Emotions: A Psychological Analysis

Fear is one of the strongest emotions for every human being; like love or hate it can distort our mind, causing us to not think or act logically in different circumstances.

Fearful situations make the brain release chemicals like dopamine, adrenaline, and endorphins. In Allegra Ringo’s “Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear?”, an interview with Dr. Margee Kerr, who earned her PhD in sociology at The University of Pittsburgh, and wrote Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear, explaining the psychological process in

The name of this article is called, “Cognitive, Social and Psychological Determinants of Emotional State.” In 1962, Schachter and Singer put their two-factor theory of emotion to the test. Schachter and Singer believed that physical arousal played a huge role in emotions. They came up with one of the earliest cognitive theories of emotion. In the experiment, they provide three main hypotheses, which were derived from the aim of the study. The first one asks, if a person experiences a state of arousal for which they have no immediate

Fear is a powerful human emotion. It can make you do things you wouldn’t normally do, like risk taking and bad choices. Fear can spike your adrenaline. For example if someone was to lift a car off a run over child, that would be caused by adrenaline, which is caused by fear. According to several studies done by physicians

The four major theories of emotion are the James-Lange theory, the Cannon-Bard theory, the Schacter-Singer theory, and the Lazarus theory. The James-Lange theory claims that an event first causes physiological arousal and also a physical response.  It is not until then that the person interprets the physical response as an emotion. The Cannon-Bard theory states that emotion -provoking stimuli are received by the senses and are then relayed simultaneously to the cerebral cortex, which provides the conscious mental experience of the emotion, and to the sympathetic nervous system, which produces the physiological state of arousal. The Schacter-Singer theory states that for an emotion to occur there must first be a physiological arousal, and second there must be an explanation for the arousal. The Lazarus theory is the theory that an emotion-provoking stimulus triggers a cognitive appraisal, which is followed by the emotion and physiological arousal. The most valid theory of emotion is the Cannon-Bard theory. He says that being afraid of something not only constitutes emotional fear, but it also brings about a rapid heartbeat. Concurring with the Cannon-Bard theory, we have a many different nerve systems within the human body that can be triggered simultaneously. This theory is more valid then the rest simply because of the adrenaline that is release into your body when excited or in the mist of eminent danger. The

Fear is a chemical chain reaction in the brain. It is in the part of the brain that allows us to communicate and to speak with other people ("Layton, Julia"). The idea is an autonomic response in the brain with many parts of the brain involved. Fear starts with a scary stimulus and ends with a fight or flight response telling the human to fight back or run away. It starts with two processes the quick and messy way, and the clear and slow way ("Layton, Julia"). The quick way is when you are panicking and out of breath and the clear way takes a while and is when you calm down and realize it was nothing. Both of the processes happen simultaneously ("Layton, Julia"). The brain uses your blood stream and nervous system to create fear. When your muscles tighten and your heart races, you are probably in a state of fear. Without fear you would walk into traffic or pick up poisonous snakes. Fear saves our lives ("Layton,

Fear is a common emotion that humans feel when something that they don’t understand occurs.

Fear is something that large amounts of people have encountered at least once at some point in their lives. It has been said to have caused a variety of outcomes, many of them being largely negative. Therefore, it is a common human response to react to fear by counteracting it with positivity and/or success. The idea people have of what fear is depends on the person. In the article “How Fear Works”, for example, fear is defined as a “chain reaction in the brain that starts with a stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals” (Layton 1). The website “Psychology Today” defines fear another way, calling it “a vital response to physical and emotional danger” ("Fear Paranoia”). There are several other definitions people have on the

The brain can process fear when it reacts with its fight or flight type response.

Fear is an instinctive emotion which can be triggered by many different stimuli. Since every person feels fear as it is an evolutionary trait meant for preserving the survival of mankind, each person’s actions and reaction in the face of fear are different. Fear is a response to danger, and there is no right or wrong way to respond to danger. As long as the response to fear ensures survival, there is no right or wrong way to respond to it, as proven by Golding and Lamia. Understanding the role fear plays on humans can be extremely beneficial in understanding human nature. If our early primal ancestors did not feel the emotion of fear, it is hard to say whether or not our human race could have survived for as long as it has. Thus, understanding the role of fear in our lives is crucial to understanding human nature as a whole and the nature of our survival as a race for so long. After all, in the words of author Veronica Roth, “fear doesn't shut you down; it wakes you up.” Roth’s words echo exactly what Golding and Lumia tells us about the place of fear in our lives through their works too, stating that fear is crucial to our

When you let an emotion run through your mind day by day, it will start to consume you mentally. Anxiety plays a major role when it comes to fear, they go hand in hand together. It can easily affect your life to the point where you’re constantly living in fear or not even being able to live for yourself. Anyone that has had anxiety have also had paralysis without even knowing it. Many people don't think much when it comes to these type of things. However, when you're afraid that’s when fear is at its highest point, because there’s a thought of danger in

Damasio (2000) claims that “emotions are physiological signals as a reaction to external stimuli, and feelings arise when the brain interprets stimuli” (as cited in Hannibal, 2012, p. 30). The part of the brain that unravels and decodes emotion and interprets the particular stimuli that are threatening to the organism is the amygdala (Dubuc, 2002). To go into more depth, Michael Davis (1992) wrote that the central nucleus of the amygdala has direct projections to hypothalmic and brain stem areas that are involved in the symptoms of fear (p. 355). This is significant, as it shows how the amygdala connects to other parts of the brain in order to do its processing of emotions, thus exemplifying how the emotion of fear would be processed by not just the amygdala but other parts of the central and peripheral nervous system as well.

Every person faces fear at a point in their life, or even on an everyday basis. What a person fears shows their inner thoughts as well as unresolved emotions they might have. Martin Antony writes in his novel When Perfect Isn’t Good Enough, “Generally, fears are influenced by both our biological and genetic makeup, as well as our experiences.”(Anthony 177, When Perfect Isn’t Good Enough). While the things people fear are influenced by personal experiences, that same fear be an influence in their life. Fear can influence the way a person feels, the way a person thinks, and the way a person acts. While fear can motivate a person to overcome struggles they may face, other people may have a negative reaction which causes them to withdraw from a situation. In I am the messenger by Markus Zusak, and Before I go to sleep by S.J Watsonfear leads to the inaction of a person. The inactivity of a certain character may be caused by their fear of making

Fear is the second type of emotion. In general, fear is refers to the phycological reaction that respond to the potential dangers or threats and the extremely uncomfortable condition which results in the physiological reaction. Fear can be divided into two categories which are the rational fear or irrational fear. Rational fear is the feeling arises when there is a potential threats. Fear is sometimes define as phobia as both of these terms consists of similar characteristics.

Researchers have debated about the phenomenon with emotions. Debates on this topic have and will continue to for many more years. Researchers have attempted to understand why one has emotions and came up with the five different theories. The first theory is the James-Lange theory, which argues that an event can cause physiological arousal first and, it can be interpret this as an arousal. Second theory is the Cannon-Bard theory that argues that all humans experience a physiological arousal and an emotional one at the same time. It still does not give any attention to the role of the thoughts or an outward