Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric
I gave this a little serious thought. Although I have a fear of thinking seriously  But it seems to me that certain fears make sense in terms of evolution: they give us a survival advantage. Several come to mind: Brontophobia, Herpetophobia, Nycotophobia, Selachophobia etc., and have to be part of our evolutionary heritage. But others leave me scratiching my head ... I don't have a fear of that.  |
In primitive conditions when coming into contact with something dangerous, the mind/body would create the optimum state for survival – a panic attack.
This type of learning is not of the intellectual or rational type. If we had to think, “Yes,this would be a good time to have a panic attack" our species would probably have died along time ago.
This type of learning takes place at an emotional level so that the response can bypass the ‘rational thinking brain’ In the past, an immediate phobic response to a predatory or poisonous animal would have been pretty useful.
Si we evolved with the ability to become phobic. In today’s world this learning mechanism often works in an inappropriate way.