Fear
You feel fear when you are threatened.
You feel fear, for example, when you:
Fear prepares you to fight or flee.
Fear can cause the following involuntary behaviors to occur:
The greater your fear, the more of this list occurs. For slight fear, adrenalin is released and heart rate increases. For extreme fear, everything occurs including bladder evacuation.
Fear can also make you express horror and scream.
If you are moderately frightened, you will involuntarily make the facial expression of horror - three circles formed by wide open eyes and mouth. If you are extremely frightened, you will also involuntarily scream - a blood curdling scream.
You feel fear when you think your happiness may change suddenly - good or bad.
You feel fear without thinking when you spiders or snakes. You also feel fear when you think your happiness may change suddenly. You will feel fear, for example, if confronted by a robber who tells you he has a gun.
You momentarily feel fear when you think you might feel a big surge of a negative emotion, like revenge. If you see a situation unfolding that is likely to make you feel revenge, your heart rate will quicken. Once you start feeling revenge and your happiness stops worsening, you stop feeling fear and your heart rate returns to normal. A few seconds of elevated heart rate is common before feeling big surges of revenge, compassion, jealousy and humiliation.
You also momentarily feel fear when you think you might feel a big surge of a positive emotion, like pride. If you learn that you may win an award, your heart rate will quicken. Once you win the award and your happiness stops improving, you stop feeling fear and your heart rate returns to normal. A few seconds of elevated heart rate is common before feeling big surges of pride, infatuation, monogynic love and maternal love.
You feel fear, for example, when you:
- see a spider or snake
- look down from a height
- see the facial expression of horror on another person
- hear a blood-curdling scream from another person
- think your happiness may suddenly change
Fear prepares you to fight or flee.
Fear can cause the following involuntary behaviors to occur:
- adrenalin released
- heart rate increases
- palms and feet sweat
- hair stands on end
- bladder evacuation
The greater your fear, the more of this list occurs. For slight fear, adrenalin is released and heart rate increases. For extreme fear, everything occurs including bladder evacuation.
Fear can also make you express horror and scream.
If you are moderately frightened, you will involuntarily make the facial expression of horror - three circles formed by wide open eyes and mouth. If you are extremely frightened, you will also involuntarily scream - a blood curdling scream.
You feel fear when you think your happiness may change suddenly - good or bad.
You feel fear without thinking when you spiders or snakes. You also feel fear when you think your happiness may change suddenly. You will feel fear, for example, if confronted by a robber who tells you he has a gun.
You momentarily feel fear when you think you might feel a big surge of a negative emotion, like revenge. If you see a situation unfolding that is likely to make you feel revenge, your heart rate will quicken. Once you start feeling revenge and your happiness stops worsening, you stop feeling fear and your heart rate returns to normal. A few seconds of elevated heart rate is common before feeling big surges of revenge, compassion, jealousy and humiliation.
You also momentarily feel fear when you think you might feel a big surge of a positive emotion, like pride. If you learn that you may win an award, your heart rate will quicken. Once you win the award and your happiness stops improving, you stop feeling fear and your heart rate returns to normal. A few seconds of elevated heart rate is common before feeling big surges of pride, infatuation, monogynic love and maternal love.
Fear is different than worry.
While fear is about immediate threats to your survival, worry is about future threats to your happiness. You feel fear when a robber points a gun at you. You worry when you learn that your neighbour was mugged at gunpoint.
While fear suppresses all emotions - positive and negative, worry makes you imagine a future scenario where you feel a negative emotion. When frightened by a robber, you don't feel happy or unhappy. When worrying about being robbed, you feel unhappy because you imagine the pain or humiliation of being assaulted, for example.
While fear makes you react physically, worry does not. When frightened by a robber, your heart races. When worrying about being robbed, your heart does not race.
Being stressed means feeling fear frequently.
If you are juggling many balls, you will frequently learn that there may be a problem with one or more of the balls. Every time you learn there may be a problem, you also learn that your happiness may suddenly change - which makes you feel fear and causes your heart to race. And you keep feeling fear until you resolve how big the problem is. Once you know the full extent of the problem, you also know your happiness will not change further. You stop feeling fear until you learn of the next problem.
Thrill seekers and horror film audiences seek fear.
When somebody parachutes from a plane or bungee jumps, they feel fear for an extended period. During that time, they do not feel any emotions including negative emotions. They escape emotions like loneliness or humiliation just before and during their jump.
Horror film audiences achieve the same outcome for longer. As they imagine being the victim, they vicariously feel fear. While feeling that fear, they escape their negative emotions for about 2 hours.
Fear is not important to your happiness.
You don't feel fear very often and it only last a few seconds. When you do feel fear, it does not add or subtract from your happiness. It's brief mental effect is neutral.
Even if you wanted to, you can't do much to avoid fear. And you don't want to. It's helpful.
For more about emotions, visit: Happiness Dissected
