What is Fear?

Fear is one of the seven universal emotions experienced by everyone around the world. Fear arises with the threat of harm, either physical, emotional, or psychological, real or imagined. While traditionally considered a “negative” emotion, fear actually serves an important role in keeping us safe as it mobilizes us to cope with potential danger.

Feeling Fear

The family of fearful experiences can be distinguished in terms of three factors:

• Intensity: How severe is the harm that is threatened?
• Timing: Is the harm immediate or impending?
• Coping: What, if any, actions can be taken to reduce or eliminate the threat?

When we are able to cope with the threat, this lessens or removes the fear. Alternatively, when we are helpless to decrease the threat of harm, this intensifies the fear.

Learn More about Fear

To see what makes people fearful and some common fear triggers, visit https://www.paulekman.com/universal-emotions/what-is-fear/.

Dr. Ekman, one of the world’s leading experts in the field of emotions, has devoted his life to researching emotions and developing tools to help us better understand the emotional lives of ourselves and others.