Where Do Fears Come From?

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 1 asks, how do we come to fear the things we do? It begins with a picture of fear acquisition that often underlies our actions in response to our own fears and those of others. The picture makes it look like the fears we have are typically straightforward responses to interactions individuals have with threats in the world. The chapter identifies this picture in order to understand two key presumptions it involves and how they shape action. It then interrogates both presumptions, drawing on the risk perception literature to establish why the perceptions of threat may or may not reflect actual threats in the world, and also reviewing the literature on fear acquisition in developmental psychology to establish the foundation for a relational reorientation in understanding how we acquire the fears we do.