The Benefits of Fear
A Research Paper Presented to
The English Resource Center
School of Multimedia Arts
Asia Pacific College
Magallanes, Makati
In Partial Fulfilment
of the Requirements for the Course
ERESWRT – Research Writing
Kyle Andrew M. Marquez
April 2014
Introduction
A. Background of the Study
People always have a lot of things to say about fear, because mainly people all have different types of fear. Fear is something that is meant to scare people away and by that people usually avoid them because that is their true nature. Fear is always associated with presence of the unknown because one of the main instincts of people is to avoid anything that they don't know.
Julia Layton wrote an article entitled "How Fear Works".In that article she explained on the first part is how to people feel fear and what could be the reason that people feel it. Also in the article Layton explained where and what triggers fear, Layton also quoted that "Fear is a chain reaction in the brain that starts with a stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals that cause a racing heart, fast breathing and energized muscles, among other things, also known as the fight-or-flight response. " (http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/fear.htm).
Fear is not only in the real world but also in the world of technology. For example there is one site called Creepyasta where people usually makes a lot of scary stories and somehow makes them look like legit stories.
There is an article written by Will Wiles that is called "Creepypasta" and in that article Wiles explained how the creepy stories are made, from real life urban legends up to game conspiracies, in there Wiles also stated that "it is a widely distributed and leaderless effort to make and share scary stories." It is a phenomenon powered by the internet — the word itself derives from the neologism "copypasta," short pieces of writing or images posted multiple times across the internet". This really say that fear is really everywhere and even if you are in the internet you are still vulnerable to fear. (http://aeon.co/magazine/altered-states/creepypasta-is-how-the-internet-learns-our-fears/).
Fear could also be in the form of entertainment. Like Chucky , Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm street and some other the horror movies proved again that fear is everywhere and fear is limitless and has no boundaries and that is why there are lots of people fear more because sometimes in the horror movies that people watch is connected to real life.
Norman Holland wrote an article called "Why are there Horror Movies" and in the article that Holland wrote, he explained his experience and thoughts on why are there horror movies when he saw the movie "Repulsion" and he said that it is one of the most scariest movie that he saw. Also in this article Holland is trying to say that the reason why horror movies was made because people learn from the ugly and painful things, and we enjoy learning.
He also quoted that "Evolution suggests a different answer. Driving past a particularly gruesome accident on the highway, we crane our necks around to see the blood and guts. Fear and disgust signal dangers, and we do well, evolutionarily, to pay attention to them in order to maximize our chances for survival and reproduction. " (www.psychologytoday.com/blog/is-your.../why-are-there-horror-movies).
According to the articles it implies that horror movies are made for people to learn from it and somewhat entertain them by the use of something that we fear for example is death.
Fear inducing things should be avoided by people, however they do the exact opposite. People should avoid places that looks dangerous,also people ignore scary things they don't like to see and sometimes and for some when they are very scared they cover their eyes, that are some examples of people avoiding fear, in addition , people avoid things because it is in their instinct that helped them to survive until now.
According to another article entitled "How Fear Works" by Julia Layton is that people fear because they have instincs and being afraid helped them to survive for countless of years so people stick to that belief. Julia also quoted that "If we couldn't be afraid, we wouldn't survive for long. We'd be walking into oncoming traffic, stepping off of rooftops and carelessly handling poisonous snakes. We'd be hanging out with people who have tuberculosis." (http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/fear3.htm).
The researcher observes that fear should be avoided, but they do the exact opposite, however, studies suggests that there are benefits to fear even though it's origin was to repel people it has a lot of benefits that we can use as advantages.
Knowing the benefits of fear could help the reader understand the benefits of fear or what are they and by that the readers could even have less fears and the readers could also have the chance to face their fears for it to be beneficial for them by using it as their advantage.
The focus of this paper is to let the readers know that even fear is avoided there are still benefits of fear and it will also enlighten the reader that fear isn't all that bad.
B. Statement of the Problem
This study aims to answer this question:
1. What kinds of benefits could we get from fear?
C. Significance of Study
Students. This research would be able to help student mostly in game development and film and animation that is pretty much interested in making a horror game and they could make an interesting game or film if they know its benefits.
Horror Movie Directors. Horror movie directors will be able to benefit from these information because they could acquire new information and knowledge on fear can benefit people. They might also get some new ideas on how to make their horror movies a hit.
Thrill Seekers. Knowledge of this study would help thrill seekers make their horror experience more terrifying and if they still don’t know why they got hooked into horror then they probably might get the idea and if possible it could change the way they think.
Future Researchers. This study is essential for future researchers to make similar studies because the genre of horror maybe low for now, but it is limitless. Fear is limitless too because fear is the presence of the unknown and this could also make the horror genre more popular.
D. Scope and Delimitation
This study focuses on the nature of fear and how it could benefit people and what are the kinds of benefits we could get from fear.
Because of time constraints, This study will no longer discuss the broader definition of fear , such as the myth of fear and culture. It will focus more on how fear can help people by the use of its benefits.
E. Materials and Methods
The researcher will follow a method to find some links and connections between that is connected to the origin of fear. It will focus on the history of fear and the reason on how it became popular even though it has a gruesome origin. There will be lots of information through this research to make the readers learn more about the different benefits of fear.
The materials that the researcher will be using in gathering information are from online articles, sites and sources on the internet to broaden the knowledge of the readers about the research.
F. Definition of Terms
1. Benefit - An advantage gained from something.
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/benefit?s=t)
2. Fear - An unpleasant emotion that cause by a belief that something is dangerous.
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fear?s=t)
3. Gruesome - Extremely horrific and can cause repulsion
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gruesome?s=t)
4. Origin - A point where something begins
(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/origin?s=t)
Chapter 2
Discussions
What kinds of benefits could we get from fear?
I.)Definition of Fear
In our everyday life we always encounter fear because fear will never leave because it is everywhere and if once you've thought that fear is gone, you are just hiding from it because in reality the only thing that could help you beat your fear is when you face it.
Fear, according to the Merriam – Webster Dictionary is (a) “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger”; (b) “a feeling of respect and wonder for something very powerful”. Fear isn't just an emotion or a feeling, it is also a horrible entity that could manipulate anyone who is inflicted by it and fear also is the existence of the unknown and as long as there is something that people doesn't know fear is always present.
We all know that all our fears are different from each other, may it be from clowns, spiders, monsters, ghost or any other. Fear can always be experience when you over think because the more things you know, the more possibilities that is going to arise and sometime we always think
There is an article written by Caty Medrano which was entitled “Top 10 Strong Human Fears”. In this article the author wrote down a list of the strongest human fears which is literally about emotions and feelings. In this article Medrano explained that why do people fear this kind of stuff and how could someone be afraid of one specific fear.
"Fear is an emotion that protects us from the threats in our surroundings, and which has evolved to become more complex" Caty Medrano quoted. An emotion that helped us to survive through out the ages and evolved because the humans evolved too. The humans evolved to be more intelligent and the fear the they helped them survive evolved to something more complex that the human mind can't handle and result into phobias.(http://listverse.com/2011/09/30/top-10-strong-human-fears/)
These are the reasons why fear seems to be like a very bad thing because it could affect a human’s brain terribly, however, the researchers observes that there are benefits of fear even though you think it’s bad for you.
II.) Benefits we could get from fear
A.) Fear helps you to do the right things
Sometimes if you do something bad your conscience get to you. The human conscience is somehow connected to fear because sometimes people fear that something might get back them and they often think that they shouldn't do something bad.
In an article entitled “Benefits of fear: Fear Optimistically” written by the author with the name “Abhi Shek”. In this article it is explained that we could use fear in an optimistic way where even if we are afraid there are still some benefits we could get. The author also explained how fear works and how it is associated to stress in terms of the fear being an “All Absorbing Form” that causes stress of a very high degree but it could still help us and we should use it as an advantage.
In this article the author quoted at the beginning that " Fear of punishment and embarrassment helps you align yourself to the good, the virtuous . You will refrain from choosing a path which is short sighted because that will not be appreciated en masse" .The fear of punishment which is typically a form of fear could help us be in the right track and do the right things. Sometimes people become so scared that they always do the right thing because they don’t take the risk of doing something wrong because that could possibly hurt them.
(http://health.wikinut.com/Benefits-of-fear/2ea493s4/)
B.) Fear exercises your body’s fight or flight response
Everytime you get scared your body has this kind of adrenaline rush which is naturally good for men because it helps your body react to the stresses of everyday life. Everytime you get scared it raises your tolerance to that fear until you get tired of being scared and never be scared of the same thing again.
In an article created by the people of “Lantern Ghost Tours” which was entitled “ The Benefits of Fear”. The authors explained here on how fear could help your body as for example, the raise of adrenaline the others think that is always mistakenly bad just means that your bodies sympathetic nervous system is working as it should be.
“Fear can be positive in that it exercises your body's natural 'fight or flight' response. In an instant, you can determine whether an event or situation is threatening and how you can deal with it” the authors quoted. Fear helps you in improving on the things that you do and common exposure to something you fear helps you to build up a lot of tolerance from it and by that it could help you get rid of your fear as you benefit from it. It’s a win/win situation.
(http://ghostnews.lanternghosttours.com/generic/the-benefits-of-fear/)
The benefits of fear are surprisingly good in so many ways. It can help the people to go on the right track and do the right things and also it could help to build up tolerance for the fear that they feel. After knowing what benefits could fear give to a person, the people should know how to benefit from this fear .
III.) How could we benefit from fear?
A.) Know what your fear is and recognize it
People shouldn't avoid their fear like everyone else because that is the worst thing that you could possibly do. To know what could be used on your advantage you need to take risks because sometimes it may not go according to plan but if it goes then it will be alright.
There is an article by Alyssa Gregory entitled “How to Use Fear to your Advantage”. In this article Alyssa explained things that fear could actually do to you and the advantages that you could get from the things that they do. For instances being stopped by fear from doing something when you could just let fear slow you down to make some reflections about life.
The author quoted in the article that "One of the worst things you can do is try to ignore what you’re afraid of. Denying fear exists doesn't help you conquer it and can cause you to make poor decisions because you feel ill-prepared when faced with the problem head-on.Instead, acknowledge that the fear exists, explore where it’s coming from and outline what needs to happen for you to overcome it. " . People should not ignore or avoid fear because if they do that then there is possibly no chance of you getting rid of that fear because the only things that you've done is ignore and not face it. If you have faced your fear you have a very high percent of overcoming it and you could simply take advantage of the fear and benefit from it. A lot of people now have been making the wrong decisions of hiding from their fear and they must end that right now because it is really wrong. (http://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-use-your-fear/)
B.) Embrace your fear and face it head on
The best thing to get rid of fear is to live with fear without avoiding it, hiding from it and not ignoring it. People could always use anything as their advantage, the only question is how. In fear people could also take advantage from it by the means of embracing their fears and becoming close to it because if the person is not close to fear then how could he expect to benefit from it.
There is an article by Larry Jacobson entitled “Using your fear as an advantage in leadership” and in this article, Larry Jacobson discussed how to take on fear and make it work for you. He also said that you could benefit from fear everytime you get to face it and that is why you should never hide from fear.
Jacobson also quoted that “is nature’s way of making you focus on the task at hand. It sharpens your senses and makes you more alert. And it makes you aware of what could happen next.” It means that if you embrace fear then it could give you the benefits of making you focus on the task at hand and make you more alert because you know what to do when your fear strikes and by embracing our fears we could have the chance of possibly exploring through it even though it is wrong it is worth the risk. Fear isn’t the enemy because the true enemy is yourself.
(http://www.dealermarketing.com/bizdev/sales-training-solutions/2878-using-fear-to-your-advantage-in-leadership)
Chapter 3
Summary Conclusions and Recommendations
Summary
This paper is intended to know the benefits the fear can give to us and how can it benefit us.
The Research design used in this study is the descriptive research method wherein the data from all the articles and documents that gathered were used to answer the questions that posted. The research finding are the following:
1. Fear is being avoided by people because people have some misconceptions that they know that fear is bad even if it isn't.
2. Fear could help you in everything you do because of its advantages.
3. Ignoring and hiding from fear is the worst thing you could do because by that you will not be able to take advantage of your fear.
Conclusions
Based on the findings of the study. The following conclusions are drawn:
1. Fear isn't all that bad because there are lots of benefits that it can offer to everyone even though its origin was to repel people.
2. Fear should not be avoided despite its gruesome origin because everything has it’s two sides the good and the bad.
3. If you benefit from fear and use it as your advantage you could gain tolerance and never be afraid of your fear again.
Recommendations
After drawing the conclusions of the study, the researchers hereby make the following suggestions/recommendations :
1. People in general shouldn’t judge everything according to what people say around them because you will never know something until you’ve figured it out yourself.
2. Parents should never scare children of what they fear because you will never know how will the impact be on them.
3. Even though fear has its bad side never forget that everything has a good side and bad side.
References
A . Electronic media
“How Fear Works” by Julia Layton (http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/fear.htm)
“Creepypasta” by Will Wiles (http://aeon.co/magazine/altered-states/creepypasta-is-how-the-internet-learns-our-fears/)
“Why are there horror stories” by Norman Holland (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/is-your-brain-culture/201001/why-are-there-horror-movies)
“Top 10 Strongest fears” by Caty Medrano (http://listverse.com/2011/09/30/top-10-strong-human-fears/)
“Benefits of Fear: Fear Optimistically” (http://health.wikinut.com/Benefits-of-fear/2ea493s4/)
“The Benefits of fear” (http://ghostnews.lanternghosttours.com/generic/the-benefits-of-fear/)
“How to Use Fear as Your Advantage” by Alyssa Gregory (http://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-use-your-fear/)
“Using your fear as an Advantage in Leadership” by Larry Jacobson (http://www.dealermarketing.com/bizdev/sales-training-solutions/2878-using-fear-to-your-advantage-in-leadership)
Discussions
What kinds of benefits could we get from fear?
I.)Definition of Fear
In our everyday life we always encounter fear because fear will never leave because it is everywhere and if once you've thought that fear is gone, you are just hiding from it because in reality the only thing that could help you beat your fear is when you face it.
Fear, according to the Merriam – Webster Dictionary is (a) “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger”; (b) “a feeling of respect and wonder for something very powerful”. Fear isn't just an emotion or a feeling, it is also a horrible entity that could manipulate anyone who is inflicted by it and fear also is the existence of the unknown and as long as there is something that people doesn't know fear is always present.
We all know that all our fears are different from each other, may it be from clowns, spiders, monsters, ghost or any other. Fear can always be experience when you over think because the more things you know, the more possibilities that is going to arise and sometime we always think
There is an article written by Caty Medrano which was entitled “Top 10 Strong Human Fears”. In this article the author wrote down a list of the strongest human fears which is literally about emotions and feelings. In this article Medrano explained that why do people fear this kind of stuff and how could someone be afraid of one specific fear.
"Fear is an emotion that protects us from the threats in our surroundings, and which has evolved to become more complex" Caty Medrano quoted. An emotion that helped us to survive through out the ages and evolved because the humans evolved too. The humans evolved to be more intelligent and the fear the they helped them survive evolved to something more complex that the human mind can't handle and result into phobias.(http://listverse.com/2011/09/30/top-10-strong-human-fears/)
These are the reasons why fear seems to be like a very bad thing because it could affect a human’s brain terribly, however, the researchers observes that there are benefits of fear even though you think it’s bad for you.
II.) Benefits we could get from fear
A.) Fear helps you to do the right things
Sometimes if you do something bad your conscience get to you. The human conscience is somehow connected to fear because sometimes people fear that something might get back them and they often think that they shouldn't do something bad.
In an article entitled “Benefits of fear: Fear Optimistically” written by the author with the name “Abhi Shek”. In this article it is explained that we could use fear in an optimistic way where even if we are afraid there are still some benefits we could get. The author also explained how fear works and how it is associated to stress in terms of the fear being an “All Absorbing Form” that causes stress of a very high degree but it could still help us and we should use it as an advantage.
In this article the author quoted at the beginning that " Fear of punishment and embarrassment helps you align yourself to the good, the virtuous . You will refrain from choosing a path which is short sighted because that will not be appreciated en masse" .The fear of punishment which is typically a form of fear could help us be in the right track and do the right things. Sometimes people become so scared that they always do the right thing because they don’t take the risk of doing something wrong because that could possibly hurt them.
(http://health.wikinut.com/Benefits-of-fear/2ea493s4/)
B.) Fear exercises your body’s fight or flight response
Everytime you get scared your body has this kind of adrenaline rush which is naturally good for men because it helps your body react to the stresses of everyday life. Everytime you get scared it raises your tolerance to that fear until you get tired of being scared and never be scared of the same thing again.
In an article created by the people of “Lantern Ghost Tours” which was entitled “ The Benefits of Fear”. The authors explained here on how fear could help your body as for example, the raise of adrenaline the others think that is always mistakenly bad just means that your bodies sympathetic nervous system is working as it should be.
“Fear can be positive in that it exercises your body's natural 'fight or flight' response. In an instant, you can determine whether an event or situation is threatening and how you can deal with it” the authors quoted. Fear helps you in improving on the things that you do and common exposure to something you fear helps you to build up a lot of tolerance from it and by that it could help you get rid of your fear as you benefit from it. It’s a win/win situation.
(http://ghostnews.lanternghosttours.com/generic/the-benefits-of-fear/)
The benefits of fear are surprisingly good in so many ways. It can help the people to go on the right track and do the right things and also it could help to build up tolerance for the fear that they feel. After knowing what benefits could fear give to a person, the people should know how to benefit from this fear .
III.) How could we benefit from fear?
A.) Know what your fear is and recognize it
People shouldn't avoid their fear like everyone else because that is the worst thing that you could possibly do. To know what could be used on your advantage you need to take risks because sometimes it may not go according to plan but if it goes then it will be alright.
There is an article by Alyssa Gregory entitled “How to Use Fear to your Advantage”. In this article Alyssa explained things that fear could actually do to you and the advantages that you could get from the things that they do. For instances being stopped by fear from doing something when you could just let fear slow you down to make some reflections about life.
The author quoted in the article that "One of the worst things you can do is try to ignore what you’re afraid of. Denying fear exists doesn't help you conquer it and can cause you to make poor decisions because you feel ill-prepared when faced with the problem head-on.Instead, acknowledge that the fear exists, explore where it’s coming from and outline what needs to happen for you to overcome it. " . People should not ignore or avoid fear because if they do that then there is possibly no chance of you getting rid of that fear because the only things that you've done is ignore and not face it. If you have faced your fear you have a very high percent of overcoming it and you could simply take advantage of the fear and benefit from it. A lot of people now have been making the wrong decisions of hiding from their fear and they must end that right now because it is really wrong. (http://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-use-your-fear/)
B.) Embrace your fear and face it head on
The best thing to get rid of fear is to live with fear without avoiding it, hiding from it and not ignoring it. People could always use anything as their advantage, the only question is how. In fear people could also take advantage from it by the means of embracing their fears and becoming close to it because if the person is not close to fear then how could he expect to benefit from it.
There is an article by Larry Jacobson entitled “Using your fear as an advantage in leadership” and in this article, Larry Jacobson discussed how to take on fear and make it work for you. He also said that you could benefit from fear everytime you get to face it and that is why you should never hide from fear.
Jacobson also quoted that “is nature’s way of making you focus on the task at hand. It sharpens your senses and makes you more alert. And it makes you aware of what could happen next.” It means that if you embrace fear then it could give you the benefits of making you focus on the task at hand and make you more alert because you know what to do when your fear strikes and by embracing our fears we could have the chance of possibly exploring through it even though it is wrong it is worth the risk. Fear isn’t the enemy because the true enemy is yourself.
(http://www.dealermarketing.com/bizdev/sales-training-solutions/2878-using-fear-to-your-advantage-in-leadership)
Chapter 3
Summary Conclusions and Recommendations
Summary
This paper is intended to know the benefits the fear can give to us and how can it benefit us.
The Research design used in this study is the descriptive research method wherein the data from all the articles and documents that gathered were used to answer the questions that posted. The research finding are the following:
1. Fear is being avoided by people because people have some misconceptions that they know that fear is bad even if it isn't.
2. Fear could help you in everything you do because of its advantages.
3. Ignoring and hiding from fear is the worst thing you could do because by that you will not be able to take advantage of your fear.
Conclusions
Based on the findings of the study. The following conclusions are drawn:
1. Fear isn't all that bad because there are lots of benefits that it can offer to everyone even though its origin was to repel people.
2. Fear should not be avoided despite its gruesome origin because everything has it’s two sides the good and the bad.
3. If you benefit from fear and use it as your advantage you could gain tolerance and never be afraid of your fear again.
Recommendations
After drawing the conclusions of the study, the researchers hereby make the following suggestions/recommendations :
1. People in general shouldn’t judge everything according to what people say around them because you will never know something until you’ve figured it out yourself.
2. Parents should never scare children of what they fear because you will never know how will the impact be on them.
3. Even though fear has its bad side never forget that everything has a good side and bad side.
References
A . Electronic media
“How Fear Works” by Julia Layton (http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/fear.htm)
“Creepypasta” by Will Wiles (http://aeon.co/magazine/altered-states/creepypasta-is-how-the-internet-learns-our-fears/)
“Why are there horror stories” by Norman Holland (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/is-your-brain-culture/201001/why-are-there-horror-movies)
“Top 10 Strongest fears” by Caty Medrano (http://listverse.com/2011/09/30/top-10-strong-human-fears/)
“Benefits of Fear: Fear Optimistically” (http://health.wikinut.com/Benefits-of-fear/2ea493s4/)
“The Benefits of fear” (http://ghostnews.lanternghosttours.com/generic/the-benefits-of-fear/)
“How to Use Fear as Your Advantage” by Alyssa Gregory (http://www.sitepoint.com/how-to-use-your-fear/)
“Using your fear as an Advantage in Leadership” by Larry Jacobson (http://www.dealermarketing.com/bizdev/sales-training-solutions/2878-using-fear-to-your-advantage-in-leadership)
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