Do innate fears exist?

Is it possible to fear something because of Biological causes and not because of previous experiences?

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. Fear allows us to avoid stimuli that can cause us some kind of harm or damage, activating our systems to give a quick response of flight or attack.

Most of our fears are learned from experience, but... are they all? Certainly not. So, are there innate fears? do innate fears exist? In this article we are going to speak about it.

Acquired fear and innate fear: basic definition

There exists a great number of classifications of the different existing fears, being one of them those that divides them in two great groups: innate and acquired.

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

With regard to the type of fear that concerns us in this article, innate fear, it would be defined as the sensation of fear that is not born of experience. that is not born of experience but comes from the genetic inheritance of our ancestors. of our ancestors, being such fear something unconscious and common in the great majority of human beings.

In addition to this difference, another difference has been observed that may have useful implications at the treatment level: innate fears and conditioned fears are partly processed by different neural mechanisms. These differences can even be observed between different types of element to be feared (e.g., predators (e.g., 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, being also a product of natural selection: those who at a particular time were predisposed to be afraid of certain stimuli and avoided them survived more easily and managed to pass on their genes.

Likewise, innate fears are often identified with evolutionary fears in another sense: those that arise throughout the evolutionary development of each subject, appearing and sometimes disappearing as we mature. In this sense, it is true that a great part of the fears we have in childhood are innate (although they are affected by the (although they are affected by learning), but nevertheless it must be taken into account that most of the fears 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 is basically a product of cultural learning. The same can be said of the fear of failure, or the fear of fantastic beings. By this we mean that although they are often similar, evolutionary fears are not always the same, evolutionary fears are not always innate..

An innate, but not unmodifiable, fear.

The fact that innate fears exist does not mean that they cannot vary. Learning is a powerful tool that can cause the intensity of the fear felt to be ostensibly reduced, and other alterations can also generate a loss of fear.

This is what happens with some mice, which lose their innate fear of cats when infected by the toxoplasma gondii parasite and whose loss of fear remains even when the infection has been eliminated. In addition to this, brain alterations and lesions 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 all over the world throughout our development and without any kind of damage. In this sense we can see numerous examples, of which we select several below. Most of them appear throughout the course of developmentHowever, some of those that appear in this period derive either from direct 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 causes startles. It usually appears at birth or in a period between the first two years of life and 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

Fear of the dark is one of the best known innate fears, and at the same time one of those whose evolutionary meaning can be most easily analyzed. The human being as a species is essentially diurnal, not possessing great adaptations that allow us to see possible dangers lurking. Curiously, 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 organism itself is not the only factor that causes this fear. has reflexes that are intended to avoid themthe most visible example being the so-called Moro reflex.

4. Strangers

Another fear that we could consider innate is the fear of strangers, which usually appears also 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, begin to cry or stop smiling at the sight of an unfamiliar person..

5. Separation and loneliness

No one teaches us to be afraid of being alone, nor does it have a detrimental effect on the organism to make us fear it. However, many children are afraid of separation from their parents. A fear that usually appears between two and six years of age.

6. Fear of storms

This fear is generally quite frequent in childhood and even many adults are still afraid of it. In this case we are probably facing a fear derived from the set of light and sound of thunder and lightning. It is also something inherited, since throughout our evolution we have needed to take shelter from storms because of their danger.

7. Fear of certain animals

The fear of beings such as spiders and snakes has an evolutionary meaning that makes many people avoid them. It has also been 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 react with fear and tend to avoid it even without having had previous experiences with that animal.

However, in humans there is debate as to whether this fear may not actually be a conditioned fear: it has been observed on the other hand that, on the other hand, it has been observed that if we place a baby near animals considered dangerous, such as snakes, it is more likely to arouse curiosity than fear. such as snakes, it is more likely to arouse curiosity than fear. In this sense the 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 the urine of a cat or with other beings when they perceive the odors of their natural predators.

Bibliographical references:

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