Feared
Fear is an emotional state which is aroused by threatening situations. It is usually considered to be a negative, unpleasant emotion. The feeling of fear can result directly from certain kinds of sensory stimulation, such as sounds which resemble screaming. Fear can also be evoked by the anticipation that undesirable events will, or may, occur, and is useful in providing motivation to avoid or mitigate risks. It may also be the result of imagining threats to oneself or others, whether or not those threats are real or possible.
Fear is associated with a number of physiological states. In humans, fear is correlated with more rapid breathing and heart rate, dilation of the pupils, spikes in cortisol levels, and elevated electrodermal activity. These changes overlap considerably with the physiology of anger, sadness, disgust, anxiety, and other negative, arousing emotions. Fear is also associated with behavioural reactions like the startle response, the fight-or-flight response, and the freeze response.
The physiological and behavioural effects of fear are not unique to humans, and have routinely been used to identify fear in both non-human vertebrates and invertebrates. However, understanding the experience of fear in other animals is rendered difficult by the inability of non-humans to communicate their experiences in language. Contemporary neuroscientific research into the brains of vertebrates suggests a view in which neural structures associated with fear are fully integrated into the non-hierarchical, dynamic cognitive systems which allow animals, both human and non-human, to flexibly respond to complex situations.
The subjective experience of fear, including the distinction between fear and other emotions, is heavily affected by individual differences, situational factors, and cultural ways of thinking. Assuming that fear only refers to a single distinct phenomenon can therefore be unhelpful and inaccurate. Fear may be experienced as pleasurable and is intentionally evoked by certain forms of leisure: it is often a component of thrilling or adventurous experiences, and is crucial to forms of popular media like horror films. Maladaptive levels of fear are closely associated with a number of mental disorders, including specific phobias and internalizing psychopathologies like depression, anxiety, and suicidality.
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