Name ______Per. ___ Score:
The Psychology of Fear
Reflection:
What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you? Describe this event.
List below anything and everything you are afraid of. Brainstorm quietly. List
EVERYTHING!!
Hey … Did you know they found the largest snake on record found dead in someone’s back yard?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abcg4jOoFdY
Now that you’ve thought about things that scare you, let’s take a minute to relax!
Picture yourself walking on a secluded beach. Calm …. Relaxing …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKlU_0g-dag
Okay, let’s do this for real. Imagine yourself on a beautiful cliff at sunset doing yoga.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQq7UTrfU3U
Imagine you hear a loud, unexpected noise (or a scary face pops up unexpectedly):
A. The information is immediately processed in the AMYGDALA: the fear system’s command center
Where is this brain structure located?
B. Once the AMYGDALA perceives a threat: body-wide emergency response
1. Impulses from the AMYGDALA jolt the HYPOTHALAMUS
2. Hypothalamus produces a hormone called CORTICOTROPIN (CRF)
3. CRF signals the PITUITARY and ADRENAL GLANDS to flood the bloodstream with epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine, and cortisol.
4. These stress hormones shut down nonemergency services such as DIGESTION and
IMMUNITY and direct the body’s resources to FIGHTING OR FLEEING:
*heart pounds
*lungs pump
*muscles get an energizing blast of glucose
*create a state of heightened awareness in the brain, stimulating the HIPPOCAMPUS to encode the memory
B. IF the LOUD NOISE turns out to be harmless:
Prefrontal Lobes/Cerebral Cortex dampens the amygdala’s fear reaction, calming the body.
II. Scared to Death!!
Like any aggressive defense establishment, the amygdala and its army of stress hormones can divert resources from other critical uses. It can also cause extensive collateral damage. Consider the experience of Elizabeth Brace. She was 37 years old and living in Rancho Cucamonga, California in 1994, when a powerful earthquake struck 100 miles away in Northridge. The temblor didn’t knock her house down, or even break her dishes. But it jolted her out of bed and sent her running, terrified, to pluck her son from his crib. When she didn’t come back, her husband went to the child’s room to find her face down on the floor, bleeding from the nose and mouth, dead. By all indications, the quake had scared her to death.
(Newsweek, Feb. 24, 2003 p.47)
STRESS HORMONES can be dangerous. Norepinephrine can be toxic to tissues, particularly the heart.
III. Learning Fear
A. Classical Conditioning: Learning by basic associations through experience. You learn that
stimulus (scary thing) is associated with a response (fear).
Case # 1: Expose a rat to a distinctive sound before administering a shock, and after a few repetitions, the sounds will trigger a paralyzing fear response.
Case # 2: A soldier is subjected to extreme trauma in a tropical setting, and moist summer breezes may later cause panic attacks.
What fears have you learned through classical conditioning?
B. Learning by Observation: Learning that takes place by observing and imitating others.
Case # 3: A study by Susan Mineka (1985) reveals that the reason monkeys reared in the wild fear snakes, and monkeys reared in captivity typically do not is because the wild monkeys repeatedly observe their parents or peers refusing to reach for food in the presence of snakes.
What fears have you learned through observing other people?
IV. Phobias
A. With phobias, fear is either IRRATIONAL or EXCESSIVE It is an abnormally fearful response to a danger that is imagined or is irrationally exaggerated. People can develop phobic reactions to ANIMALS (e.g., spiders), ACTIVITIES (e.g., flying ) or SOCIAL SITUATIONS (e.g., eating in public or simply being in a public environment).
Phobias are most common among WOMEN
Symptoms
ü feelings of panic, dread, horror, terror
ü recognition that the fear goes beyond normal boundaries and the actual threat of danger
ü reactions that are automatic and uncontrollable
ü rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, trembling and an overwhelming desire to flee the situation
ü extreme measures taken to avoid the feared object or situation.
Story Time
Assignment –
Look over the list provided
Use the paper and materials provided
CREATE YOUR OWN PHOBIA POP-UP PAGE
Your Page MUST Include:
ü The NAME of the phobia ON FRONT
*You cannot use any of the phobias from the book read in class
ü The definition of the phobia (if the definition is not clear from the pictures)
ü A 3-D pop-up
ü Your names on back (if you worked)
When you are done, turn in:
Pop-up Pages
Phobia List
These Notes Completed