures have some intrinsic set of fears, to help assure survival of the species. Rats will run away from any [[Acute stress disorder|shocking]] event, and pigeons will flap their wings harder when threatened. The wing flapping in pigeons and the scattered running of rats are considered species-specific defense reactions or behaviors. Bolles believed that SSDRs are conditioned through [[Pavlovian]] conditioning, and not operant conditioning; SSDRs arise from the association between the environmental stimuli and adverse events.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Kiein S |title=Biological Influences on Learning|year=2002|publisher=McGraw-Hill Higher Education|location=Mississippi State University|url=http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072490462/student_view0/chapter10/chapter_outline.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205080132/http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072490462/student_view0/chapter10/chapter_outline.html|archive-date=2008-12-05}}</ref> [[Michael S. Fanselow]] conducted an experiment, to test some specific defense reactions, he observed that rats in two different shock situations responded differently, based on instinct or defensive topography, rather than contextual information.<ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Fanselow M |author-link=Michael Fanselow |journal=Learning and Motivation|date=1986|volume=17|issue=1|pages=16–39|title=Associative vs topographical accounts of the immediate shock-freezing deficit in rats: Implications for the response selection rules governing species-specific defensive reactions|doi=10.1016/0023-9690(86)90018-4}}</ref>

Species-specific defense responses are created out of fear, and are essential for survival.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Crawford M, Masterson FA | title=Species-specific defense reactions and avoidance learning | journal=The Pavlovian Journal of Biological Science | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=17 | issue=4 | date=October 1982 | issn=0093-2213 | doi=10.1007/bf03001275 | pages=204–214| pmid=6891452 | s2cid=142436039 }}</ref> Rats that lack the gene [[stathmin]] show no avoidance learning, or a lack of fear, and will often walk directly up to cats and be eaten.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Brocke B, Lesch KP, Armbruster D, Moser DA, Müller A, Strobel A, Kirschbaum C | title = Stathmin, a gene regulating neural plasticity, affects fear and anxiety processing in humans | journal = American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric Genetics | volume = 153B | issue = 1 | pages = 243–251 | date = January 2010 | pmid = 19526456 | doi = 10.1002/ajmg.b.30989 | s2cid = 14851460 }}</ref> Animals use these SSDRs to continue living, to help increase their chance of [[Fitness (biology)|fitness]], by surviving long enough to procreate. Humans and animals alike have created fear to know what should be avoided, and this fear can be learned through [[Learning|association]] with others in the community, or learned through personal experience with a creature, species, or situations that should be avoided. SSDRs are an evolutionary adaptation that has been seen in many species throughout the world including rats, [[Pan (genus)|chimpanzee]]s, [[prairie dog]]s, and even [[human]]s, an adaptation created to help individual creatures survive in a hostile world.

Fear learning changes across the lifetime due to natural developmental changes in the brain.<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Kim JH, Ganella DE |date=2015-02-01|title=A Review of Preclinical Studies to Understand Fear During Adolescence|journal=Australian Psychologist|language=en|volume=50|issue=1|pages=25–31|doi=10.1111/ap.12066|s2cid=142760996|issn=1742-9544}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kim JH, Richardson R | title = New findings on extinction of conditioned fear early in development: theoretical and clinical implications | journal = Biological Psychiatry | volume = 67 | issue = 4 | pages = 297–303 | date = February 2010 | pmid = 19846065 | doi = 10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.09.003 | s2cid = 33444381 }}</ref> This includes changes in the [[prefrontal cortex]] and the [[amygdala]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Li S, Kim JH, Richardson R | title = Differential involvement of the medial prefrontal cortex in the expression of learned fear across development | journal = Behavioral Neuroscience | volume = 126 | issue = 2 | pages = 217–225 | date = April 2012 | pmid = 22448855 | doi = 10.1037/a0027151 }}</ref>

The visual exploration of an emotional face does not follow a fixed pattern but modulated by the emotional content of the face. Scheller et al.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Scheller E, Büchel C, Gamer M | title = Diagnostic features of emotional expressions are processed preferentially | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 7 | issue = 7 | article-number = e41792 | date = 2012-07-25 | pmid = 22848607 | pmc = 3405011 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0041792 | bibcode = 2012PLoSO...741792S | doi-access = free }}</ref> found that participants paid more attention to the eyes when recognising fearful or neutral faces, while the mouth was fixated on when happy faces are presented, irrespective of task demands and spatial locations of face stimuli. These findings were replicated when fearful eyes are presented<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Smith ML, Cottrell GW, Gosselin F, Schyns PG | title = Transmitting and decoding facial expressions | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 16 | issue = 3 | pages = 184–189 | date = March 2005 | pmid = 15733197 | doi = 10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.00801.x | s2cid = 2622673 }}</ref> and when canonical face configurations are distorted for fearful, neutral and happy expressions.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Elsherif MM, Sahan MI, Rotshtein P | title = The perceptual saliency of fearful eyes and smiles: A signal detection study | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 12 | issue = 3 | article-number = e0173199 | date = 2017-03-07 | pmid = 28267761 | pmc = 5340363 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0173199 | bibcode = 2017PLoSO..1273199E | doi-access = free }}</ref>

===Neurocircuitry in mammals===
{{See also|Fear processing in the brain}}
* The thalamus collects sensory data from the senses
* Sensory cortex receives data from the thalamus and interprets it
* Sensory cortex organizes information for dissemination to the hypothalamus (fight or flight), amygdalae (fear), hippocampus (memory)

The brain structures that are the center of most neurobiological events associated with fear are the two [[amygdalae]], located behind the pituitary gland. Each amygdala is part of a circuitry of fear learning.<ref name=Olsson/> They are essential for proper adaptation to stress and specific modulation of emotional learning memory. In the presence of a threatening stimulus, the amygdalae generate the secretion of hormones that influence fear and aggression.<ref>Best, Ben (2004). [http://www.benbest.com/science/anatmind/anatmd9.html The Amygdala and the Emotions] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070309132748/http://www.benbest.com/science/anatmind/anatmd9.html |date=2007-03-09 }}. benbest.com</ref> Once a response to the stimulus in the form of fear or aggression commences, the amygdalae may elicit the release of hormones into the body to put the person into a state of alertness, in which they are ready to move, run, fight, etc. This defensive response is generally referred to in physiology as the [[fight-or-flight response]] regulated by the hypothalamus, part of the [[limbic system]].<ref>Gleitman, Henry; Fridlund, Alan J. and Reisberg, Daniel (2004). ''Psychology'' (6th ed.). W.W. Norton & Company. {{ISBN|0-393-97767-6}}.</ref> Once the person is in safe mode, meaning that there are no longer any potential threats surrounding them, the amygdalae will send this information to the medial [[prefrontal cortex]] (mPFC) where it is stored for similar future situations, which is known as [[memory consolidation]].<ref name=Travis/>

Some of the hormones involved during the state of fight-or-flight include [[adrenaline|epinephrine]], which regulates heart rate and metabolism as well as dilating blood vessels and air passages, [[norepinephrine]] increasing heart rate, blood flow to skeletal muscles and the release of glucose from energy stores,<ref>von Bohlen und Halbach, O; Dermietzel, R (2006). ''Neurotransmitters and neuromodulators: handbook of receptors and biological effects''. Wiley-VCH. p. 125. {{ISBN|978-3-527-31307-5}}.</ref> and [[cortisol]] which increases blood sugar, increases circulating neutrophilic leukocytes, calcium amongst other things.<ref>Hoehn K, Marieb EN (2010). ''Human Anatomy & Physiology''. San Francisco: Benjamin Cummings. {{ISBN|0-321-60261-7}}.</ref>

After a situation which incites fear occurs, the amygdalae and [[hippocampus]] record the event through synaptic [[neuroplasticity|plasticity]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Amunts K, Kedo O, Kindler M, Pieperhoff P, Mohlberg H, Shah NJ, Habel U, Schneider F, Zilles K | display-authors = 6 | title = Cytoarchitectonic mapping of the human amygdala, hippocampal region and entorhinal cortex: intersubject variability and probability maps | journal = Anatomy and Embryology | volume = 210 | issue = 5–6 | pages = 343–352 | date = December 2005 | pmid = 16208455 | doi = 10.1007/s00429-005-0025-5 | s2cid = 6984617 }}</ref> The stimulation to the hippocampus will cause the individual to remember many details surrounding the situation.<ref>Schacter, Daniel L.; Gilbert, Daniel T. and Wegner, Daniel M. (2011) ''Psychology Study Guide'', Worth Publishers, {{ISBN|1-4292-0615-2}}.</ref> Plasticity and memory formation in the amygdala are generated by activation of the neurons in the region. Experimental data supports the notion that synaptic plasticity of the neurons leading to the lateral amygdalae occurs with fear conditioning.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = LeDoux J | title = The emotional brain, fear, and the amygdala | journal = Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology | volume = 23 | issue = 4–5 | pages = 727–738 | date = October 2003 | pmid = 14514027 | doi = 10.1023/A:1025048802629 | s2cid = 3216382 | pmc = 11530156 }}</ref> In some cases, this forms permanent fear responses such as [[post-traumatic stress disorder]] (PTSD) or a [[phobia]].<ref>American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV. Washington, DC. {{ISBN|0-89042-061-0}}.</ref> MRI and fMRI scans have shown that the amygdalae in individuals diagnosed with such disorders including [[bipolar disorder|bipolar]] or [[panic disorder]] are larger and wired for a higher level of fear.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Cheng DT, Knight DC, Smith CN, Stein EA, Helmstetter FJ | title = Functional MRI of human amygdala activity during Pavlovian fear conditioning: stimulus processing versus response expression | journal = Behavioral Neuroscience | volume = 117 | issue = 1 | pages = 3–10 | date = February 2003 | pmid = 12619902 | doi = 10.1037/0735-7044.117.1.3 | url = http://www.uwm.edu/~fjh/cheng2003.pdf | access-date = 2017-10-24 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.123.4317 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081008020545/http://www.uwm.edu/~fjh/cheng2003.pdf | archive-date = 2008-10-08 }}</ref>

Pathogens can suppress amygdala activity. Rats infected with the [[toxoplasmosis]] parasite become less fearful of cats, sometimes even seeking out their urine-marked areas. This behavior often leads to them being eaten by cats. The parasite then reproduces within the body of the cat. There is evidence that the parasite concentrates itself in the amygdala of infected rats.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Berdoy M, Webster JP, Macdonald DW | title = Fatal attraction in rats infected with Toxoplasma gondii | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 267 | issue = 1452 | pages = 1591–1594 | date = August 2000 | pmid = 11007336 | pmc = 1690701 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.2000.1182 }}</ref> In a separate experiment, rats with lesions in the amygdala did not express fear or anxiety towards unwanted stimuli. These rats pulled on levers supplying food that sometimes sent out electrical shocks. While they learned to avoid pressing on them, they did not distance themselves from these shock-inducing levers.<ref>{{Cite journal | vauthors = Larkin M | title = Amygdala differentiates fear response | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)62234-9 | journal = The Lancet | volume = 350 | issue = 9073 | page = 268 | year = 1997 | s2cid = 54232230 }}</ref>

Several brain structures other than the amygdalae have also been observed to be activated when individuals are presented with fearful vs. neutral faces, namely the occipito[[cerebellum|cerebellar]] regions including the [[fusiform gyrus]] and the [[Inferior parietal lobule|inferior parietal]] / [[Superior temporal gyrus|superior temporal]] gyri.<ref name=radua2010>{{cite journal | vauthors = Radua J, Phillips ML, Russell T, Lawrence N, Marshall N, Kalidindi S, El-Hage W, McDonald C, Giampietro V, Brammer MJ, David AS, Surguladze SA | display-authors = 6 | title = Neural response to specific components of fearful faces in healthy and schizophrenic adults | journal = NeuroImage | volume = 49 | issue = 1 | pages = 939–946 | date = January 2010 | pmid = 19699306 | doi = 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.08.030 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/1066228 | url-status = live | access-date = 2019-08-14 | s2cid = 6209163 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040641/https://zenodo.org/record/1066228 | archive-date = 2017-12-01 }}</ref> Fearful eyes, brows and mouth seem to separately reproduce these brain responses.<ref name=radua2010 /> Scientists from Zurich studies show that the hormone oxytocin related to stress and sex reduces activity in your brain fear center.<ref>Fear not." Ski Mar.–Apr. 2009: 15. Gale Canada In Context. Web. 29 Sep. 2011</ref>

====Pheromones and contagion====
In threatening situations, insects, aquatic organisms, birds, reptiles, and mammals emit odorant substances, initially called alarm substances, which are chemical signals now called alarm [[pheromone]]s. This is to defend themselves and at the same time to inform members of the same species of danger and leads to observable behavior change like freezing, defensive behavior, or dispersion depending on circumstances and species. For example, stressed rats release odorant cues that cause other rats to move away from the source of the signal.

After the discovery of pheromones in 1959, alarm pheromones were first described in 1968 in ants<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Moser JC, Brownlee RC, Silverstein R | title = Alarm pheromones of the ant atta texana | journal = Journal of Insect Physiology | volume = 14 | issue = 4 | pages = 529–535 | date = April 1968 | pmid = 5649232 | doi = 10.1016/0022-1910(68)90068-1 | bibcode = 1968JInsP..14..529M }}</ref> and earthworms,<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ressler RH, Cialdini RB, Ghoca ML, Kleist SM | title = Alarm pheromone in the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris | journal = Science | volume = 161 | issue = 3841 | pages = 597–599 | date = August 1968 | pmid = 5663305 | doi = 10.1126/science.161.3841.597 | s2cid = 30927186 | bibcode = 1968Sci...161..597R }}</ref> and four years later also found in mammals, both mice and rats.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Rottman SJ, Snowdon CT | title = Demonstration and analysis of an alarm pheromone in mice | journal = Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology | volume = 81 | issue = 3 | pages = 483–490 | date = December 1972 | pmid = 4649187 | doi = 10.1037/h0033703 }}</ref> Over the next two decades, identification and characterization of these pheromones proceeded in all manner of insects and sea animals, including fish, but it was not until 1990 that more insight into mammalian alarm pheromones was gleaned.

In 1985, a link between odors released by stressed rats and [[pain perception]] was discovered: unstressed rats exposed to these odors developed opioid-mediated analgesia.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Fanselow MS | title = Odors released by stressed rats produce opioid analgesia in unstressed rats | journal = Behavioral Neuroscience | volume = 99 | issue = 3 | pages = 589–592 | date = June 1985 | pmid = 3843728 | doi = 10.1037/0735-7044.99.3.589 }}</ref> In 1997, researchers found that bees became less responsive to pain after they had been stimulated with [[isoamyl acetate]], a chemical smelling of banana, and a component of bee alarm pheromone.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Núñez J, Almeida L, Balderrama N, Giurfa M | title = Alarm pheromone induces stress analgesia via an opioid system in the honeybee | journal = Physiology & Behavior | volume = 63 | issue = 1 | pages = 75–80 | date = December 1997 | pmid = 9402618 | doi = 10.1016/s0031-9384(97)00391-0 | s2cid = 8788442 }}</ref> The experiment also showed that the bees' fear-induced [[pain tolerance]] was mediated by an [[endorphin]].

By using the [[Behavioural despair test|forced swimming test]] in rats as a model of fear-induction, the first mammalian "alarm substance" was found.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Abel EL, Bilitzke PJ | title = A possible alarm substance in the forced swimming test | journal = Physiology & Behavior | volume = 48 | issue = 2 | pages = 233–239 | date = August 1990 | pmid = 2255725 | doi = 10.1016/0031-9384(90)90306-o | s2cid = 22994036 }}</ref> In 1991, this "alarm substance" was shown to fulfill criteria for pheromones: well-defined behavioral effect, species specificity, minimal influence of experience and control for nonspecific arousal. Rat activity testing with the alarm pheromone, and their preference/avoidance for odors from cylinders containing the pheromone, showed that the pheromone had very low [[Volatility (chemistry)|volatility]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Abel EL | title = Alarm substance emitted by rats in the forced-swim test is a low volatile pheromone | journal = Physiology & Behavior | volume = 50 | issue = 4 | pages = 723–727 | date = October 1991 | pmid = 1775546 | doi = 10.1016/0031-9384(91)90009-d | s2cid = 41044786 }}</ref>

In 1993 a connection between alarm chemosignals in mice and their [[immune system|immune response]] was found.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Cocke R, Moynihan JA, Cohen N, Grota LJ, Ader R | title = Exposure to conspecific alarm chemosignals alters immune responses in BALB/c mice | journal = Brain, Behavior, and Immunity | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | pages = 36–46 | date = March 1993 | pmid = 8471798 | doi = 10.1006/brbi.1993.1004 | s2cid = 7196539 | title-link = BALB/c mice }}</ref> Pheromone production in mice was found to be associated with or mediated by the [[pituitary gland]] in 1994.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Abel EL | title = The pituitary mediates production or release of an alarm chemosignal in rats | journal = Hormones and Behavior | volume = 28 | issue = 2 | pages = 139–145 | date = June 1994 | pmid = 7927280 | doi = 10.1006/hbeh.1994.1011 | s2cid = 11844089 }}</ref>

In 2004, it was demonstrated that rats' alarm pheromones had different effects on the "recipient" rat (the rat perceiving the pheromone) depending which body region they were released from: Pheromone production from the face modified behavior in the recipient rat, e.g. caused sniffing or movement, whereas pheromone secreted from the rat's anal area induced [[autonomic nervous system]] stress responses, like an increase in core body temperature.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kiyokawa Y, Kikusui T, Takeuchi Y, Mori Y | title = Alarm pheromones with different functions are released from different regions of the body surface of male rats | journal = Chemical Senses | volume = 29 | issue = 1 | pages = 35–40 | date = January 2004 | pmid = 14752038 | doi = 10.1093/chemse/bjh004 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Further experiments showed that when a rat perceived alarm pheromones, it increased its defensive and risk assessment behavior,<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kiyokawa Y, Shimozuru M, Kikusui T, Takeuchi Y, Mori Y | title = Alarm pheromone increases defensive and risk assessment behaviors in male rats | journal = Physiology & Behavior | volume = 87 | issue = 2 | pages = 383–387 | date = February 2006 | pmid = 16337975 | doi = 10.1016/j.physbeh.2005.11.003 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/853489 | url-status = live | access-date = 2017-08-30 | s2cid = 12780994 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170830233838/https://zenodo.org/record/853489 | archive-date = 2017-08-30 }}</ref> and its acoustic [[startle reflex]] was enhanced.

It was not until 2011 that a link between severe pain, neuroinflammation and alarm pheromones release in rats was found: real time [[RT-PCR]] analysis of rat brain tissues indicated that shocking the footpad of a rat increased its production of [[proinflammatory cytokines]] in deep brain structures, namely of [[IL-1β]], heteronuclear [[Corticotropin-releasing hormone]] and [[c-fos]] mRNA expressions in both the [[paraventricular nucleus]] and the bed nucleus of the [[stria terminalis]], and it increased stress hormone levels in plasma ([[corticosterone]]).<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Arakawa H, Arakawa K, Blandino P, Deak T | title = The role of neuroinflammation in the release of aversive odor cues from footshock-stressed rats: Implications for the neural mechanism of alarm pheromone | journal = Psychoneuroendocrinology | volume = 36 | issue = 4 | pages = 557–568 | date = May 2011 | pmid = 20888127 | doi = 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.09.001 | s2cid = 24367179 }}</ref>

The [[emotion#neurocircuitry|neurocircuit]] for how rats perceive alarm pheromones was shown to be related to the [[hypothalamus]], [[brainstem]], and [[amygdala]]e, all of which are evolutionary ancient structures deep inside or in the case of the brainstem underneath the brain away from the cortex, and involved in the [[fight-or-flight response]], as is the case in humans.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kiyokawa Y, Kikusui T, Takeuchi Y, Mori Y | title = Mapping the neural circuit activated by alarm pheromone perception by c-Fos immunohistochemistry | journal = Brain Research | volume = 1043 | issue = 1–2 | pages = 145–154 | date = May 2005 | pmid = 15862528 | doi = 10.1016/j.brainres.2005.02.061 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/854830 | url-status = live | access-date = 2017-08-31 | s2cid = 41186952 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170831131924/https://zenodo.org/record/854830 | archive-date = 2017-08-31 }}</ref>

Alarm pheromone-induced anxiety in rats has been used to evaluate the degree to which [[anxiolytic]]s can alleviate anxiety in humans. For this, the change in the [[startle response#acoustic startle reflex|acoustic startle reflex]] of rats with alarm pheromone-induced anxiety (i.e. reduction of defensiveness) has been measured. Pretreatment of rats with one of five anxiolytics used in clinical medicine was able to reduce their anxiety: namely [[midazolam]], [[phenelzine]] (a nonselective monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor), [[propranolol]], a nonselective [[beta blocker]], [[clonidine]], an [[alpha-2 adrenergic receptor#agonist|alpha 2 adrenergic agonist]] or [[CP-154,526]], a [[corticotropin-releasing hormone antagonist]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Inagaki H, Kiyokawa Y, Takeuchi Y, Mori Y | title = The alarm pheromone in male rats as a unique anxiety model: psychopharmacological evidence using anxiolytics | journal = Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior | volume = 94 | issue = 4 | pages = 575–579 | date = February 2010 | pmid = 19969015 | doi = 10.1016/j.pbb.2009.11.013 | s2cid = 28194770 }}</ref>

Faulty development of odor discrimination impairs the [[perception]] of pheromones and pheromone-related behavior, like [[aggression|aggressive behavior]] and mating in male rats: The enzyme [[MAPK7|Mitogen-activated protein kinase 7]] (MAPK7) has been implicated in regulating the development of the olfactory bulb and odor discrimination and it is highly expressed in developing rat brains, but absent in most regions of adult rat brains. [[Conditional gene knockout|Conditional deletion]] of the MAPK7gene in mouse neural stem cells impairs several pheromone-mediated behaviors, including aggression and mating in male mice. These behavior impairments were not caused by a reduction in the level of testosterone, by physical immobility, by heightened fear or anxiety or by depression. Using mouse urine as a natural pheromone-containing solution, it has been shown that the impairment was associated with defective detection of related pheromones, and with changes in their inborn preference for pheromones related to sexual and reproductive activities.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Zou J, Storm DR, Xia Z | title = Conditional deletion of ERK5 MAP kinase in the nervous system impairs pheromone information processing and pheromone-evoked behaviors | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 8 | issue = 10 | article-number= e76901 | year = 2013 | pmid = 24130808 | pmc = 3793934 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0076901 | bibcode = 2013PLoSO...876901Z | doi-access = free }}</ref>

Lastly, alleviation of an acute fear response because a friendly peer (or in biological language: an affiliative [[conspecific]]) [[tend and befriend|tends and befriends]] is called "[[social buffering]]". The term is in analogy to the 1985 "buffering" hypothesis in psychology, where [[social support]] has been proven to mitigate the negative health effects of alarm pheromone mediated distress.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Cohen S, Wills TA | title = Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis | journal = Psychological Bulletin | volume = 98 | issue = 2 | pages = 310–357 | date = September 1985 | pmid = 3901065 | doi = 10.1037/0033-2909.98.2.310 | s2cid = 18137066 }}</ref> The role of a "social pheromone" is suggested by the recent discovery that olfactory signals are responsible in mediating the "social buffering" in male rats.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Takahashi Y, Kiyokawa Y, Kodama Y, Arata S, Takeuchi Y, Mori Y | title = Olfactory signals mediate social buffering of conditioned fear responses in male rats | journal = Behavioural Brain Research | volume = 240 | pages = 46–51 | date = March 2013 | pmid = 23183219 | doi = 10.1016/j.bbr.2012.11.017 | url = https://zenodo.org/record/854828 | url-status = live | access-date = 2017-08-31 | s2cid = 30938917 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170831133047/https://zenodo.org/record/854828 | archive-date = 2017-08-31 }}</ref> "Social buffering" was also observed to mitigate the conditioned fear responses of honeybees. A bee colony exposed to an environment of high threat of predation did not show increased aggression and aggressive-like gene expression patterns in individual bees, but decreased aggression. That the bees did not simply [[habituation|habituate]] to threats is suggested by the fact that the disturbed colonies also decreased their foraging.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Rittschof CC, Robinson GE | title = Manipulation of colony environment modulates honey bee aggression and brain gene expression | journal = Genes, Brain and Behavior | volume = 12 | issue = 8 | pages = 802–811 | date = November 2013 | pmid = 24034579 | pmc = 3863782 | doi = 10.1111/gbb.12087 }}</ref>

Biologists have proposed in 2012 that fear pheromones evolved as molecules of "keystone significance", a term coined in analogy to [[keystone species]]. Pheromones may determine [[species richness|species compositions]] and affect rates of energy and material exchange in an [[community (ecology)|ecological community]]. Thus pheromones generate structure in a [[food web]] and play critical roles in maintaining [[Ecosystem health|natural systems]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ferrer RP, Zimmer RK | title = Community ecology and the evolution of molecules of keystone significance | journal = The Biological Bulletin | volume = 223 | issue = 2 | pages = 167–177 | date = October 2012 | pmid = 23111129 | doi = 10.1086/BBLv223n2p167 | s2cid = 592393 }}</ref>

====Humans====
Evidence of chemosensory alarm signals in humans has emerged slowly: Although alarm pheromones have not been physically isolated and their chemical structures have not been identified in humans so far, there is evidence for their presence. [[Androstadienone]], for example, a steroidal, endogenous odorant, is a pheromone candidate found in human sweat, axillary hair and plasma. The closely related compound [[androstenone]] is involved in communicating dominance, aggression or competition; sex hormone influences on androstenone perception in humans showed a high testosterone level related to heightened androstenone sensitivity in men, a high testosterone level related to [[unhappiness]] in response to androstenone in men, and a high estradiol level related to disliking of androstenone in women.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Lübke KT, Pause BM | title = Sex-hormone dependent perception of androstenone suggests its involvement in communicating competition and aggression | journal = Physiology & Behavior | volume = 123 | pages = 136–141 | date = January 2014 | pmid = 24184511 | doi = 10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.10.016 | s2cid = 25729942 }}</ref>

A German study from 2006 showed when anxiety-induced versus exercise-induced human sweat from a dozen people was pooled and offered to seven study participants, of five able to olfactorily distinguish exercise-induced sweat from room air, three could also distinguish exercise-induced sweat from anxiety induced sweat. The [[startle reflex|acoustic startle reflex]] response to a sound when sensing anxiety sweat was larger than when sensing exercise-induced sweat, as measured by [[electromyography]] analysis of the orbital muscle, which is responsible for the eyeblink component. This showed for the first time that fear chemosignals can modulate the startle reflex in humans without emotional mediation; fear chemosignals primed the recipient's "defensive behavior" prior to the subjects' conscious attention on the acoustic startle reflex level.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Prehn A, Ohrt A, Sojka B, Ferstl R, Pause BM | title = Chemosensory anxiety signals augment the startle reflex in humans | journal = Neuroscience Letters | volume = 394 | issue = 2 | pages = 127–130 | date = February 2006 | pmid = 16257486 | doi = 10.1016/j.neulet.2005.10.012 | s2cid = 23295966 }}</ref>

In analogy to the social buffering of rats and honeybees in response to chemosignals, induction of [[empathy]] by "smelling anxiety" of another person has been found in humans.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Prehn-Kristensen A, Wiesner C, Bergmann TO, Wolff S, Jansen O, Mehdorn HM, Ferstl R, Pause BM | display-authors = 6 | title = Induction of empathy by the smell of anxiety | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 4 | issue = 6 | article-number = e5987 | date = June 2009 | pmid = 19551135 | pmc = 2695008 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0005987 | bibcode = 2009PLoSO...4.5987P | doi-access = free }}</ref>

A study from 2013 provided brain imaging evidence that human responses to fear chemosignals may be [[gender-specific]]. Researchers collected alarm-induced sweat and exercise-induced sweat from donors extracted it, pooled it and presented it to 16 unrelated people undergoing functional brain [[MRI]]. While stress-induced sweat from males produced a comparably strong emotional response in both females and males, stress-induced sweat from females produced markedly stronger arousal in women than in men. Statistical tests pinpointed this gender-specificity to the right amygdala and strongest in the superficial nuclei. Since no significant differences were found in the [[olfactory bulb]], the response to female fear-induced signals is likely based on processing the meaning, i.e. on the emotional level, rather than the strength of chemosensory cues from each gender, i.e. the perceptual level.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Radulescu AR, Mujica-Parodi LR | title = Human gender differences in the perception of conspecific alarm chemosensory cues | journal = PLOS ONE | volume = 8 | issue = 7 | article-number = e68485 | date = Jul 2013 | pmid = 23894310 | pmc = 3722227 | doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0068485 | bibcode = 2013PLoSO...868485R | doi-access = free }}</ref>

An [[approach–avoidance conflict|approach-avoidance task]] was set up where volunteers seeing either an angry or a happy cartoon face on a computer screen pushed away or pulled toward them a joystick as fast as possible. Volunteers smelling androstadienone, masked with clove oil scent responded faster, especially to angry faces than those smelling clove oil only, which was interpreted as androstadienone-related activation of the fear system.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Frey MC, Weyers P, Pauli P, Mühlberger A | title = Androstadienone in motor reactions of men and women toward angry faces | journal = Perceptual and Motor Skills | volume = 114 | issue = 3 | pages = 807–825 | date = June 2012 | pmid = 22913022 | doi = 10.2466/07.16.22.28.PMS.114.3.807-825 | s2cid = 13194791 }}</ref> A potential mechanism of action is, that [[androstadienone]] alters the "emotional face processing". Androstadienone is known to influence the activity of the [[fusiform gyrus]] which is relevant for [[face perception|face recognition]].

===Cognitive-consistency theory===
[[cognitive dissonance|Cognitive-consistency]] theories assume that "when two or more simultaneously active cognitive structures are logically inconsistent, arousal is increased, which activates processes with the expected consequence of increasing consistency and decreasing arousal."<ref name=":Kampen">{{cite journal | vauthors = van Kampen HS | title = The principle of consistency and the cause and function of behaviour | journal = Behavioural Processes | volume = 159 | pages = 42–54 | date = February 2019 | pmid = 30562561 | doi = 10.1016/j.beproc.2018.12.013 | s2cid = 56478466 }}</ref> In this context, it has been proposed that fear behavior is caused by an inconsistency between a preferred, or expected, situation and the actually perceived situation, and functions to remove the inconsistent stimulus from the perceptual field, for instance by fleeing or hiding, thereby resolving the inconsistency.<ref name=":Kampen"/><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Hebb DO | title = On the nature of fear | url = https://archive.org/details/sim_psychological-review_1946-09_53_5/page/258 | journal = Psychological Review | volume = 53 | issue = 5 | pages = 259–276 | date = September 1946 | pmid = 20285975 | doi = 10.1037/h0061690 | s2cid = 5211697 }}</ref><ref name=":Archer"/> This approach puts fear in a broader perspective, also involving [[aggression]] and [[curiosity]]. When the inconsistency between perception and expectancy is small, learning as a result of curiosity reduces inconsistency by updating expectancy to match perception. If the inconsistency is larger, fear or aggressive behavior may be employed to alter the perception in order to make it match expectancy, depending on the size of the inconsistency as well as the specific context. Aggressive behavior is assumed to alter perception by forcefully manipulating it into matching the expected situation, while in some cases thwarted escape may also trigger aggressive behavior in an attempt to remove the thwarting stimulus.<ref name=":Kampen"/>

==Research==
In order to improve our understanding of the neural and behavioral mechanisms of adaptive and maladaptive fear, investigators use a variety of translational animal models.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Raber J, Arzy S, Bertolus JB, Depue B, Haas HE, Hofmann SG, Kangas M, Kensinger E, Lowry CA, Marusak HA, Minnier J, Mouly AM, Mühlberger A, Norrholm SD, Peltonen K, Pinna G, Rabinak C, Shiban Y, Soreq H, van der Kooij MA, Lowe L, Weingast LT, Yamashita P, Boutros SW | display-authors = 6 | title = Current understanding of fear learning and memory in humans and animal models and the value of a linguistic approach for analyzing fear learning and memory in humans | journal = Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews | volume = 105 | pages = 136–177 | date = October 2019 | pmid = 30970272 | doi = 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.015 | s2cid = 102353770 | doi-access = free }}</ref> These models are particularly important for research that would be too invasive for human studies. Rodents such as mice and rats are common animal models, but other species are used. Certain aspects of fear research still requires more research such as sex, gender, and age differences.

===Models===
{{See also|Model organism}}

These animal models include, but are not limited to, fear conditioning, predator-based psycho[[social stress]], single prolonged stress, chronic stress models, inescapable foot/tail shocks, immobilization or restraint, and stress enhanced fear learning. While the stress and fear paradigms differ between the models, they tend to involve aspects such as acquisition, generalization, extinction, cognitive regulation, and reconsolidation.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Hartley CA, Phelps EA |chapter=Fear Models in Animals and Humans|date=2013 |title=Pediatric Anxiety Disorders|pages=3–21| veditors = Vasa RA, Roy AK |place=New York|publisher=Springer New York|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-6599-7_1|isbn=978-1-4614-6598-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Luchkina NV, Bolshakov VY | title = Mechanisms of fear learning and extinction: synaptic plasticity-fear memory connection | journal = Psychopharmacology | volume = 236 | issue = 1 | pages = 163–182 | date = January 2019 | pmid = 30415278 | pmc = 6374177 | doi = 10.1007/s00213-018-5104-4 }}</ref>

==== Pavlovian ====
{{Main|Fear conditioning}}

Fear conditioning, also known as Pavlovian or classical conditioning, is a process of learning that involves pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditional stimulus (US).<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Maren S | title = Neurobiology of Pavlovian fear conditioning | journal = Annual Review of Neuroscience | volume = 24 | pages = 897–931 | date = 2001 | issue = 1 | pmid = 11520922 | doi = 10.1146/annurev.neuro.24.1.897 | hdl = 2027.42/61939 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> A neutral stimulus is something like a bell, tone, or room that does not elicit a response normally where a US is a stimulus that results in a natural or unconditioned response (UR) – in Pavlov's famous experiment the neutral stimulus is a bell and the US would be food with the dog's salvation being the UR. Pairing the neutral stimulus and the US results in the UR occurring not only with the US but also the neutral stimulus. When this occurs the neutral stimulus is referred to as the conditional stimulus (CS) and the response the conditional response (CR). In the fear conditioning model of Pavlovian conditioning the US is an aversive stimulus such as a shock, tone, or unpleasant odor.

==== Predator-based psychosocial stress ====
Predator-based psychosocial stress (PPS) involves a more naturalistic approach to fear learning.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal | vauthors = Richter-Levin G, Stork O, Schmidt MV | title = Animal models of PTSD: a challenge to be met | journal = Molecular Psychiatry | volume = 24 | issue = 8 | pages = 1135–1156 | date = August 2019 | pmid = 30816289 | pmc = 6756084 | doi = 10.1038/s41380-018-0272-5 }}</ref> Predators such as a cat, a snake, or urine from a fox or cat are used along with other stressors such as immobilization or restraint in order to generate instinctual fear responses.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Zoladz PR, Eisenmann ED, Rose RM, Kohls BA, Johnson BL, Robinson KL, Heikkila ME, Mucher KE, Huntley MR | display-authors = 6 | title = Predator-based psychosocial stress model of PTSD differentially influences voluntary ethanol consumption depending on methodology | journal = Alcohol | volume = 70 | pages = 33–41 | date = August 2018 | pmid = 29775837 | doi = 10.1016/j.alcohol.2018.01.004 | s2cid = 21734755 | url = https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0741832917308297 | url-access = subscription }}</ref>

==== Chronic stress models ====
Chronic stress models include chronic variable stress, chronic social defeat, and chronic mild stress.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Willner P | title = The chronic mild stress (CMS) model of depression: History, evaluation and usage | journal = Neurobiology of Stress | volume = 6 | pages = 78–93 | date = February 2017 | pmid = 28229111 | pmc = 5314424 | doi = 10.1016/j.ynstr.2016.08.002 }}</ref> These models are often used to study how long-term or prolonged stress/pain can alter fear learning and disorders.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Abdallah CG, Geha P | title = Chronic Pain and Chronic Stress: Two Sides of the Same Coin? | journal = Chronic Stress | volume = 1 | date = February 2017 | article-number = 2470547017704763 | pmid = 28795169 | pmc = 5546756 | doi = 10.1177/2470547017704763 }}</ref>

==== Single prolonged stress ====
Single prolonged stress (SPS) is a fear model that is often used to study PTSD.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Lisieski MJ, Eagle AL, Conti AC, Liberzon I, Perrine SA | title = Single-Prolonged Stress: A Review of Two Decades of Progress in a Rodent Model of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder | journal = Frontiers in Psychiatry | volume = 9 | article-number = 196 | date = 2018-05-15 | pmid = 29867615 | pmc = 5962709 | doi = 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00196 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite journal | vauthors = Souza RR, Noble LJ, McIntyre CK | title = Using the Single Prolonged Stress Model to Examine the Pathophysiology of PTSD | journal = Frontiers in Pharmacology | volume = 8 | article-number = 615 | date = 2017-09-11 | pmid = 28955225 | pmc = 5600994 | doi = 10.3389/fphar.2017.00615 | doi-access = free }}</ref> Its paradigm involves multiple stressors such as immobilization, a force swim, and exposure to ether delivered concurrently to the subject.<ref name=":1" /> This is used to study non-naturalistic, uncontrollable situations that can cause a maladaptive fear responses that is seen in a lot of anxiety and traumatic based disorders.

==== Stress enhanced fear learning ====
Stress enhanced fear learning (SEFL) like SPS is often used to study the maladaptive fear learning involved in PTSD and other traumatic based disorders.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Rau V, DeCola JP, Fanselow MS | title = Stress-induced enhancement of fear learning: an animal model of posttraumatic stress disorder | journal = Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews | volume = 29 | issue = 8 | pages = 1207–1223 | date = January 2005 | pmid = 16095698 | doi = 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2005.04.010 | url = https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0149763405000606 | s2cid = 5896548 | url-access = subscription }}</ref> SEFL involves a single extreme stressor such as a large number of footshocks simulating a single traumatic stressor that somehow enhances and alters future fear learning.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Rajbhandari AK, Gonzalez ST, Fanselow MS | title = Stress-Enhanced Fear Learning, a Robust Rodent Model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | journal = Journal of Visualized Experiments | issue = 140 | article-number= 58306 | date = October 2018 | pmid = 30371665 | pmc = 6235522 | doi = 10.3791/58306 | url = https://www.jove.com/video/58306/stress-enhanced-fear-learning-robust-rodent-model-post-traumatic }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Rau V, Fanselow MS | title = Exposure to a stressor produces a long lasting enhancement of fear learning in rats | journal = Stress | volume = 12 | issue = 2 | pages = 125–133 | date = March 2009 | pmid = 18609302 | doi = 10.1080/10253890802137320 | s2cid = 15453890 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

==Management==

===Pharmaceutical===
A drug treatment for fear conditioning and phobias via the amygdalae is the use of [[glucocorticoid]]s.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Sandi C | title = Healing anxiety disorders with glucocorticoids | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 108 | issue = 16 | pages = 6343–6344 | date = April 2011 | pmid = 21482789 | pmc = 3080972 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.1103410108 | bibcode = 2011PNAS..108.6343S | doi-access = free }}</ref> In one study, glucocorticoid receptors in the central nuclei of the amygdalae were disrupted in order to better understand the mechanisms of fear and fear conditioning. The glucocorticoid receptors were inhibited using lentiviral vectors containing Cre-recombinase injected into mice. Results showed that disruption of the glucocorticoid receptors prevented conditioned fear behavior. The mice were subjected to auditory cues which caused them to freeze normally. A reduction of freezing was observed in the mice that had inhibited glucocorticoid receptors.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kolber BJ, Roberts MS, Howell MP, Wozniak DF, Sands MS, Muglia LJ | title = Central amygdala glucocorticoid receptor action promotes fear-associated CRH activation and conditioning | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 105 | issue = 33 | pages = 12004–12009 | date = August 2008 | pmid = 18695245 | pmc = 2575312 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.0803216105 | bibcode = 2008PNAS..10512004K | doi-access = free }}</ref>

=== Psychological ===
[[Cognitive behavioral therapy]] has been successful in helping people overcome their fear. Because fear is more complex than just forgetting or deleting [[memory|memories]], an active and successful approach involves people repeatedly confronting their fears. By confronting their fears in a safe manner a person can suppress the "fear-triggering memories" or stimuli.<ref name="Kaplan">{{cite journal | vauthors = Kaplan JS, Tolin DF |year=2011 |title=Exposure therapy for anxiety disorders: Theoretical mechanisms of exposure and treatment strategies |journal=Psychiatric Times |volume=28 |issue=9 |pages=33–37|id={{ProQuest|894207776}} }}</ref>

[[Exposure therapy]] has known to have helped up to 90% of people with specific [[phobia]]s to significantly decrease their fear over time.<ref name=Travis>{{cite journal | vauthors = Travis J | year = 2004 | title = Fear not: Scientists are learning how people can unlearn fear | journal = Science News | volume = 165 | issue = 3 | pages = 42–44 | jstor =  4014925| doi = 10.2307/4014925}}</ref><ref name="Kaplan"/>

Another psychological treatment is [[systematic desensitization]], which is a type of behavior therapy used to completely remove the fear or produce a disgusted response to this fear and replace it. The replacement that occurs will be relaxation and will occur through conditioning. Through conditioning treatments, muscle tensioning will lessen and deep breathing techniques will aid in de-tensioning.

=== Literary and religious ===
There are other methods for treating or coping with one's fear, such as writing down rational thoughts regarding fears. Journal entries are a healthy method of expressing one's fears without compromising safety or causing uncertainty. Another suggestion is a fear ladder. To create a fear ladder, one must write down all of their fears and score them on a scale of one to ten. Next, the person addresses their phobia, starting with the lowest number.

Religion can help some individuals cope with fear.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.fearof.net/cure-your-fear-phobia-treatment/|title=Cure Your Fear – Phobia Treatment|work=FearOf.net|access-date=2018-11-28|language=en-US}}</ref>

==Incapability==

People who have damage to their [[amygdala]]e, which can be caused by a rare genetic disease known as [[Urbach–Wiethe disease]], are unable to experience fear. The disease destroys both amygdalae in late childhood. Since the discovery of the disease, there have only been 400 recorded cases. A lack of fear can allow someone to get into a dangerous situation they otherwise would have avoided.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/01/16/377517810/world-with-no-fear|title=World With No Fear|newspaper=NPR|date=2015-01-16|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150127000942/http://www.npr.org/2015/01/16/377517810/world-with-no-fear|archive-date=2015-01-27|access-date=2015-01-27}}</ref>

==Society and culture==
[[File:Guido Reni - Massacre of the Innocents detail3 - Pinacoteca Nazionale Bologna.jpg|thumb|Painting by [[Guido Reni]] {{Circa|1611}}]]

=== Death ===
{{Main|Fear of death}}

The fear of the end of life and its existence is, in other words, the fear of death. Historically, attempts were made to reduce this fear by performing rituals which have helped collect the cultural ideas that we now have in the present.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} These rituals also helped preserve the cultural ideas. The results and methods of human existence had been changing at the same time that social formation was changing.

When people are faced with their own thoughts of death, they either accept that they are dying or will die because they have lived a full life or they will experience fear. A theory was developed in response to this, which is called the [[terror management theory]]. The theory states that a person's cultural worldviews (religion, values, etc.) will mitigate the terror associated with the fear of death through avoidance. To help manage their terror, they find solace in their death-denying beliefs, such as their religion. Another way people cope with their death related fears is pushing any thoughts of death into the future or by avoiding these thoughts all together through distractions.<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Goldenberg JL, Pyszczynski T, Greenberg J, Solomon S |s2cid=31331978|date=August 2000|title=Fleeing the Body: A Terror Management Perspective on the Problem of Human Corporeality|journal=Personality and Social Psychology Review|volume=4|issue=3|pages=200–218|doi=10.1207/s15327957pspr0403_1|issn=1088-8683}}</ref> Although there are methods for one coping with the terror associated with their fear of death, not everyone suffers from these same uncertainties. People who believe they have lived life to the "fullest" typically do not fear death.

Death anxiety is multidimensional; it covers "fears related to one's own death, the death of others, fear of the unknown after death, fear of obliteration, and fear of the dying process, which includes fear of a slow death and a painful death".<ref name="Fry">{{cite journal | vauthors = Fry PS | title = Perceived self-efficacy domains as predictors of fear of the unknown and fear of dying among older adults | journal = Psychology and Aging | volume = 18 | issue = 3 | pages = 474–486 | date = September 2003 | pmid = 14518809 | doi = 10.1037/0882-7974.18.3.474 }}</ref>

The [[Yale]] philosopher [[Shelly Kagan]] examined fear of death in a 2007 Yale open course<ref name="Kagan">[[Shelly Kagan|Kagan, Shelly]]. [http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-176/lecture-22 Lecture 22: Fear of Death] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309221733/http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-176/lecture-22|date=2012-03-09}} in [http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-176/lecture-1 PHIL 176: Death] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609203506/http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-176/lecture-1|date=2017-06-09}}. Yale Open Course 2007.</ref> by examining the following questions: Is fear of death a reasonable appropriate response? What conditions are required and what are appropriate conditions for feeling fear of death? What is meant by fear, and how much fear is appropriate? According to Kagan for fear in general to make sense, three conditions should be met:

# the object of fear needs to be "something bad"
# there needs to be a non-negligible chance that the bad state of affairs will happen
# there needs to be some uncertainty about the bad state of affairs

The amount of fear should be appropriate to the size of "the bad". If the three conditions are not met, fear is an inappropriate emotion. He argues, that death does not meet the first two criteria, even if death is a "deprivation of good things" and even if one believes in a painful afterlife. Because death is certain, it also does not meet the third criterion, but he grants that the unpredictability of when one dies ''may'' be cause to a sense of fear.<ref name="Kagan" />

In a 2003 study of 167 women and 121 men, aged 65–87, low [[self-efficacy]] predicted fear of the unknown after death and fear of dying for women and men better than demographics, social support, and physical health. Fear of death was measured by a "Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale" which included the 8 subscales Fear of Dying, Fear of the Dead, Fear of Being Destroyed, Fear for Significant Others, Fear of the Unknown, Fear of Conscious Death, Fear for the Body After Death, and Fear of Premature Death. In [[hierarchical multiple regression]] analysis, the most potent predictors of death fears were low "spiritual health efficacy", defined as beliefs relating to one's perceived ability to generate spiritually based faith and inner strength, and low "instrumental efficacy", defined as beliefs relating to one's perceived ability to manage activities of daily living.<ref name="Fry" />

Psychologists have tested the hypotheses that fear of death motivates religious commitment, and that assurances about an afterlife alleviate the fear, with equivocal results.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} Religiosity can be related to fear of death when the afterlife is portrayed as time of punishment. "Intrinsic religiosity", as opposed to mere "formal religious involvement", has been found to be negatively correlated with death anxiety.<ref name="Fry" /> In a 1976 study of people of various Christian denominations, those who were most firm in their faith, who attended religious services weekly, were the least afraid of dying. The survey found a negative correlation between fear of death and "religious concern".<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Kahoe RD, Dunn RF |year=1976|title=The fear of death and religious attitudes and behavior|journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion|volume=14|issue=4|pages=379–382|doi=10.2307/1384409|jstor=1384409}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=citation is not peer-reviewed|date=February 2014}}

In a 2006 study of white, Christian men and women the hypothesis was tested that traditional, church-centered religiousness and de-institutionalized spiritual seeking are ways of approaching fear of death in old age. Both religiousness and spirituality were related to positive psychosocial functioning, but only church-centered religiousness protected subjects against the fear of death.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bassett JF, Bussard ML | title = Examining the Complex Relation Among Religion, Morality, and Death Anxiety: Religion Can Be a Source of Comfort and Concern Regarding Fears of Death | journal = Omega | volume = 82 | issue = 3 | pages = 467–487 | date = February 2021 | pmid = 30572785 | doi = 10.1177/0030222818819343 | s2cid = 58619649 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Wink P |year=2006|title=Who is afraid of death? Religiousness, spirituality, and death anxiety in late adulthood|journal=Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging|volume=18|issue=2|pages=93–110|doi=10.1300/J496v18n02_08|s2cid=144684731}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=citation is not peer-reviewed|date=February 2014}}

=== Religion ===
{{See also|Fear of God|Category:Religion and death}}

[[Statius]] in the [[Thebaid (Latin poem)|''Thebaid'']] (Book 3, line 661) aired the irreverent suggestion that "fear first made gods in the world".<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Minnis
 |first1               = Alastair
 |author-link1         = Alastair Minnis
 |editor-last1         = Copeland
 |editor-first1        = Rita
 |year                 = 2012
 |chapter              = Other Worlds: Chaucer's Classicism
 |title                = The Oxford History of Classical Reception in English Literature
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=iXxYCwAAQBAJ
 |volume               = 1: 800-1558
 |publication-place    = Oxford
 |publisher            = Oxford University Press
 |page                 = 426
 |isbn                 = 978-0-19-958723-0
 |access-date          = 4 November 2023
 |quote                = [...] the remark 'Primus in orbe deos fecit timor' ('fear first made gods in the world') is uttered by [[Capaneus]], a madman and blasphemer [...].
}} 
</ref>

From a Christian theological perspective, the word ''fear'' can encompass more than simple dread. Robert B. Strimple says that fear includes the "... convergence of awe, reverence, adoration, humility..".<ref>{{Cite web | vauthors = Strimple RB | url= http://www.opc.org/new_horizons/NH01/03a.html | title= The Fear of the Lord | publisher = The Orthodox Presbyterian Church }}</ref> Some [[Bible translations|translations of the Bible]], such as the [[New International Version]], sometimes express the concept of ''fear'' with the word ''reverence''.

A similar phrase, "God-fearing", is sometimes used as a rough synonym for "pious".  It is a standard translation for the [[Arabic language|Arabic]] word [[taqwa]] ({{langx|ar|تقوى}}; "forbearance, restraint"<ref>{{cite web |title=TAQWA: Fearing Allah |url=http://www.ahya.org/amm/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=154 |website=AHYA.ORG - Authentic Islamic Resources and Information |access-date=2015-08-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304131052/http://www.ahya.org/amm/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=154 |archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref>) in [[Muslim]] contexts.<ref>[http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/takwa-COM_1457?s.num=1&s.f.s2_parent=s.f.book.encyclopaedia-of-islam-2&s.q=takwa "Taḳwā"],''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]'' (2012).</ref>  In [[Judaism]], "fear of God" describes obedience to [[Jewish law]] even when invisible to others.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0006_0_06302.html|title=Fear of God|publisher=Jewishvirtuallibrary.org|access-date=12 January 2015}}</ref>

=== Manipulation ===
{{Further|Culture of fear|Fearmongering|Fear appeal|Psychological warfare|Tactics of terrorism#Fear|List of causes of death by rate}}
Fear may be politically and culturally manipulated to persuade citizenry of ideas which would otherwise be widely rejected or dissuade citizenry from ideas which would otherwise be widely supported. In contexts of disasters, nation-states manage the fear not only to provide their citizens with an explanation about the event or blaming some minorities, but also to adjust their previous beliefs.

Fear can alter how a person thinks or reacts to situations because fear has the power to inhibit one's rational way of thinking. As a result, people who do not experience fear, are able to use fear as a tool to manipulate others. People who are experiencing fear, seek preservation through safety and can be manipulated by a person who is there to provide that safety that is being sought after. "When we're afraid, a manipulator can talk us out of the truth we see right in front of us. Words become more real than reality"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://psychopathsandlove.com/fear-and-manipulation/|title=Fear and Manipulation: Perfect Together |website=psychopathsandlove.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-11-27|date=November 2014}}</ref> By this, a manipulator can use our fear to manipulate us out the truth and instead make us believe and trust in their truth. Politicians are notorious for using fear to manipulate the people into supporting their policies. This strategy taps into primal human emotions, leveraging fear of the unknown, external threats, or perceived dangers to influence decision-making.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lupia|first1=Arthur|last2=Menning|first2=Jesse O.|date=January 2009|title=When Can Politicians Scare Citizens Into Supporting Bad Policies?|journal=American Journal of Political Science|volume=53|issue=1|pages=90–106|doi=10.1111/j.1540-5907.2008.00359.x|s2cid=13496294 |issn=0092-5853}}</ref>

=== Fiction and mythology ===
{{See also|Dystopia#In society|Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction#In society}}
[[File:COS 09.JPG|thumb|right|200px|A still from the film ''[[Carnival of Souls]]'']]
Fear is found and reflected in [[mythology]] and folklore as well as in works of [[fiction]] such as novels and films.

Works of dystopian and (post)apocalyptic fiction convey the fears and anxieties of societies.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dystopia facts, information, pictures|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/literature-english/english-literature-20th-cent-present/dystopia|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=3 March 2017|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304114045/http://www.encyclopedia.com/literature-and-arts/literature-english/english-literature-20th-cent-present/dystopia|archive-date=4 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="fever">{{cite book| vauthors = Kyle RG |title=Apocalyptic Fever: End-Time Prophecies in Modern America|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-62189-410-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p1dJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA185|access-date=3 March 2017|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225222128/https://books.google.com/books?id=p1dJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA185|archive-date=25 December 2017|date=2012-08-01}}</ref>

The fear of [[Eschatology|the world's end]] is about as old as civilization itself.<ref name="princetonbuffer">{{cite web| vauthors = Yeung K, Zhang Z  |title = The Neverending Apocalypse|url=https://princetonbuffer.princeton.edu/2014/01/23/the-neverending-apocalypse/|website=The Princeton Buffer|access-date=3 March 2017|date=24 January 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304114155/https://princetonbuffer.princeton.edu/2014/01/23/the-neverending-apocalypse/|archive-date=4 March 2017}}</ref> In a 1967 study, [[Frank Kermode]] suggests that the failure of religious prophecies led to a shift in how society apprehends this ancient mode.<ref name=jstor1>{{cite web | vauthors = Schmidt C |title=Why are Dystopian Films on the Rise Again?|url=https://daily.jstor.org/why-are-dystopian-films-on-the-rise-again/|publisher=|access-date=3 March 2017|date=19 November 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170304114038/https://daily.jstor.org/why-are-dystopian-films-on-the-rise-again/|archive-date=4 March 2017}}</ref> Scientific and critical thought supplanting religious and [[Mythopoeic thought|mythical thought]] as well as a public emancipation may be the cause of eschatology becoming replaced by more realistic scenarios. Such might constructively provoke discussion and steps to be taken to prevent depicted [[global catastrophic risk|catastrophes]].

''[[The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was]]'' is a German fairy tale dealing with the topic of not knowing fear.
Many stories also include characters who fear the antagonist of the plot. One important characteristic of historical and mythical [[hero]]es across cultures is to be fearless in the face of big and often lethal enemies.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Giunta |first=Jon |date=2024-09-21 |title=Common Threads in Hero Myths Across Cultures {{!}} AncientPedia |url=https://ancientpedia.com/common-threads-in-hero-myths-across-cultures/ |access-date=2025-08-29 |language=en-US}}</ref>

''[[The Magnus Archives]]'' is a fiction horror podcast written by Jonathan Sims and directed by Alexander J. Newall that, among other things, formulates an [[archetype|archetypal]] [[ontology]] of fear through the dissemination of case files at a [[paranormal]] research institute set in a world where the [[metaphysics|metaphysical]] basis of paranormal activity and unexplainable horrors is fear incarnate.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Meszaros |first=E. L. |date=2020-09-23 |title=The Magnus Archives: A Beginner's Guide to the Popular Horror Podcast |url=https://www.cbr.com/magnus-archives-horror-podcast-beginners-guide/ |website=CBR |language=en-US |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101043304/https://www.cbr.com/magnus-archives-horror-podcast-beginners-guide/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The diegesis states that true categorization of fear is impossible, that fear is all one unknowable thing;<ref>{{cite web | title= The Magnus Archives Episode 80 Transcript: The Librarian | url=https://snarp.github.io/magnus_archives_transcripts/episode/080.html | website= The Magnus Archives Transcripts Archive Archive A }}</ref> however, there exists an ontological structure of fear archetypes in this universe proposed by a fictional version of the architect [[Robert Smirke (architect)|Robert Smirke]]. It is a unique construction of fear in that it is not based on the science or neurology of fear, but on thematic and experiential connections between different phobias. For example, the fear of disease and vermin comes from the same place as the fear of abusive relationships, as both lie in fearing corruptions to the self.<ref>{{cite web | title= The Magnus Archives Episode 35 Transcript: Hive | url=https://snarp.github.io/magnus_archives_transcripts/episode/032.html | website= The Magnus Archives Transcripts Archive Archive A }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title= The Magnus Archives Episode 102 Transcript: Nesting Instinct | url=https://snarp.github.io/magnus_archives_transcripts/episode/102.html | website= The Magnus Archives Transcripts Archive Archive A }}</ref> The final season of the podcast consists almost entirely of [[poetry|poetic]] meditations on the nature of fear.

Fear in art has been explored by the Japanese scholar [[Kyōko Nakano|Kyoko Nakano]], in a series of books and a 2017 exhibition about ''kowai-e'' (lit. scary pictures).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hudson |first=Sue |date=2017-09-08 |title='Fear' in Many Forms: Exhibit Based on 'Kowai-e' Series {{!}} JAPAN Forward |url=https://japan-forward.com/fear-in-many-forms-exhibit-based-on-kowai-e-series-comes-to-kobe-and-tokyo/ |access-date=2024-12-16 |website=japan-forward.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Athletics ===
In the world of athletics, fear is often used as a means of motivation to not fail.<ref name="Conroy, D.E. 2001">{{cite journal | vauthors = Conroy DE, Poczwardowski A, Henschen KP | year = 2001 | title = Evaluative criteria and consequences associated with failure and success for elite athletes and performing artists | journal = Journal of Applied Sport Psychology | volume = 13 | issue = 3| pages = 300–322 | doi=10.1080/104132001753144428| s2cid = 146422220 }}</ref> This situation involves using fear in a way that increases the chances of a positive outcome. In this case, the fear that is being created is initially a cognitive state to the receiver.<ref name="Lazarus, R.S. 1991">{{cite book | vauthors = Lazarus RS | date = 1991 | title = Emotion and Adaptation | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = New York }}</ref> This initial state is what generates the first response of the athlete, this response generates a possibility of fight or flight reaction by the athlete (receiver), which in turn will increase or decrease the possibility of success or failure in the certain situation for the athlete.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Birney RC, Burdick H, Teevan RC | date = 1969 | title = Fear of failure | publisher = Van Nostrand-Reinhold Company }}</ref> The amount of time that the athlete has to determine this decision is small but it is still enough time for the receiver to make a determination through cognition.<ref name="Lazarus, R.S. 1991" /> Even though the decision is made quickly, the decision is determined through past events that have been experienced by the athlete.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Duda JL | date = 1993 | chapter = Goals: A social-cognitive approach to the study of achievement motivation in sport. | veditors = Singer RN, Murphey M, Tennant LK | title = Handbook of research on sport psychology | pages = 421–436 | location = New York | publisher = Macmillan }}</ref> The results of these past events will determine how the athlete will make his cognitive decision in the split second that he or she has.<ref name="Conroy, D.E. 2001"/>

Fear of failure as described above has been studied frequently in the field of sport psychology. Many scholars have tried to determine how often fear of failure is triggered within athletes, as well as what personalities of athletes most often choose to use this type of motivation. Studies have also been conducted to determine the success rate of this method of motivation.

Murray's Exploration in Personal (1938) was one of the first studies that actually identified fear of failure as an actual motive to avoid failure or to achieve success. His studies suggested that inavoidance, the need to avoid failure, was found in many college-aged men during the time of his research in 1938.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Murray H | date = 1938 | title = Explorations in Personal | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = New York }}</ref> This was a monumental finding in the field of psychology because it allowed other researchers to better clarify how fear of failure can actually be a determinant of creating achievement goals as well as how it could be used in the actual act of achievement.<ref name="Conroy, D. E. 2004">{{cite journal | vauthors = Conroy DE, Elliot AJ | year = 2004 | title = Fear of failure and achievement goals in sport: Addressing the issue of the chicken and the egg | journal = Anxiety, Stress & Coping | volume = 17 | issue = 3| pages = 271–285 | doi = 10.1080/1061580042000191642 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.643.3752 | s2cid = 15144896 }}</ref>

In the context of sport, a model was created by R.S. Lazarus in 1991 that uses the cognitive-motivational-relational theory of emotion.<ref name="Lazarus, R.S. 1991" /> 
{{blockquote|It holds that Fear of Failure results when beliefs or cognitive schemas about aversive consequences of failing are activated by situations in which failure is possible. These belief systems predispose the individual to make appraisals of threat and experience the state anxiety that is associated with Fear of Failure in evaluative situations.<ref name="Conroy, D. E. 2004"/><ref name="Lazarus, R.S. 1991"/>}}

Another study was done in 2001 by Conroy, Poczwardowski, and Henschen that created five aversive consequences of failing that have been repeated over time. The five categories include (a) experiencing shame and embarrassment, (b) devaluing one's self-estimate, (c) having an uncertain future, (d) important others losing interest, (e) upsetting important others.<ref name="Conroy, D.E. 2001"/> These five categories can help one infer the possibility of an individual to associate failure with one of these threat categories, which will lead them to experiencing fear of failure.

In summary, the two studies that were done above created a more precise definition of fear of failure, which is "a dispositional tendency to experience apprehension and anxiety in evaluative situations because individuals have learned that failure is associated with aversive consequences".<ref name="Conroy, D. E. 2004"/>

The author and [[content creation|internet content creator]] [[John Green]] wrote about "[[yips|the yips]]"—a common colloquialism for a debilitating, often chronic manifestation of athletic anxiety experienced by some professional athletes—in an essay for his [[podcast]] and novel ''[[The Anthropocene Reviewed]]''.<ref name="AnthroReviewedBook">{{cite book |last1=Green |first1=John |title=The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet |date=2021 |publisher=Dutton Penguin |location=[New York, New York] |isbn=978-0-525-55521-6}}</ref> Green discusses famous examples of when athletic anxiety has ruined careers and juxtaposes it with the nature of [[generalized anxiety disorder|general anxiety]] as a whole. Green settles, however, on a conclusion for the essay evoking [[Psychological resilience|resilience]] and [[hope]] in the [[human condition]] by describing a circumstance where the [[baseball]] player [[Rick Ankiel]] reset his career back to the minor leagues as an outfielder after getting the yips as a major league pitcher.

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Phobia]]
* [[Appeal to fear]]
* [[Culture of fear]]
* [[Ecology of fear (concept)|Ecology of fear]]
* [[Fear, uncertainty, and doubt]]
* [[Hysteria]]
* [[Nightmare]]
* [[Night terror]]
* [[Ontogenetic parade]]
* [[Panic attack]]
* [[Paranoia]]
* [[Phobophobia]]
* [[Psychological trauma]]
* [[Social anxiety disorder]]
* [[Social anxiety]]
* [[Stockholm syndrome]]
* [[Voodoo death]]
* [[Anger]]
* [[Psychological trauma|Trauma]]
* [[Sensory overload]]
* [[Fight-or-flight response]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |title= Fear: A Cultural History | vauthors = Bourke J |author-link= Joanna Bourke |year= 2005 |publisher= Virago |isbn= 978-1-59376-113-4 }}
* {{cite book |title= Fear: The History of a Political Idea | vauthors = Robin C |author-link= Corey Robin |year= 2004 |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0-19-515702-4 |url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195157024 }}
* {{cite book |title= Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear | vauthors = Gardner D |year= 2008 |publisher= Random House, Inc |isbn= 978-0-7710-3299-8 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/risksciencepolit0000gard }}
* {{cite book |title= Fear: Across the Disciplines | vauthors = Plamper J |year= 2012 |publisher= University of Pittsburgh Press |isbn=978-0-8229-6220-5 }}
* {{cite journal| vauthors = Wedgwood H |author-link=Hensleigh Wedgwood|title=English Etymologies (Afraid, Affray, Fray)|journal=Transactions of the Philological Society|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3924121;view=1up;seq=115|year=1855|issue=8|ref=Wedgwood}}
*{{cite web |title= Fear: A poem | url=https://www.blog-24.site/2022/09/fear-poem-competitive-exam-aspirants.html }}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* {{cite web |last1=Hadfield |first1=Chris |title=What I learned from going blind in space |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_hadfield_what_i_learned_from_going_blind_in_space |website=TED.com |date=March 2014}} — an astronaut's [[TED (conference)|TED talk]] about fear management
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Fear}}
{{Wiktionary|fear}}

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[[Category:Fear| ]]
[[Category:Symptoms or signs involving mood or affect]]
[[Category:Emotions]]
[[Category:Evolutionary psychology]]