What Exactly Is The Purpose Of Fear?

Fear is one of the six basic emotions that Charles Darwin identified in 1872. The others are joy, sadness, disgust, anger and surprise. The body language of fear is easy to identify: wide-open eyes, trembling mouth and a feeling of confusion. We have all felt fear and know what it means to be afraid. But what is the purpose of fear?

Despite the fact that fear is such a common emotion, most of us do not know why we feel fear, if there is a reason, and the message it is trying to send. Have you ever thought about who you would be without fear? Is a fearless life possible? Let’s dive deeper.

The purpose of fear is to ensure our survival

All human emotions have a purpose. For example, anger helps us set boundaries. Surprise is important for recognition and discovery, happiness promotes sharing, disgust motivates rejection, sadness encourages reflection, and fear helps protect you from danger.

Webster’s Dictionary defines fear as “an unpleasant, often strong feeling caused by anticipation or awareness of danger.” The word comes from Middle Low German vruchten , which means “accident, sudden danger, danger and sudden attack”. There are many words with similar meanings, such as alarm, fear, dread, panic, dread, terror and phobia.

Therefore, fear is a biologically inherited response that makes it possible to defend oneself against threats.

• Fear is genetic, shaped by centuries of evolution. It allows you to protect yourself from dangerous and potentially fatal situations through quick and automatic responses. In other words, it helps you survive.

• It is an intensely unpleasant feeling triggered by the perception of a real or imagined fear. All animals experience it when they experience danger.

Fear simplifies adaptation and constitutes a survival and defense mechanism that evolved so that the individual could respond to unwanted situations quickly and effectively. In this sense, fear is a normal and beneficial feeling, not only for individual survival, but also for the whole human species.

Fear is considered “normal” when the intensity corresponds to the severity of the threat. In other words, the object of fear has properties that can threaten a person’s life.

The relationship between fear and the brain

Maximum expression of fear is fear. But when it comes to pathological fear, the intensity of the fear has nothing to do with the actual danger you are in. This is the case with phobias or fear of non-threatening animals such as birds or non-toxic spiders. That kind of fear is also usually related to anxiety.

On the other hand, fear is a subjective emotion that leads to the development of certain behaviors and complex physiological responses. Fatal emergencies, for example, activate an alarm system that all animals appear to be equipped with, including humans. This alarm system, which you have probably heard of, is called “fight or flight”.

The information from the sensory perception of a stimulus (usually hearing or sight) goes to the thalamus, which is a kind of retransmission station where your brain assesses whether the stimulus is dangerous or not.

If so, your brain activates the amygdala, the brain equivalent of an alarm clock, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA axis. In turn, it triggers the release of a significant amount of adrenaline, which helps you react in such a way that can help you get through the unwanted event.

The purpose of fear is to activate important systems in your body

Fear activates your cardiovascular system, causing the blood vessels to constrict. This in turn increases blood pressure and reduces blood flow to the extremities. Your body redirects excess blood to the skeletal muscles, where it remains available to your vital organs in case they need it in an emergency.

Fear often makes people look pale as a result of reduced blood flow to the skin. It can also cause shaking and hair loss, both of which help your body retain heat when your blood vessels are narrow. These defensive reactions can also make you feel hot and cold, something you may have experienced if you have ever been terrified. Your breathing also becomes faster and usually deeper, which helps you get the necessary oxygen to circulate your blood faster.

The increase in blood pressure increases oxygen to the brain, which stimulates cognitive processes and sensory functions that allow you to be more alert and think quickly in a crisis situation.

• The liver also releases more glucose into the bloodstream to provide more blood to the muscles and important organs such as the brain.
• Your pupils dilate, which experts believe happens so you can see better in the face of danger.
• Your hearing is sharpened and the digestive process stops, which reduces the amount of saliva in the mouth.
• In the short term, it prepares to get rid of waste and put the digestion on pause the body further for action and concentration. Therefore, intense fear can make you feel the need to urinate, pass stools or even vomit.

The purpose of fear: Fight, flee or freeze

The human “fight or flight” response has been critical to our survival. Our ancestors lived in constant danger, so those who responded quickly to threats were more likely to survive.

Hunting as a means of survival involves, among other things, the constant threat of being attacked by animals. As a result, the amygdala was in full swing almost every day.

When faced with danger, you can either run away or face the challenge. These are two very different reactions, but the predecessor to both is freezing. Freezing is when the cognitive and neurophysiological process we just described takes place. This is the moment your body needs to prepare for action.

During this brief moment, your brain sharpens your vision and hearing. You feel your heart begin to beat faster. Your breathing sharpens, your muscles tense, and you have a strange feeling in your gut. Suddenly everything comes into sharper focus, you are sweaty, shaking, and your mind is filled with catastrophic thoughts.

One purpose of fear is to force you to take decisive and immediate action (fight or flight). The facial expressions that fear causes also signal to those around you that danger is imminent, which increases everyone’s chances of survival.

In summary, fear is a very valuable emotion. It is absolutely essential for survival. Although it is uncomfortable, it is not necessary to reject it outright. After all, it helped our earliest ancestors protect themselves from danger and survive in harsh and threatening environments.