good evening ladies and gentlemen the
human race has always been fascinated by
the concept of fear books movies
countless things have been produced from
it so fear will be the main focus of my
talk today I will now show you a series
of images please raise your hand if you
now these are just pictures and they
cannot harm you anyway yet we still feel
fear but why why are we still scared of
a bunch of pictures well fear is
actually just an instinct from when we
were slightly less developed
approximately 3 million years ago there
were many dangers such as predators and
natural disasters things that could kill
humans and at that time humans had no
defenses against them unlike today
humans have developed these fears to act
like a defenseman cos if human didn’t
fear things we would have died out long
ago ancient humans would have approached
dangerous beasts accidentally fall off
cliffs or attempted to imitate animals
that could do things that humans can’t
like fly humans would be filled of
stupidity and courage they wouldn’t be
afraid of death destruction or disease
but because we have fear we have
survived
we have thrived on earth no one is
walking into a fire no one is fighting a
ferocious bear to the death and no sane
person is swimming in a swimming pool
during a thunderstorm in both humans and
animals the purpose of fears to help us
survive evolution has selected only the
humans with fewer genes that’s why
fear helps us make rational decisions
this means that help guide us in
everyday life things like should I cut
my hand while chopping vegetables will I
ride my bike in the middle of the road
or can attack my friend for no apparent
reason
fear of pain and fear of prosecution
helps us control those three decisions
other fears such as fear of death can
also influence many of our other
decisions common sense is also
influenced by various fears most of our
decisions are made using this method try
to think of a scenario where fear is not
involved
there aren’t many are there but what
about irrational fears I’ve narrowed it
down to two types
phobias and regular irrational fears
some of the most irrational phobias that
there exist arjuna phobia the fear of
knees and Porfirio phobia the fear of
the color purple’ phobias have two
causes one they can be caused by your
genes and two they can be caused by the
environment around you about 25 to 65
percent of all phobias are caused by our
genes they are usually caused by some
kind of genetic mutation in your genes
however scientists aren’t actually sure
which specific gene is responsible for
causing the phobia but it is more likely
that a group of genes is responding as
for phobias caused by the environment
these are usually caused when you are
traumatized by the feared object or
event interaction with the feared object
or event could potentially cause a
phobia seeing or even hearing about the
feared object could cause your phobia
for example if you have been bitten by a
dog it is possible for you to develop a
fear of dogs and if you have heard about
several airplane crashes you could
develop a fear of flying or airplanes
however this method of forming phobia is
less likely than it being formed by your
genes according to the UK phobic Society
phobias that are caused by the
environment usually develop in children
from early childhood to early adulthood
and it is considered quite unusual for
someone who is age 30 and above to
develop a phobia this is because
children’s brains are still developing
and it will be easier for them to have a
mental condition
moving on to regular personal fears
these fears are usually fears of
something that is common in everyday
life yet they can still not harm you
some examples of rational fears are
public speaking or your a levels
presence because both of these events
have a lot of stress and pressure when
people are scared of irrational things
it is usually because they are scared of
consequences for example when you’re
speaking publicly if you mess up you
could cause a lot of embarrassment
and if you fail a levels we all know
that you will probably not get a good
college education or a stable job and
probably end up in a life of depth the
more important an event is to you the
more stress and pressure there is which
makes it more likely for you to fear
that thing so moving on but why are some
people braver than others some people
are easily scared and if they encounter
a creepy talking doll they could scream
and faint however other people might not
be scared at all and put on a brave face
we say things that are scary cause fear
things like horror movies gruesome
scenes or Psychopaths everyone is unique
and everyone will define fear
differently and everyone will have
different levels of fears so concluding
right to talk overall fear has good
sides and bad sides to fear can stop us
from trying new things and keep us from
having new experiences however it will
be able to keep us safe as a rock
climber I often experience the fear of
falling when I push past my limit
however I have never let that fear stop
me from going over my limit it is
impossible for any human being not feel
fear but it is possible for you to
overcome that fear I would like to end
on a quote from Mark Twain courage is
resistance to fear mastery of fear not
the absence of fear thank you
[Applause]
you [Applause]