Why Do People Experience Fear?

The question as to why humans experience fear has been bothering me for some time, but it was only recently that I first came across the actual reason. It all pertains to the evolution of the species, and how our ancestors actually lived through much of the planet’s history and survived in those times of old. In other words, humans are very adaptable species, but with the development of technology, we have also lost much of the gifts of our forebears, and now find ourselves having to learn the skills of reading body language, and other such indicators, in order to survive in the modern world. This is the actual reason as to why humans experience fear, as they learn how to read and interpret these signals from others in their environment.

But the interesting thing about this particular question, is that the actual physical symptoms of fear are very easy to identify. When you experience fear, or any type of emotion, whether it is sadness, happiness, or rage; it is your body putting on the most extreme alertness possible, as a protective measure against potential harm. In fact, the reason behind this extreme reaction is not quite known in all cases, although it is mostly believed to be tied to the part of the brain called the mid-brain. This part of the brain controls the fight or flight response, which is triggered by anything that threatens survival.

One thing we do know, is that our bodies often react in different ways when we encounter fearful situations, whether we are in the midst of a natural disaster, or perhaps some type of combat. For instance, if there is somebody shooting at us, we will either run away from the battle or fight back with all our might. And we can experience physical symptoms in such areas as shaking, sweating, or even having an elevated heart rate. This has been demonstrated in many controlled studies, where members of a study were asked to watch a picture of a bullet going down an actual gun barrel, or they were asked to view a picture of a person on the screen, while being asked to keep still. The people who had to watch the actual gun were found to have more heart rate and body temperature responses, than those who just watched a picture.