Editing Fear (section)

==Causes==
An influential categorization of stimuli causing fear was proposed by psychologist [[Jeffrey Alan Gray]];<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Gray JA |title=The Psychology of Fear and Stress |edition=2nd|date=1987|location =Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> namely, [[Intensity (physics)|intensity]], [[novelty]], special evolutionary dangers, stimuli arising during social interaction, and [[Classical conditioning|conditioned]] stimuli.<ref name=":Adolphs">{{cite journal | vauthors = Adolphs R | title = The biology of fear | journal = Current Biology | volume = 23 | issue = 2 | pages = R79–93 | date = January 2013 | pmid = 23347946 | pmc = 3595162 | doi = 10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.055 | bibcode = 2013CBio...23..R79A }}</ref> Another categorization was proposed by Archer,<ref name=":Archer">{{cite book | vauthors = Archer J |chapter=The organization of aggression and fear in vertebrates |year=1976 | veditors = Bateson PP, Klopfer PH |title=Perspectives in Ethology (Vol. 2) |pages=231–298 |location=New York|publisher=Plenum }}</ref> who, besides conditioned fear stimuli, categorized fear-evoking (as well as [[aggression]]-evoking) stimuli into three groups; namely, [[pain]], novelty, and [[frustration]], although he also described "[[looming]]", which refers to an object rapidly moving towards the visual sensors of a subject, and can be categorized as "intensity". Russell<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Russell PA |chapter= Fear-evoking stimuli |year=1976 | veditors = Sluckin W |title= Fear in Animals and Man |pages=86–124 |location=Wokingham, UK |publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold }}</ref> described a more functional categorization of fear-evoking stimuli, in which for instance novelty is a variable affecting more than one category: 1) Predator stimuli (including movement, suddenness, proximity, but also learned and innate predator stimuli); 2) Physical environmental dangers (including intensity and heights); 3) Stimuli associated with increased risk of predation and other dangers (including novelty, openness, illumination, and being alone); 4) Stimuli stemming from conspecifics (including novelty, movement, and spacing behavior); 5) Species-predictable fear stimuli and experience (special evolutionary dangers); and 6) Fear stimuli that are not species predictable (conditioned fear stimuli).

=== Nature ===
Although many fears are learned, the capacity to fear is part of [[human nature]]. Many studies<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Garcia R | title = Neurobiology of fear and specific phobias | journal = Learning & Memory | volume = 24 | issue = 9 | pages = 462–471 | date = September 2017 | pmid = 28814472 | pmc = 5580526 | doi = 10.1101/lm.044115.116 }}</ref> have found that certain fears (e.g. animals, heights) are much more common than others (e.g. flowers, clouds). These fears are also easier to induce in the laboratory. This phenomenon is known as [[preparedness (learning)|preparedness]]. Because early humans that were quick to fear dangerous situations were more likely to survive and reproduce; preparedness is theorized to be a genetic effect that is the result of [[natural selection]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ohman A, Mineka S | title = Fears, phobias, and preparedness: toward an evolved module of fear and fear learning | journal = Psychological Review | volume = 108 | issue = 3 | pages = 483–522 | date = July 2001 | pmid = 11488376 | doi = 10.1037/0033-295X.108.3.483 | s2cid = 7920871 }}</ref>

From an [[evolutionary psychology]] perspective, different fears may be different [[adaptation]]s that have been useful in our evolutionary past. They may have developed during different time periods. Some fears, such as fear of heights, may be common to all [[mammal]]s and developed during the [[mesozoic]] period. Other fears, such as fear of snakes, may be common to all [[simian]]s and developed during the [[cenozoic]] time period (the still-ongoing geological era encompassing the last 66 million of history). Still others, such as fear of mice and insects, may be unique to humans and developed during the [[Paleolithic]] and [[Neolithic]] time periods (when mice and insects become important carriers of infectious diseases and harmful for crops and stored foods).<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bracha HS | title = Human brain evolution and the "Neuroevolutionary Time-depth Principle:" Implications for the Reclassification of fear-circuitry-related traits in DSM-V and for studying resilience to warzone-related posttraumatic stress disorder | journal = Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry | volume = 30 | issue = 5 | pages = 827–853 | date = July 2006 | pmid = 16563589 | pmc = 7130737 | doi = 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2006.01.008 | url = http://cogprints.org/5013/1/2006_P.N.P._Neuro-evolution_of_fear_circuit_disorders.pdf }}</ref>

=== Conditioning ===
{{Main|Fear conditioning}}

Nonhuman animals and humans innovate specific fears as a result of learning. This has been studied in psychology as [[fear conditioning]], beginning with John B. Watson's [[Little Albert experiment]] in 1920, which was inspired after observing a child with an irrational fear of dogs. In this study, an 11-month-old boy was conditioned to fear a white rat in the laboratory. The fear became generalized to include other white, furry objects, such as a rabbit, dog, and even a Santa Claus mask with white cotton balls in the beard.

Fear can be learned by experiencing or watching a frightening [[Psychological trauma|traumatic]] accident. For example, a child falling into a well and struggling to get out may develop a fear of wells, heights ([[acrophobia]]), enclosed spaces ([[claustrophobia]]), or water ([[aquaphobia]]). There are studies looking at areas of the brain that are affected in relation to fear. When looking at these areas (such as the [[amygdala]]), it was proposed that a person learns to fear regardless of whether they themselves have experienced trauma, or if they have observed the fear in others. In a study completed by Andreas Olsson, Katherine I. Nearing and Elizabeth A. Phelps, the amygdala were affected both when subjects observed someone else being submitted to an aversive event, knowing that the same treatment awaited themselves, and when subjects were subsequently placed in a fear-provoking situation.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Olsson A, Nearing KI, Phelps EA | title = Learning fears by observing others: the neural systems of social fear transmission | journal = Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience | volume = 2 | issue = 1 | pages = 3–11 | date = March 2007 | pmid = 18985115 | pmc = 2555428 | doi = 10.1093/scan/nsm005 }}</ref> This suggests that fear can develop in both conditions, not just simply from personal history.

Fear is affected by cultural and historical context. For example, in the early 20th century, many Americans feared [[polio]], a disease that can lead to paralysis.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001402.htm |title=Polio: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia |access-date=2017-01-25 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129024916/https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001402.htm |archive-date=2017-01-29 }}</ref> There are consistent cross-cultural differences in how people respond to fear.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Kim K, Markman AB |title=Differences in Fear of Isolation as an explanation of Cultural Differences: Evidence from memory and reasoning |journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |date=3 May 2005 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=350–364 |doi=10.1016/j.jesp.2005.06.005 }}</ref> [[Display rules]] affect how likely people are to express the facial expression of fear and other emotions.

Fear of [[Victimisation|victimization]] is a function of perceived risk and seriousness of potential harm.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Fear of Victimization: A Look at the Proximate Causes|journal= Social Forces |year=1983|volume= 61 |issue=4|pages= 1033–1043 | doi=10.1093/sf/61.4.1033| author1 = Warr M |author2= Stafford M }}</ref>