Fear: Definition, Symptoms, Examples, & Tips

By Charlie Huntington, M.A., Ph.D. Candidate
​Reviewed by Tchiki Davis, M.A., Ph.D.
What is fear? Learn the definition of fear, read about symptoms and examples of fear, and discover how to overcome fear.
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​Fear is a universal human experience, one that most of us don’t look forward to. What’s the point of feeling fear? How do you know you’re afraid? How might you deal with fear when it arises? Read on to learn more about the nature of fear and how you can deal with it.
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What Is Fear? (A Definition)

Put simply, fear is the experience we have when we feel threatened (Adolphs, 2013). Whether the threat is an upcoming performance review at work, the steep slope of a mountain you’ve chosen to ski down, or the sound of footsteps behind you at night, fear is a full-body, stressful experience of anticipating something bad might happen. We usually think of fear as an emotion (Thomson, 1979), but as we will see, scientists also define fear according to the thoughts, behaviors, and changes in our bodies that happen when we feel fear (Buck, 1984; Ekman, 1977).

The opposite of fear
Many wise people have contemplated what the opposite of fear is, and they have generally chosen something such as faith, hope, courage, confidence, or trust (Gray, 2021; Konstan, 2005; Piscitelli & Perrella, 2017). This range of responses makes sense if we think about it for a moment: if fear is the belief that you are in danger, a fully opposite experience would not just involve the absence of fear, but also believing that something good will happen.

What Is Fear in Psychology? (Research Findings)

Fear in the body
When something frightens you, your conscious experience of it may be a combination of physical symptoms (more on these in a moment) and fearful thoughts. Psychologists and other scientists, however, think of a fear as a response your body makes to something threatening, with the goal of defending you against it (Johnson, 2016). Parts of your brain that focus on detecting threat go on high alert, telling the rest of your body to flood with hormones and prepare you to react effectively (LeDoux, 2003). This high-alert response involves many changes in your body.

Fear in the mind
Psychologists also measure fear by looking at how frequent, intense, and long-lasting the thoughts are about the threatening event (Rachman et al., 1987). To take an example, most people who are about to have surgery done will have some fearful thoughts regarding negative outcomes. However, if those thoughts come up so frequently or are so difficult to ignore that they make it hard for somebody to go about their daily life, then they may need professional help coping with that fear.

Fear in our behavior
When we face something threatening, we try to respond adaptively. All of the ways we behave in the face of fear function to help us stay safe (Adolphs, 2013). As you may have heard before, most animals, including humans, respond to frightening circumstances with some version of “fight” (e.g., getting ready to meet the threat head-on), “flight” (e.g., getting ready to run away and avoid the danger), or “freeze” (e.g., shutting down so that the threat may pass you by) (Bracha et al., 2004). 
​
As a therapist who works with couples, I have seen all three types of responses when my clients are afraid. When one partner voices a criticism or an unmet need, I have seen the other partner object defensively (i.e, “fight”), change the topic (i.e., “flight”), or simply sit in silence and not respond (i.e., “freeze”).   

Fear Symptoms

The following physical symptoms are common in fear responses. You have likely experienced all of these at one point or another – I know I have:

Common Symptoms of Fear
  • Rapid heartbeat
  • Sweating
  • Trembling
  • Shortness of breath
  • Wobbly legs
  • Dizzy or lightheaded
  • Feeling of choking
  • Indigestion
  • Chest pain
  • Getting chills
  • Flushed face
  • Dry mouth

​In addition, to these physical symptoms, people often report feeling overwhelmed, out of control, nervous, or numb, when they are afraid (Beck & Steer, 1993).

Fear vs Anxiety

We often use the words “fear” and “anxiety” as if they are pretty much the same thing. However, researchers and psychologists have distinct definitions for each word. Fear is an immediate and automatic response to something threatening in your environment. If you respond effectively to the fearful situation, you may not fear it as much next time. However, if you don’t resolve or get out of the fearful situation, you learn to worry about that situation happening again. That’s how anxiety develops. In other words, anxiety results from being in fearful situations that you don’t think you can handle (Beck & Emery, 2005; Ohman, 2008).

Fear Examples

While our minds may be drawn to vivid examples of fear, such as the phobias that keep people from flying, receiving an injection, or touching spiders, small moments of fear happen for us most every day. Driving home out of the mountains on a recent snowy day, I had several such experiences. Skidding on an icy patch of road, I feared hitting the guardrail or going through it. Seeing a police car behind me, I felt a flash of fear wondering if I’d left my wallet at home. Now driving very slowly, I saw the cars lining up behind me and began to fear that they would be angry at my cautious driving. ​

Fear Causes

All of our fears are either learned or innate. For example, from infancy we fear being alone – being alone means not having the resources to survive. As we grow older, we learn to fear similar situations as well. So while they may not seem the same, making a joke that nobody laughs at and being left alone in my crib as a baby can actually evoke the same fear in me – namely, that I will be left alone.
​
This video provides another good example of how our fears are both intrinsic and a consequence of the experiences that we have. It also shows us how our fears can get more extreme over time – and how we can reverse that pattern.

Video: What Causes a Fear of Heights?

Disorders That May Include Fear

Fear is one of the basic human emotions (Ekman, 1992), so it should not surprise us that having too much fear – or too little fear – is an aspect of many psychiatric disorders. People with phobias have unhelpfully strong fear reactions to specific contexts. People with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) react with great fear to things in the present that remind them of traumatizing events from their past, even if what they’re facing in the present is not actually a threat to them (Maren et al., 2013). People with anxiety disorders fear the situations that their anxious thoughts focus on. And people who fear intimacy may experience depression and anxiety and can end up with a lack of close relationships by engaging in compulsive or addictive behaviors (Thorberg & Lyvers, 2006).
​
On the other hand, one of the defining characteristics of people who meet criteria for psychopathy or sociopathy is an unusually small fear response (Birbaumer et al., 2005). While some people might see this lack of fear as an advantage, there are severe limitations to not feeling fear when one should. People who feel too little fear are at risk of putting themselves and others in dangerous situations, which eventually leads to significant legal consequences or harm.

Fear Treatments

Hundreds of studies have shown that the most effective way to treat fear is to expose oneself to fearful situations (McLean et al., 2022). Exposure therapy, as this is called, can look several different ways. People who fear specific situations work with a therapist to face those situations in progressively more fearful ways. For example, somebody who is afraid of spiders might first read about spiders, then look at a picture of a spider, then watch a video of spiders, then sit across the room from a spider in a cage.
​
Another technique, which is more commonly used to support people with PTSD, is to practice intentionally focusing on events that were especially scary (McLean et al., 2022). As people practice writing out and reading out loud the stories of what has happened to them, in a safe and therapeutic context, they begin to have less fear that such a situation will happen again.

Coping With Fear

All of us will continue to experience fear throughout our lives. You could not eliminate all your fears even if you tried! Fear is a built-in mechanism for keeping us safe. For this reason, it is much more effective to focus on coping effectively with fears than to aspire to become fearless. In fact, you could even welcome fear when it arrives in your life - accepting that it will inevitably show up makes it easier to deal with.

Tips & Techniques for Overcoming Fear

Knowing this, we can practice talking back to our fears. Engaging the more “logical” side of our brains can help us reduce our fear response. For example, I have been learning to rock climb for the last year. Every time I climb, as I approach the limits of my physical strength, I become afraid of falling and dying. Before the emotional and physical responses of fear take over, I have to re-engage my thinking brain. I remind myself that nobody has ever died at this climbing gym, that the rope holding me up can support 2000 pounds, that my partner is watching me and knows how to keep me safe. 

My fear of heights is innate and important – without all these protections in place, letting go of the wall would mean dying. But I am actually safe, and once I remind myself of that, I can keep climbing. 

We can also overcome fear by consciously regulating our bodies. Taking deep breaths, consciously relaxing our muscles, and even imagining ourselves in a less stressful situation can reduce fear.

Articles Related to Fear

Want to learn more? Here are some related articles that might be helpful.

Books Related to Fear

To keep learning, here are some books to explore:​​

Final Thoughts on Fear

As I hope I’ve made clear, fear is an essential human emotion, an evolutionary gift designed to keep us safe from harm. Your fears are natural and they are trying to help you. It’s up to you to decide whether to heed each fear or try to overcome it. I hope this article has helped you understand when and how to do that.

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