Fear is a mental alteration that occurs when faced with possible harm or danger.
The word fear comes from the Latin term metus . It is an alteration of the mood that generates anxiety in the face of danger or possible harm, whether a product of the imagination or typical of reality.
The concept is also used to name the rejection or aversion that an individual feels to something bad happening to them or the opposite of what they want for themselves and their loved ones. For example: "When the thief took out the gun, I felt very afraid" , "I was never as afraid as when I read, for the first time, a book by Stephen King" , "I'm afraid that Uncle Ernesto won't pass the operation" .
Effects of fear
It can be said that fear is unpleasant for those who suffer from it. This emotion, however, also works as a survival method since it alerts people and animals to a threat.
In this way, a zebra that is afraid of lions will flee as soon as it notices the presence of its predator. A man who, upon hearing gunshots, takes cover for fear of being hurt will do something similar.
In film and literature, fear can be a form of entertainment.
Some common fears
Although we are talking about fear from a general point of view, we have to be aware that there are different types of it. Thus, among the most common classifications we find the following:
Fear of changes . Both adults and children can suffer from this fear of changing not only their routine but also their environment. This can occur due to a change of school, job, city, friends...
Fear of the dark . If there is a fear that is very typical of the little ones, it is this one that can occur as a result of nightmares, situations that they imagine or stories that have scared them. In this case, children who suffer from it usually have to sleep with a light on in their room.
Fear of animals . We can all suffer from this fear of animals in general or one in particular. The best thing to overcome it is to be well informed about them, about the dangers they can bring with them and also about all the good things they have.
Fear of storms . During childhood, this fear occurs most frequently; however, there are many adults who continue to suffer from it, specifically both from the aforementioned storms and from the thunder itself.
In addition to these different types of fear, we can also emphasize that there are others such as the fear of separation, the so-called school fears, which are those in which there is a fear of failure or public activities, or nocturnal fears.
Fear as entertainment
It is important to highlight that, beyond its biological and psychological function and its classification as an unpleasant emotion for individuals, fear also appears in art as a form of entertainment. That is why it constitutes a literary genre (like short stories or scary novels) and a genre of the film industry (cinema classified as horror) in itself.
This means that people can buy a book or go to the movies to feel afraid, even though they know that this emotion is generated by an artistic product that will not cause real harm.