The Psychology of Fear With Richard Dawkins - Halloween Special

[Music] the emotion of fear is induced by a perceived threat or danger which causes psychological changes and ultimately behavioural changes such as fleeing hiding or in some instances even freezing from perceived dramatic events [Music] there may be a good biological reason why something like sans law is true of course it's

true that the universe has no mind no feelings no personality the universe is not out to get you the universe is not out to make things difficult for you or bad for you nor is it out to make things good for you you have no right to expect any sort of comfort or the reverse from the universe

the universe doesn't know or care about your existence some people find that hard to accept fearing human beings may occur in response to a certain stimulus occurring in the present or in anticipation of a future threat perceived as a risk to oneself the fear response arises from

the perception of danger leading to confrontation with or escape from the threat also known as the fight-or-flight response which in extreme cases of fear can be a freeze response or paralysis in humans and other animals fear is modulated by the process of cognition and learning

thus fear is judged as rational or appropriate and irrational or inappropriate an irrational fear is called a phobia but why have irrational fears in the first place why should our brains be equipped to trigger an overwhelming emotional response to a perceived danger which may not be a threat are there any evolutionary benefits in the belief of the supernatural

our ancestors in africa where they spent so much of their time millions of years were immortal danger from lions crocodiles leopards pythons and so on so it probably made sense for our ancestors to take a suspicious even paranoid view of the world to see a likely threat in every russell in the grass every russell in the forest every snap of a twig to assume something's

out to get you a deliberate agent scheming to kill you and i suppose even today when we hear a noise in the night our immediate thought might be is it a burglar is it a ghost and we're more likely to jump to that conclusion than we are to the conclusions it's just creaking of the timber in a world of incomplete information our ancestors constantly face situations of mortal danger if you

are walking the savannah on the plains of africa where you know there could be dangerous predators hiding to prey on you and you suddenly hear a russell in the grass you cannot afford to wait around and investigate the situation thoroughly you have to make a fast decision and act quickly let's do a thought experiment you are a hominid three million years ago walking on the plains

of africa and you hear a rustle in the grass is it a dangerous predator is it just the wind your next decision could be the most important one of your life well if you think that the wrestle in the grass is a dangerous predator and it turns out it's just the wind you've made an error in cognition you made a type one error a false positive but

no harm you just move away you're more cautious you're more vigilant on the other hand if you believe that the russell in the grass is just the wind and it turns out it's a dangerous predator your lunch you've just won a darwin award you've been taken out of the gene pool we are the descendants of those who were more likely to make

type 1 errors instead of type 2 errors thus we are prone to believe the world is out to get us although it's definitely not true that something like the weather or an earthquake or a flood is out to get you if it gets you that's just too bad it's not out to get it's not deliberately scheming to get you nevertheless when you turn to the living world if you're a rabbit a fox is

out to get you if you're a minnow a pike is out to get you i don't mean that the fox or the pike are scheming to get you although they may be they may have brains that are big enough to scheme but evolution by natural selection has seen to it that even viruses and certainly foxes and pikes

behave in ways that are actively bad for their victims and if their victims take steps to evade capture or infection or whatever it is then these menaces these enemies take active steps to penetrate to counteract the steps that you take earthquakes and hurricanes don't do that they do

terrible things but they don't improve their ability to make things worse for you natural selection really does natural selection sets up what you can call evolutionary arms races between predators and prey parasites and hosts the more prey animals evolve to become better at evading

predators the more evolutionary pressure there is on the predators to become better at catching the prey and vice versa and so there is an escalating arms race run not in animal time but in geological time an escalating arms race between predators and prey between parasites and hosts and when you

look at beautiful adaptations that appear to have been beautifully designed like eyes and claws and teeth and running legs these are the end products or the intermediate end products of an arms race usually against predators or against parasites predators and parasites really are out to get you

facing a situation of incomplete information our brain fills in the gaps and creates a story of a malevolent agent that's out to get us for example if you are alone walking in the woods during night time when your vision is limited and you suddenly hear a rustle in the leaves more likely than not you will feel a rush of adrenaline and your mind will create your ultimate malevolent agent

that's out for your destruction whether it's in the form of a member of your own species in our case another human being potentially a murderer lurking in the woods or in the form of a predator stalking you potentially a big cat with big teeth and claws in some people's minds this hypothetical agent can even take a supernatural form like a ghost demon

vampire and so on depending on the cultural influence of one's upbringing a psychological trait we are hardwired with in large parts also explains the tendency for some people to believe in many conspiracy theories sociological and organizational research suggests that individuals fears are not solely dependent on their nature but are also shaped by their

social relations and culture which guide their understanding of when and how much fear to feel fear is a basic survival mechanism present in animals since their earliest evolution it is a natural response of the body to danger that has a very old evolutionary history and is found in almost all animals

in normal conditions fear can be a life-saving reaction when there is a real threat fear causes an increase in heart rate a spike in blood pressure and faster breathing enabling the animal or human to engage in vigorous physical activity or take measures to protect themselves from danger fear can also be conditioned to respond to an emotionally neutral stimulus associated with

an original fear-inducing event in a social environment we constantly read each other's body language facial expressions subtle expressions posture and micro expressions this subconsciously helps us recognize if someone is in a position to harm us in some way fear in humans ranges from the acute and manageable to the chronic and debilitating conditions

depending on the casual agent and its degree the familiar versus the novel nature of the stimulus and the coping responses available fear and anxiety are adaptive and helpful emotions because they motivate us to confront and to avoid threats danger and uncertainty some studies have found that certain fears are much more common than others these fears are also

easier to induce in the laboratory this phenomenon is known as preparedness because early humans they were quick to fear dangerous situations were more likely to survive and reproduce preparedness is theorized to be a genetic effect that is a result of natural selection from an evolutionary psychological perspective different fears may be different adaptations 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 mammals and develop during the mesozoic period other fears such as fear of snakes may be common to all higher primates and develop during the cenozoic time period still others such as fear of mice and insects may be unique to humans and

developed during their paiolitic and neolithic time periods where mice and insects became important carriers of infectious diseases and harmful for crops and stored foods many fears are labeled as disorders when they occur excessively and cause significant distress or impairment in a person's functioning however fear can also occur in a non-pathological manner

that is without an exaggeration or persistent anxiety for example it can be a response to a very realistic and rational situation such as crossing a street an adaptive fear response that would tend to promote survival although fear was extremely useful during our evolutionary past and in many instances still remains useful today a better approach of problem solving in today's age where

civilization has made it possible for us to be the top of the food chain is a rational approach not overwhelmed by the emotion of fear thankfully the nature of our predatory species is so that we are not fearful all the time which makes our lives enjoyable and that much more precious thanks for watching did you like this video then show your support

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