Definition Essay On Fear

Fear. An emotion we all dread to experience. The definition itself sounds unpleasant, “an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat’ (Merriam-Webster). Danger, pain, and threat, these aren’t words that would attract most people to an experience. Fears come in all shapes and sizes, even animals have fears, it’s a basic instinct that all creatures have to identify threats in order to survive. Without fears we would not be able to process what causes us harm and we would not survive very long. The fear of fire is what tells us that fire is harmful when we touch it and the fear of falling is what tells us jumping off the top of the Empire State building isn’t the best idea.

Fear is an emotional response from within the body, sweating, raised hairs, increased heart rate and tense muscles are all indicators of fear. Fears are anything that your brain process as dangerous or harmful. Typically fears are of stimuli’s that you believe will physically harm you, your brain puts your bodies safety above all else.
The emotion of fear happens when the thalamus collects sensory data and sends it to the sensory cortex within the brain. From the sensory cortex the sensory data is interpreted and
The first is innate fear, these are fears we are born with and possess our entire lives. Everyone has the same two innate fears, fear of falling and fear of loud noises. We are born with these two fears because they are essential to our survival. When we hear a loud noise we have to determine if danger is nearby, and if so, do we run? When we are near a cliff, our fear of falling keeps us from jumping over it, we know that falling can hurt us. No one would willing jump out of plane knowing the parachute is broken. Our basic human instinct is to survive and these two fears help us avoid situations that could harm us.(Gardner