1. Fear Fear can torment us rob us of sleep preoccupy our thinking
However, fear can be adaptive – it makes us run away from danger, it brings us closer as groups and it protects us from injury and harm.

2. Learning Fear
We learn fear in two ways, either through conditioning and/or through observation.
OBJECTIVE 14| State two ways we learn our fears.

3. The Biology of Fear
Some fears are easier to learn than others. The amygdala in the brain associates emotions like fear with certain situations.
OBJECTIVE 15| Discuss some of the biological components of fear.

4. To Get at Emotion, Go Deep...
Amygdala is
deep within the most elemental parts
of the brain.
Amygdala: a major structure leading to patterns of physiological change which pause when emotion occurs. The connection is thalamus to cortex to amygdala. Thus, we may have an emotional reaction/response before we’re aware what’s going on. View this chart first and then rapidly move to the next, which shows the amygdala.
The following is a good reference for the learner...
Diamond, M.C., Scheibel, A.B., and Elson, L.M. (1985). The human brain coloring book. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, a Division of Harper & Row, Publishers. 1-2; 1-3.
The main purpose of the innermost
part of the brain is survival

5. The Biology of Fear
The amygdala plays a key role in associating various emotions, including fear, with certain situations.

6. Cognition and Emotion
The brain’s shortcut for emotions

7. Hypothalamus What does it do? Integration of emotional response
Forebrain, brain stem, spinal cord
Sexual response
Endocrine responses
neurosecretory
oxytocin, vasopressin

8. Brain Structures That Mediate Emotion
Hypothalamus
Limbic System
limbic cortex
amygdala
Brainstem

9. Hypothalamus (Under the thalamus)
What is it?
A deep brain structure made up of a number of nuclei
Where is it?
Base of the fore brain
Behind the optic chiasm
Forms part of the walls of the 3rd ventricle
Contiguous with infundibular stalk to pituitary

12. The Biology of Fear
Rabbits fail to react with fear to a signal of impending shock if they have suffered damage to the amygdala

13. Anxiety “Fear” with the stimulus directly involved “Projective fear”
Same response – autonomic system kicks in
Fight or flight
Constantly on
What affect can this have on a human?