What do you think humans fear most?

Question

On top of that, what do animals fear most? Detailed opinions please, what they fear, why they fear, and how they fear it?

Answer 1

The unknown. I believe that people generally like to know what to expect when it comes to any given situation. But not being able to anticipate the outcome, death for example, can contribute to feelings of fear and anxiety.

Answer 2

Fear in terms of what? Socially speaking, most people fear of living and dying alone, and not being loved. When it comes to physical harm, the possibilities are many, but think of torture. From an altruistic point of view, many would fear for the safety of their children and their partner. To most people, that is far worse than death.

Animals don't feel fear in the same sense that we do, because they rarely can predict the consequences of an action and their future. They do, however, feel stress, which is like a primitive fear of survival. It depends on their level of consciousness.

Answer 3

This is a cool question.

I believe that what humans fear the most is not death, but that they are not justified in living. It seems that the greatest drive of humans is to find something to believe in and to have a purpose. Even existentialists who think life has no purpose will still say they live to appreciate the fleeting moments of happiness.

I think animals are much different because they don't have long term memory and conceptual thinking like humans, so they don't have a sense of identity like a human, or a need for conceptual purpose. They truly live from moment to moment, and only feel fear if their life or their offspring's are in immediate danger.

Answer 4

If Americans feared Death or God, they'd treat both with more respect. I think what Americans fear is the notion that they're not the Center of All Existence, or even important, or even on this earth for more than 60+ years. It's a very short time to do something meaningful, and as the years slip away, they fear less the certain outcomes and instead their thoughts turn to shame and regret for what they have neglected to do.

Answer 5

We humans have always feared the concept that we are only animals, like all the other animals in our world. This denial is what shapes our contempt for what is not exactly like us and also for those who do not reach and maintain our various standards of perfection.
Often it causes us to fear each other in a most infectious fashion. The end result is that human beings strive to achieve what they believe no other animal can...
To possess a fear for fear itself and anything which can incite it: death, isolation, pain and loss. Then we feel validated for being above all other animals...but at a terrible cost.
You can see it coming to shape in the daily headlines.

A kind of reverse polarity is in effect in the consciousness of all the other animals on the earth that are "handicapped" simply by the fact that they are not human like us.
Their fears are tied to the most honest and direct reality imaginable....what threatens their continued pursuit of life at any given moment.

I'd have to say the entire human species needs one huge animal shrink!
We are not well!

Answer 6

Differences, It doesn't matter what it is, if it's different they don't trust it. Distrust is a symptom of deep seeded fear.

For example, and I'll use myself for this. One of my best friends growing up told me my senior year of High school that he was gay.
Now, I am not Prejudice but I had never been around any other gay men before. And so I was scared by my friend's Revelation. As a result didn't speak to him for nearly a year. But I realized there was nothing to be afraid of, and we have remained close friends.

Since then I no longer fear differences. But it is still one of the most common fears out there.

Answer 7

Humans fear anything that threatens their survival.


There is also evidence from psychological studies that certain fears are imprinted in us.

One of the fears tested was the supposed innate fear of snakes. A group of infants were shown images of snakes and they all had biological fear responses to them. Things like, blood pressure and heart rate all increased signifying the infants were afraid.

Other fears are learned. So if you get stung by a bee and develop a fear of them then one can say that fear was learned.

So to stay general and say that humans fear whatever threatens their survival is accurate because it accounts for all kinds of fears, learned and/or innate.

Answer 8

Even more than death humans (in general) fear looking stupid in front of their peers. Fear of public speaking is at the top of the list of most common phobias... most people can't handle being the center of attention, especially if they have low self esteem. I guess you would call it 'fear of being judged'.

I think animals are generally afraid of being eaten by other animals.

Answer 9

DEATH. Because no body is alive to tell about the experience of the death. Man has the curiosity to know the experience about the death but, he is not able. Animals have no 6th sense. They have no curiosity to know the experience of death. So, animals do not fear about the death. If the human beings do not show any interest to know the experience of death, they can live happy in this world.

Answer 10

Themselves and each other. But they also fear not having each other. So they create conflict so as to be in a constant motion of push and pull. Animals fear death most. Their instincts are all geared to them detecting danger so as to avoid being overpowered by a stronger or bigger animal or the worst predator of all--man.