Are there innate fears?

We are all afraid of something. Fear is one of the most basic and powerful primary emotions that exist, as well as one of the most adaptive. And it is that fear allows us to avoid stimuli that can cause us some kind of damage or harm, activating our systems to give a quick response of flight or attack.

Most of our fears are learned from experience but… are they all? The truth is that no. So that, Are there innate fears? In this article we are going to talk about it.

• Related article: "What is fear for?"

Acquired fear and innate fear: basic definition

There are a large number of classifications of the different existing fears, one of which divides them into two large groups: innate and acquired.

Acquired fears are those that have been learned throughout life, owing their appearance to the experience of situations that have caused a stimulus to become aversive or scary.

With regard to the type of fear that concerns us in this article, innate fear would be defined as the feeling of fear that is not born of experience but comes from genetic inheritance

of our ancestors, said fear being something unconscious and common in the vast majority of human beings.

In addition to this difference, another has been observed that may have useful implications at the level of treatment: innate fears and conditioned fears are partly processed by different mechanisms neural. These differences can even be seen between different types of element to fear (eg predators).

An evolutionary mechanism

The reason for the appearance of innate fears is the simple fact that they are linked to the survival of the species, and are also the product of natural selection: those who at a specific moment were predisposed to be afraid of certain stimuli and avoided them survived more easily and were able to transmit their genes.

Likewise, innate fears are often identified with evolutionary ones in another sense: those that arise over time. throughout the evolutionary development of each subject, appearing and sometimes disappearing as we go maturing. In this sense, it is true that Many of the fears we have in childhood are innate. (although they are affected by learning), but nevertheless it must be taken into account that the majority of Fears that we have throughout life are largely caused by learning or socialization.

For example, the fear of death is something that appears in the human being but that deep down is the product of cultural learning. The same can be said of the fear of failure, or the fear of fantastic beings. By this we intend to say that although they are often similar, evolutionary fears are not always innate.

An innate fear, but not unchangeable

The fact that there are innate fears does not mean that they cannot vary. Learning is a powerful tool that can significantly reduce the intensity of the fear felt, and other alterations can also generate a loss of fear.

This is what happens with some mice, who lose their innate fear of cats when they are infected by the parasite toxoplasma gondii and whose loss of fear remains even when the infection has been eliminated. In addition to that, brain disorders and injuries they can alter the ability to feel fear, especially if they affect the limbic system.

several examples

The existence of innate fears is visible in different cases that are repeated throughout the world throughout our development and without any kind of damage having happened. In this sense we can see numerous examples, of which we select several below. Most of them appear during development, although some of those that appear in this period are derived either from the direct experience of aversive experiences or from vicarious or cultural learning.

1. Loud noises

From the moment we are born, we can see how most babies burst into tears when they hear a loud noise. This fear is largely due to surprise or the detection of possible danger, and even in adulthood it causes startles. Usually appears at birth or a period between the first two years of life. It is visible in the existence of innate reflexes of protection against these sounds, as well as in the fact that we immediately orient ourselves towards their source.

2. Darkness

The fear of the dark is one of the best known innate fears, as well as one of the easiest to analyze its evolutionary meaning. The human being as a species is essentially diurnal, not possessing great adaptations that allow us to see possible dangers lurking. Interestingly, although innate this fear is detected between two and six years of age.

3. heights and falls

The fear of falling is another of the best known innate fears, appearing between six months and around the first year of life. This is because we begin to detect depth. Although there may be experiences of falls involved in this fear, the truth is that the body itself has reflexes that try to avoid them, the most visible example being the so-called Moro reflex.

• You may be interested: "The 12 primitive reflexes of babies"

4. Strangers

Another fear that we could consider innate is the fear of strangers, which also usually appears around the third trimester of life. This fear is not elicited by the presence of an aversive experience that generates its appearance, although education can influence it. Many babies, for example, they start to cry or stop smiling when they see someone they don't know.

5. separation and loneliness

Nobody teaches us to be afraid of being alone, nor does this have a detrimental effect on the body that can make us fear it. However, many children are afraid of being separated from their parents. A fear that usually appears between two and six years of age.

6. fear of storms

This fear is generally quite common in childhood and still gives many adults some fear. In this case, we are probably facing a fear derived from the set of light and sound of lightning and thunder. It is also something inherited, given that throughout our evolution we have needed to take refuge from storms given their danger.

7. Fear of certain animals

The fear of beings like spiders and snakes has an evolutionary significance that makes many people avoid them. It is also observed that in many children a certain fear of small animals appears during childhood. Likewise, it has been observed that when exposed to the image of a possible predator, many animal species they react with fear and tend to avoid it even without having had previous experiences with said animal.

However, in the human being there is debate about whether this fear cannot really be a conditioned fear: it has been observed on the other hand that, if we place a baby near animals considered dangerous such as snakes, is likely to arouse more curiosity than fear. In this sense, fear could be due to some degree to cultural learning.

8. smells

Although not so much in humans as in other animal species, some odors can also generate a high level of fear. This is what happens, for example, in the case of mice when they smell cat urine or with other beings when they perceive the odors of their natural predators.

Bibliographic references:

• Silva, B.A., Gross, C.T. & Graff, J. (2016). The neural circuits of innate fear: detection, integration, action and memorization. Learning & Memory, 23(10): 544-555.