On the nature of fear.

Abstract

In the course of an experiment dealing with individual differences of behavior among chimpanzees, observations of fear were made which held an immediate interest. Besides extending the information concerning the causes of anthropoid fear which is provided by the work of Kohler (23), Jacobsen, Jacobsen and Yoshioka (17), Yerkes and Yerkes (42), Haslerud (10), and Hebb and Riesen ( 14), the new data brought up again the question of mechanism. Analysis of the behavior leads, in the present discussion, to a review of the whole problem and an attempt to formulate an hypothesis of the causes and nature of fear. NATURE OF THE DATAValidity and reliability. The validity of naming fear in chimpanzees, or recognizing something in animals which can be identified with fear in man and the reliability of naming have been discussed elsewhere (13). There it was shown that the recognition of emotion in an animal is possible in the same way as in another human being. Fear named in an animal means either that there was actual avoidance of some object or place, or that the observer inferred from incidental behavior ('associated signs') that avoidance was imminent and likely to appear with further stimulation. When such inferences are made with confidence by experienced observers, it appears that they are valid and reliable, the criterion being the animal's subsequent behavior.Definition of fear behavior. The symbol 'W,' for withdrawal, was re-

Sustained and transient modulation of performance induced by emotional picture viewing.

“…Evidence of death, mutilation, and blood of conspecifics is a powerful evoker of fear (Marks, 1987). For instance, primates react with avoidance to signals of mutilation and death of a member of the same species (Hebb, 1949). Rats exhibit strong fearful reactions to blood and muscle exposition of conspecifics, a reaction not observed when tissue of other species is involved (Stevens & Gerzov-Thomas, 1977).…”

Relations between emotion, memory, and attention: Evidence from taboo Stroop, lexical decision, and immediate memory tasks

“…Under the second interpretation, taboo words elicit general, as well as word-specific, emotional reactions. For example, all taboo words may have triggered surprise in Experiment 1 (despite the practice trials and forewarnings concerning taboo words) because undergraduates do not normally encounter taboo words in university-sponsored experiments (for the possible role of surprise in all emotional reactions, see, e.g., Berlyne, 1960;Hebb, 1946;McClelland, 1951, pp. 466-467).…”

The role of tonic neural activity in motivational processes

“…One of the limitations of Hull's theory, however, was that his general drive could be aroused only by homeostatic imbalances in the body. In contrast, Hebb's "drive" could be aroused not only by interoceptive stimuli arising from homeostatic imbalances, but also by sens ory input per ~, and by particular patterns of cortical activity, which were in turn dependent on the past experience of the organisme This concept of drive was flexible enough to cope with the problem raised by motivational phenomena such as exploration (Butler, 1953;Butler and Harlow, 1954) prob1em seeking (Have1ka, 1956) and irrationa1 fears (Koh1er, 1925;Me1zack, 1952;Hebb, 1953) which seemed to have no relation to bodi1y needs.…”