The Psychology of Fear

Posted on February 5, 2010
Filed Under Culture | By Anna Breslaw

When I was about ten, I was obsessed with a series of YA novels called Fearless.

fearless.jpgFrom the mind of Francine Pascal (creator of the equally-implausible high school fantasy Sweet Valley High), the series revolved around a 17-year-old girl named Gaia Moore who was born without the gene for fear. Because many teenage girls are sort of ruled by fear (fear of cliques, fear of judgment, fear of romance), the conceit is immensely appealing.

Fear dominates so much of everyone’s lives that it serves as a basis for emotions, decisions, and even entertainment, e.g. thriller and horror films. The false scares and cheap shocks of a psychological thriller, like the upcoming Gothic Scorsese-DiCaprio venture Shutter Island, stimulate our amygdala, clusters of nuclei deep in the center of our brains that play a role in the neurobiology of fear.

It’s the fight-or-flight response without the real risk of danger. Some of us seek the fear, and others shy away. Check out the trailer and see which one you are.

This post appears courtesy of Ology Media

[pic via Fantastic Fiction]

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