THE

PSYCHOLOGY
OF FEAR
:RARES CRISTEA
AGENDA

• What is fear?
• Why do people feel fear?
• Biochemical reaction
• Emotional response
• Symptoms of fear
• Phobias
• Causes
• Fear in our everyday lives
• Video
 WHAT IS FEAR?

• Fear is a natural, powerful, and

primitive human emotion.
• Sometimes fear stems from real
threats, but it can also originate from
imagined dangers.
• Fear is composed of two primary
reactions to some type of perceived
threat: biochemical and emotional.
WHY PEOPLE FEEL FEAR

• At least 60 percent of adults admit to having

at least one unreasonable fear
• Research to date is not clear on why these
fears manifest.
• One theory is that humans have a genetic
predisposition to fear things that were a
threat to our ancestors.
• Personality traits such as neuroticism appear
to increase one's likelihood of developing a
phobia, and a tendency toward frequent
worries and negative thoughts may also
increase the risk.
 • Fear is a natural emotion and a survival mechanism. When
BIOCHEMICAL we confront a perceived threat, our bodies respond in
specific ways.
REACTION • This physical response is also known as the “fight or flight”
response, with which your body prepares itself to either
enter combat or run away.
EMOTIONAL
RESPONSE

• The emotional response to fear, on the

other hand, is highly personalized.
Because fear involves some of the same
chemical reactions in our brains that
positive emotions like happiness and
excitement do.
• Some people are adrenaline seekers,
thriving on extreme sports and other
fear-inducing thrill situations.
• Others have a negative reaction to the
feeling of fear, avoiding fear-inducing
situations at all costs.
 SYMPTOMS
• Fear often involves both physical and
emotional symptoms.
• In addition to the physical symptoms of
fear, people may experience psychological
symptoms of being overwhelmed, upset,
feeling out of control, or a sense of
impending death.

• Rapid heartbeat • Chest pain

• Shortness of breath • Chills
• Sweating • Dry mouth
• Trembling • Nausea
• Upset stomach
PHOBIAS

• One aspect of anxiety disorders can

be a tendency to develop a fear of
fear.
• A phobia is a twisting of the normal
fear response. The fear is directed
toward an object or situation that
does not present a real danger.
 CAUSES

Some common fear triggers include:

Fear is incredibly complex.
• Certain specific objects or situations (spiders,
Some fears may be a result of experiences or trauma, snakes, heights, flying, etc.)
while others may represent a fear of something else • Future events
entirely, such as a loss of control.
• Imagined events
Still, other fears may occur because they cause physical
symptoms, such as being afraid of heights because • Real environmental dangers
they make you feel dizzy and sick to your stomach. • The unknown
FEAR IN OUR EVERY DAY LIVES (PHOBIA
CONT.)

• If people didn’t feel fear, they wouldn’t be able to protect

themselves from legitimate threats.
• Today, the stakes are lower, but while public speaking,
elevators, and spiders don’t present the same type of
immediately dire consequences that faced early man, some
individuals still develop extreme fight-flight-or-freeze
responses to specific objects or scenarios.
• Many people experience occasional bouts of fear or
“nerves” before a flight, first date, or big game. But when
someone’s fear is persistent and specific to certain threat,
and impairs his or her everyday life, that person might have
what’s known as a specific phobia.
 VIDEO ON
PSYCHOLO
GY OF
FEAR
REFERENCES

• https://www.verywellmind.com/the-psychology-of-fear-2
671696
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3595162
/
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/fear
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/fear#why-p
eople-feel-fear
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCMMxQS9rZU&ab_
channel=News4TucsonKVOA-TV
• https://www.psychologytools.com/resource/fight-or-flight
-response/#:~:text=The%20fight%20or%20flight%20respo
nse,body%20to%20fight%20or%20flee
.