Fears

[demonsushi]

Thanks for sharing <3

I wrote like a paper xD

 

[Intensagod]

Don't click the learn more links then...

ty for the advice

 

[Zinc // Akash754]

Hello there!
Today, we're going to be talking about fears.​

To start off, what is fear? Well, as I see it, there are two types of fears, rational fears, and irrational fears.

Rational fears are things like being afraid if a moose is attacking you (Yeah, I'm Canadian, deal with it) Rational fears are a natural reaction to being in a situation that you don't want to be in, and everyone will experience them at some point in their life.

Irrational fears, are things like Anatidaephobia (The fear that one is being watched by a duck.) And other things like that. A lot of fears that we have in our world today, are irrational fears. Because we live in quite a safe world, compared to how things were a while ago, we don't have to many things to be afraid of.

Statistically speaking, in our world, the second most common fear, is the fear of public speaking (Glossophobia) Which is a highly irrational fear of speaking in front of large groups.


So, why do we have irrational fears? Well, we don't really know, there are however, a few good explanations that people have come up with over the years.

The first is called Classical Conditioning. Basically, classical conditioning is when you have a bad experience, and you associate it with something that was present when you had this bad experience. I'm sure you can think of an example for this, but I'll give you one of my personal ones.


This isn't really a fear, but it is a good example of Classical Conditioning:

When I was younger, I went on a road trip, with my cousin and his parents. We were driving for about 8 hours one day, and to keep us occupied, his mom kept giving us these little mints. As the day wore on, I kept eating the mints, and by the end of the day, I had eaten so many, I got sick, and spent most of the night feeling like I had to throw up. Ever since that trip, I haven't been able to eat anything that has that artificial mint flavor.


Another thing that humans are quite good at, is learning from others, by observing what they do. An example of that might be seeing your mom get super panicked about a mouse. Even though you might not be afraid of the mouse at that time, you're more likely to develop a fear of mice, since you have been that mice are scary.


The third way that we can develop fears, is through instructional fear acquisition. If a human is presented with enough information, that it develops a fear. The thing is, we don't have a system that separates correct information for incorrect information. This allows us to develop irrational fears of things, even if we are being given incorrect information. A good example of this, is horror movies. Do you ever have that feeling, after you watch a scary movie, where it feels like you're going to be murdered if you don't check under your bed before going to sleep? Even if you know your door has been locked all day.

Horror movies present us with images of scary things, that are often not true at all, that can lead to an irrational fear being formed.


Anyway, I've been rambling on for a while, so I'm going to end it off here.

Let me know what your fears are, and why you think you're afraid of whatever it may be!

If you're interested in reading more about fears, here are some cool websites:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2013/jun/28/phobias-rationale-irrational-fears
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/inside-the-mind/emotions/fear.htm
http://www.eruptingmind.com/understanding-overcoming-fear/

I'm afraid of yannr00s

 

[TheRealAussie]

WHY DOES EVERYONE WANT ME TO HAVE RED HAIR???

Because of ur avatar. Now I am sad.

 

[AGFire2013]

Because of ur avatar. Now I am sad.

It's blonde tho

 

[TheRealAussie]

It's blonde tho

BLONDE IS EVEN BETTER THO

 

[Henry]

I fear I'll never be as good looking as DQ

 

[AGFire2013]

BLONDE IS EVEN BETTER THO

Black hair is life tho

 

[dq]

I fear I'll never be as good looking as DQ

you already have me beat at the age of 12 you should be proud

 

[Imanol]

my fear is heights snakes weaboos and popcorn

 

[P3num6ra]

Fear of elevators
Fear of mirrors
Fear of black eyes
Fear of walking up stairs
Fear of watching creepypasta's at 12 PM
Fear of spiders

 

[Miner9823]

I generally have quite a lot of fears. I'm not a very courageous person...
My fears can usually span from heights, the darkness, or even grasshoppers! However, the most terrifying experience I have ever endured was 7th grade. A third of my family left for England due to one of them having a severe illness. Resulting in my loneliness when I studied in Secondary. The person I trusted most was thousands of miles away from home, while I had remained in school with horrifying experiences of horrible people. To this extent, I would believe that my fears are what turn me into a horrible person.

I wonder, though. A world where we were driven by morality, rather than fear.