Fear can be defined as a critical reaction to emotional and physical menace. It is a series of reaction especially in the brain that begins with a traumatic stimulus which ends with the discharge of chemicals that result to fast heartbeats, quick breathing as well as thrilled muscles, just a few but to mention. The stimulus ranges from a spider to a dagger at your neck, an audience eagerly waiting for you to give a speech or even the sudden sound of gun shots across the street. Situations that human beings regularly fear are those that are away from life or far from death hence making people to hang back for no good reason. Traumas or even other horrible experiences do prompt a response of fear inside us which is usually very difficult to quash. Nonetheless the superlative approach to budge past our personal fears is by revealing ourselves.
Some of the outlined components of fear include increased sweating, tightening of muscles, brisk heart rate, redirected senses and augmented blood pressure. The facial expression of fear includes among others; the widening of the eyes in eagerness for what will take place next, dilation of pupils in order to take in more light, rising of the upper lip, drawing together of the brows, and horizontal stretching of the lips. On the other hand, the physiological effects of fear is the nervous responses of fight or flight whereby muscles become tightened and ready with oxygen in readiness for a physical fight or flight reaction.
Evolutionary perspective
According to the studies done by Charles Darwin back in the 19th century, emotions such as fear evolved and were adapted over time just like other traits evident in animals. The modern evolutionary theory states that different emotions evolved at different times and those primitive emotions, such as fear, are connected with primordial parts of the brain which apparently evolved amid our pre-mammal ancestors. Explicit fears of things that intimidate the sustained existence of a human being had an adaptive role and critically helped smooth the progress of the continued existence of ancestors’ genes. Fear can be taken to be an adaptive response whenever an individual is faced with an occurrence that literally threatens their survival. This is enough prove that fear is adaptive from an evolutionary perspective.
Cultural perspective
Fear, just like other emotions, is a vital constituent of the experiences people have with each other as well as with the world at large. This is because emotion is an essential component as regards our experiences with the world and in our interaction with the world. Therefore we tend to adapt to the experiences we come across in our everyday life. According to the study done by Catherine Lutz on emotions as an aspect of everyday life, fear is part of cultural and social life hence one adapts to fear as a result of being grounded in the cultural context.
In my view, the cultural perspective provides a better understanding of fear in the sense that we are a product of the environment we live in. The experiences we encounter as we interact with the world bring out the emotions we portray. This is also seconded by the looking glass theory.
In my view, fear is adaptive since the responses exhibited are adapted in times of danger to aid suitable defensive responses which can lead to reduction of peril or damage such as flight and evasion.
