There is much more to Fear than we actually know about it.

What is fear? Is it just a feeling that causes goose bumps or is there more to the story? Understanding the psychology of emotions such as fear, happiness or grief is vital in order to figure out what those feelings epitomize. Emotions are most fascinating out of all the mental progressions. There are two phases of emotions which are intertwined together, feeling and reaction. When a certain sensation is felt it is always expressed by either a covert or overt reaction.

Emotions are a response to what may transpire upon you. Our brain is a parallel processor, performing a copious number of tasks at a time. Its method to load emotions has a proper algorithm. Emotions are performed by interactively combining both high-level judgments about goal satisfactions and low-level observations of bodily changes. In more professional terms our prefrontal cortex interacts with insula and amygdala which help process information about our on-going physiological status.

Our emotions are characterized by two groups, a primary emotion, and a secondary one. The primary emotion is something that is triggered instantly by an event or occurrence, whereas secondary emotion mounts to a group of emotions which fall into the same category. For example, if we experience fear, the emotions endured would be the sensation of threat and anger. Emotions evolve around two core types, negative emotions and positive emotions. You continuously hear people saying be positive but a fundamental thing to all those positive emotions is the presence of negative emotions.

The concept of Yin-Yang is a perfect example to understand positive and negative emotions. Positive emotions involve love, happiness, hope, vitality, enthusiasm, and trust. On the contrary anger, fear, pride, envy, frustration, guilt, and jealously shape up the negative emotions.

Fear is perceptibly categorized as a negative emotion but is that all that fear is? No, in some cases fear is considered healthy and it is a vital ingredient in order to accomplish something positive. According to neuroscientists, fear is neither an abnormal feeling nor a sign of weakness. They have also labeled fear as an important aspect of the human life cycle and its absence is considered an abnormality. The lack of fear is also considered as a sign of serious brain damage.

Fear emanates in many gradations. It can range from mild experience to a paralyzing one. What causes fear? It may depend upon the individual who experiences an incident resulting in fear. Perplexing events tend to leave a permanent mark on your brain circuity. On the other hand, chronic stress, daily insecurity, and low-intensity fear which is defined by anxiety can inconspicuously damage your mental health along with your physical health as the time passes by. It seems as if this sort of fear is causing no problems but it can lead to somber destruction.

Not only fear is an emotion but it also doubles as an instinct that is embedded in our brain. Neurologists consider fear as a 3-part structure. There is a certain type of fear that is taught, some learned through interaction with the environment we live in, and a part of which is pure instinct. The instinct part of fear is relatively common amongst people as it revolves around survival. Things that originate actual physical pain emanates under this type. Other types vary from individual to individual.

The taught fears are more on the sideline of culture and norms of society so it is safe to say that large groups may have a similar fear. Religion is an important member of the taught fear society. Lastly, the learned fear is something personal and is a variable for all humans. This fear grows and changes as our life passes by. The thing we go through, the feelings we may have for certain people, the environment we socialize in are all variables to the outcome of the learned fear equation. 

These variants, when combined together, may produce a different set of fears for each person so evidently the motivation and starvation for ending it for each being would be diverse. Not every situation would require annihilating fear but some will simply demand the coping mechanism. Nelson Mandela said,

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear”.