Fears

I guess this would relate to my phobias thread, but I don't feel like digging it up.

How exactly do we get fears if we've never experienced them?

For example, those giant slides that you slide down on a carpet -- I've never been on one, and when I attempted to go on it during the fair one year, I got scared and looked down at my mom to signal her to have the controller get me down. He offered to go down with me, and I was even too scared for that. However, how could I have been scared if I have never been down it?

My fear of bees used to be horrible, but that was because I stepped on a wasp / yellow-jacket once when I was a little kid at my aunt's and got stung. However, I'm scared of the giant slide, as previous stated, roller coasters, the graviton, and things of similar nature despite having *no* experience with them. How is that possible?

I had no problems with the Ferris wheel (though my mom did because of her fear of heights) and the small boat roller coaster there was, but one year, the controller -- who isn't the same every year -- told us I was "too big."

Anyway, discuss.

EDIT - 2:40 PM PDT: Scratch the giant slide part. I remember going down one with my dad together, which I believe was my first time, when I was even younger and turning around to hold onto him because I was scared. The personnel in charge kept making me face forward. I guess they didn't understand.

 

Now this is an interesting subject to discuss. I have no fear for any rollercoasters and I don't remember if I ever did in the past. But I will admit that I have a slight fear of heights, earlier this very year we were putting stuff into our attic and I went up and down the ladder several times but once we were done I went to go down the ladder and just froze. I noticed how unstable the ladder was and that the stairs were right next to where I was about to climb down to. I was scared when I had done it so many times before. It just made no sense to me at all. Other than that the other other fear I have is the fear I may be forgotten. But I already have the explination for that.

 

You' re programmed to. It' s like a reflex, a survival mechanism hard coded into your brain. Try to stand up on a matress and let yourself fall flat on a it, you' ll notice you have to make a conscious effort to not bring your arms in front of you to protect your head. Same goes when you bring something veeeery close to your eye, you instinctively close it.

In that case you' re talking about a ride, it doesn' t take being an old wise man to instinctively know that speed and height equal danger. As for the fear of the unknown it' s pretty common : if it' s unknown then you' re not sure it' s safe.

Chances are they were, but curiously your actual safety is much higher on their priority list than your feelings. If they were to let you ignore the security rules and you ended up being injured or worse they' d be held accountable.

 

This^

If you'll notice, children are much more open to new experiences (like theme parks, large rides, etc). However, as an adult (I say adult, but even teenagers) you may find that you don't want to try things like this very much. Take a kid, who's never been on a roller coaster, and take an adult with the same situation and put them both on a roller coaster. Chances are, the adult will be more frightened than the kid. As you grow older, you begin to understand more complex concepts than what we perceive in our childhood.

For instance, a kid once asked me how one would come to get through a gate that is closed. The gate, in question, has no fencing around it, and it only stands about three feet tall. I had to prevent myself from mocking the child, as well as hide my laughter. I proceeded to tell him that you could either walk around, go over, or go under the gate. (Relax, i'm not teaching children to break into places.)

So, you see, it's easier to be afraid of something like a roller coaster when you're perception of varying concepts grows.

"The more you know." -NBC

"Knowledge is power!" -G.I. Joe

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." -FDR

 

But when the controller took me off the slide, I was basically a kid or in my early teens (I don't remember which, but I do remember we brought my friend that time and he made fun of me with chicken noises -- my mom asked him to stop), so what you just explained must vary from person to person.

For example, here are two videos of a kid going on a roller coaster. The first one is his first time, and the second time is two years later because of immature hate comments on the first video by immature YouTubers. They called the kid things like gay crybaby in the comments. Um, excuse me, but it was his first time; it's understandable... completely. There is nothing wrong with boys crying.

 

I did say that the case may also be present in teens. You may have had a grasp on certain concepts at the time that your friend did not. Or maybe you're friend had been on the slide before.

Also, about the comments, it's YouTube. I don't think you can find a video that doesn't have hate comments. All it is is a bunch of self-conscious people who are taking out their frustrations anyway that they can. That, or just trolls.

There's nothing wrong with a male crying. I'm 19 and still cry sometimes. Normally when watching ponies, or when I hear someone count ten to eleven. There's lots of things that catch me off guard and fill my eyes with tears. Of course, I am fairly different from what most would call "normal." So, you know.

 

Courage is a peculiar kind of fear.

 

What grasp, though? If you saw my OP, the only other time, as far as I know, I was on a giant slide was with my dad when I was even younger, and I think it was in Mexico. I'm not too sure on the Mexico part, though.

I don't remember thinking about that time with my dad (I didn't even remember about that until I made this thread) when I attempted the one here at the fair in whatever year it was, but I think my fear was that I would go off with the carpet on the bumps.

 

I always liked the concept of courage and bravery. The two are very different. Given a situation like this, if one were to run head first without a care in the world it would be brave. However, if one went in with that little hint, that tiny spark of fear, then it would be courage.

The same applies to most situations. So, let's say Amaury's friend had no fear (and had never tried this before), then that would be bravery. I think it's foolish to not have the least bit of fear when you're doing something that could be potentially dangerous. Courage, on the other hand, I very much approve of. You're doing something, not because you're not afraid, but because you know you have to do it.

Though, courage and bravery don't really fit in with the current topic. I'd think of them being linked to more of a hero. Like a citizen who stops a bank robbery, or a soldier who saves his comrades.[DOUBLEPOST=1365961425][/DOUBLEPOST]

The grasp on concepts like height, weight, velocity, trajectory, etc. If you have a grasp on concepts like these, you'll surely have some fear. Like you said about being afriad of going off with the carpet. Your understanding of some basic concepts planted that fear into you.

 

^ This pretty much. From a general standpoint, younger kids are generally much more open to experiences than older ones/adults are because they're meant to explore new things. Children need to experience the world to get a better understanding of how it works; they don't have the level of awareness to really accept things that they don't know and change how they see the world until they get around.

This is more of a behavioral psychology thing. Children also learn from observing a parent and form notions of how things are from them. It cold be likely that when you were younger and went to an amusement park, your mom might have been in a bad mood, and as a result of you noticing this, you likely could have pieced together that your mom was acting funny and that amusement parks were not a safe place.

I'm not saying this is COMPLETELY UNDENIABLE TRUE, the development of fears and the like happen in so many different ways. In all likelihood, Patman's probably correct in that it's just the natural fight or flight instinct kicking in due to the elevation.

Just wanted to show that fears don't just spring out of nowhere, there's biological and psychological means to its development, and even then there's so many different routes it can take (the classical conditioning example, trauma from previous experiences, etc.)

/psych is my major guys

 

i'm scared of the dark,spiders,spider webs, google earth,centipede,millipede,completed spider webs,images

 

I'm completely terrified of heights. If I am standing on anything that's about ten feet straight down, I start shaking uncontrollably. I don't actually have any memory of anything happening, but I just get completely terrified. Even straight down slides used to scare the living hell out of me until I slowly got used to it, though I still freak when I have nothing under my feet. There's a slide near my house at a park and when the slide starts, the bottom drops out on you. I knew it was coming but I nearly didn't go on and when I did, I uncrossed my legs which can cause a broken leg because how panicked I got. On another ride on the same park, due to the height of the ride, I had a panic attack and a bloody nose before it started.

Another fear I'm slowly trying to get over is loud noises. I actually have a reason for this one: A firework when I was a toddler went off in front of me. Though I was still probably deaf at the time, it freaked me out to the point where I'm terrified of fireworks, sirens, guns, etc... I can see fireworks now if I listen to my IPod and mostly tune out the sound, but I still get nervous when a siren goes off near me. One time I was walking with my mom and a police siren went off right next to us, I crashed into her to get away from the noise and went into a fetal. I have been more nervous of loud noises ever since.

 

I am generally a fearful person and my family mocks me because of some of them, because they aren't things people would "normally" be terrified of. Some of them could be viewed as more oversensitive then fears, but either way I have quite them up... list​

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My worst fear is lightning. I don't mind thunder in fact I enjoy the sound of thunder, it's just the sight of lightning. When I say that I mean physically in the storm. I have tried many times to convince myself that I am more likely to win the lottery than get struck by lightning but it still often pops up.​

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Another one is um... ladders and stairs. Now hold on let me explain. I mean when I have to stay on the structure for an extended amount of time. I.e. I do crew work for theatre and sometimes to paint we need to climb a ladder. I am the last person who would offer myself up for that job. It's strange because I love climbing things. I can climb up something horrible unstable and be fine. But if I am on stairs for too long I- I can't do it.​

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I am also not fond of loud noises unexpectedly. I can watch a horror movie and be fine with it popping up because it's almost always on cue. But, I had to stop setting my alarm clock to loud beeping and have it set to radio in the morning because I would scream every time it happened. When a microphone messes up at those events and leaves that screeching sound it takes me forever to recover from it.​

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I saved my fear of wasps last. I like bees, bees are fine. If a bee stings me it is going to die afterwards and I feel horrible. But a wasp can keep on stinging you however many times it feels like. I kind of grew this fear after my brother's face swelled up because he got stung by an entire colony of wasps, but I still can't deal with it even if it is just one. I'm slowly recovering from this one and succeeded already in well... stopping my fear of bees.​

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That is um... all.​

 

My worst fear is being alone. I can take anything else but the utter disconnection and isolation of life. Not to say I couldn't live on without friends or closeness, I have done for a while, but it isn't a happy life, and is one unfulfilled.

Maybe my second fear is losing someone. Same as the above, really, I could deal but it is a painful life.

Generally any variations of the above, is basically my fear. And then again, somedays I don't fear it at all because I can see it as temporary and my luck will change, I have happiness in me once again. So it's not the worst fear I have of things.

 

Well, I have three major fears. I have a fear of heights which I believe most people do. I have a fear of needles and I kid you not, I usually pass out from fear whenever injected with such. And the third is a fear of insects. This has to do with my poor vision. Normally, people can see them, I on the other hand cannot. They are far too small for these eyes of mine to recognize. So when something lands on me, I can barely see if it is actually there or not and hesitate to do anything. Heck, I freeze up because I just cannot move. And when I CAN see it... well... I basically lose control of my muscles and I cannot move an inch.

 

I think we never really know our fears unless we actually experienced them ourselves. Anyone can say they fear dragons and murder and stuff like that, but it's mostly an assumption and never really a guarantee unless we really experienced.

I never feared insects and stuff like that until I hit 3rd grade. I was stung by a bee once and it hurt like hell. That led to me being fearful of not just bees, but other insects as well. To be honest. I don't know how to cope with that fear. I believe it all starts with a bad experience with an event that leads to a fear.

 

I suppose this links in with phobias but I have been studying these in psychology:

First there are various explanations to how they start:

Biological approach​

This basically takes the standpoint of natural instinct and our biological make up. Our natural instincts can come from our ancestors and explained by natural selection, for example, a specific phobia of snakes is rather common because the ancestors who feared snakes were able to avoid them and survive while those who didn't were killed by them so they couldn't pass on their genes to further generations. Of course, this would mean that fears have a genetic basis but I suppose it comes down to being the same as how we inherit our natural instincts.​

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Things like snakes, spiders, heights (generally scary things) are what is known as 'ancient fears' and so can be explained using the above. However, this fails to explain how we can show fear of something not scary (like pickles or frogs- yes, there are people who show fear of such objects) or even something that has recently been created (like computers or cars) so we have to look at other explanations.​

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One is the idea of 'preparedness' which is we inherit a predisposition to develop fears of certain things quicker than others, we don't fear anything to start with. We gain our fears through copying others in authority and role models, like a child will be with its mother and they see a stranger- if the mother shows fear of the stranger then it'll teach the child to be fearful as well- however, this wouldn't be the same for something like grass which we don't have a predisposition for. A study was done on monkeys that gave evidence for this theory:​

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To add to that, the idea of 'prepotency' is also relevant, it talks of an adapted response of animals showing fear to potential threats. This can explain a fear of the dark or of a hooded stranger as those who show fear toward a potential threat will more likely escape and survive while those who don't show anxiety will more likely be unprepared for an ambush. This is therefore explained by natural selection again (a characteristic that aids survival will be more likely to be passed on as the organism will survive long enough to reproduce).​

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It is thought that some phobias run in families but what is inherited may just be something that is more likely to develop into a phobia. For example, an oversensitive autonomic nervous system which can lead to increased amounts of adrenaline being secreted in an anxiety provoked situation. Or abnormal serotonin levels- serotonin is a neurotransmitter that modulates areas of the brain involved in the fear response so more serotonin could be secreted and cause a greater fear response than an average individual.​

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Of course, a biological explanation can only go so far as I've already stated but it could mean the basis of the development of fears and phobias.​

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Psychological approach​

I will refer to a few real life case studies here which are relevant.​

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Psychodynamic approach​

This was thought up by Sigmund Freud and it explains the devlopment of fears through unconscious association and repression from childhood. This can explain phobias where people can't remember a fearful situation that triggered the fear as we are unaware of the cause.​

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The ideas are complex and long winded but it basically talks of how the mind protects itself by repressing experiences and memories which creates anxieties that we displace onto real life objects. This means that the real fear is hidden and this must be known in order to help the person begin to move on and get over it.​

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He used the famous case study of Little Hans to back up his theories:​

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Now this all seems a bit far-fetched and it is unfalsifiable meaning it can't be proven/disproven but it is an explanation to how fears develop.​

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Behavioural approach​

This sates that we learn all our behaviour through social learning theory (copying role models at younger ages to learn and receive favourable treatment that the role model may be getting e.g. a celebrity getting lots of attention so you act like them) and conditioning.​

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Classical conditioning talks of a response to something is replaced with a fearful response:​

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Of course, this can explain phobias that have a triggered event e.g. a dog biting you which then develops into a fear of dogs.​

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These fears can then be reinforced by operant conditioning, if the person shows a fear and then avoids the situation/object then they get reduced anxiety as they don't go near it- this is negative reinforcement and can instill the fear further. Since no anxiety is experienced from avoiding the situation then the phobia is positively reinforced.​

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Cognitive approach​

This basically states how faulty thinking about something can lead to the development of fears/phobias. For example, if you think "If I go too close to the edge then I could fall and die." Such thoughts could create extreme anxiety which then leads to a fear/phobia. Sometimes it's an irrational thought such as "I could get stuck in this lift forever and suffocate" (possibly but incredibly unlikely as someone would notice a dead lift) which does the same thing.​

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These are just a bunch of explanations to why phobias/fears develop but it could be a combination of them (I have basically just spewed a lot of revision for my psychology exam xD but it was relevant).

I have an intense fear of jellyfish and I may even call it a low profile phobia and this was brought about by a fearful situation in which I had the idea in my head that "jellyfish sting you and can hurt or even kill you" so when I ran into one (age 8) in the sea I had a fit to put it lightly. This reinforced the idea that jellyfish are scary and as I avoided it the idea was reinforced in my mind and continues to be every time I avoid them.

 

I have quiet a few fears but I don't consider myself a fearful person? lol
1.) Buttons. I know. This sounds ridiculous, but...it's true lol When I was 2 I was running around my grandma's house with no shoes on and I knocked over a bowl that was full of buttons and I stepped on them anddd...yeah apparently I was not happy with that and cried for hours because the buttons felt weird on my feet I guess. But anyway, after that buttons have always made me super nauseous and I just feel sick wearing them or when they're around me. I've kind of learned to deal having to wear them, but I just really prefer not to be around them at all haha
2.) Birds. They're pretty but...I just have issues with them. When I was 5 and we had just moved to our new house, I went outside to explore the yard and one of the first things I saw was (sorry this is gonna be kinda graphic) this squashed baby bird and it -terrified- me and I screamed and ran for my mom. But yeah they...removed it and I was okay after that. Then when I was 8 I went to this pet shop that had big ol' exotic birds and I went up to one to say hello and it like swooped down and like tried to eat me alive or something and it was also terrifying. Then when I was 11, I went to another pet shop and I looked in the bird cages and there was a dead cockatiel just laying there being all...dead. And I ran up to the front and was like "omgsh the birdy died ;o;" And after that I've had tons of scary bird nightmares and they just...freak me out..a lot :P Oh and recently I went to my uncle's house to fix his laptop and when I got to his house he was like "We have a guest" and I was like huh o_O because I knew there wasn't anybody else there. And he was like yeah a bird got in the house some how and at that moment my heart rate went up and I was like "omgsh it's gonna eat meeee ;____;" So I found out where the bird was so I could keep an eye on it because I mean you never know when they're gonna go cray cray and attack you, and then I fixed his laptop as fast as possible then I literally ran out the door. It was just a little brown and white finch-like bird but it was terrifying
3.) Dead things. I can't be around them. They just really freak me out.
4.) Drowning. I don't know how to swim, I'd really like to but I'm just too scared of going into the deep end or being completely surrounded by water. Which is totally ironic because I've kind of always associated myself with like water elements and water is my favourite Pokemon type :P