Waubonsee Community College

Passion & fury, the emotional brain, [produced, directed and written by Wendy Trueman]

eng

videorecording

Passion & fury

989797309

[produced, directed and written by Wendy Trueman]

43

the emotional brain

Fear is the most primal and powerful emotion, from its evolutionary origins in the involuntary fight-or-flight survival instinct, to its essential function as a learning tool today. A pilot tells how, as his plane was running out of fuel, his brain took control suppressing the panic that other passengers experienced, and allowing him to make a rocky but safe premature landing. Fear activated his survival instinct. Many people suffer from irrational fears and phobias, although scientists are finding ways to help them.We learn that phobias can be transmitted genetically but may be ameliorated through nurturing. One young woman is terrified of snakes, another has agoraphobia. We see how they are taught to master their overwhelming fears. David Amaral, researcher at the University of California, Davis found that monkeys whose amygdala had been removed were less likely to fear real danger and, therefore, were prone to put themselves into risky situations. There are some people who are "fear junkies." They enjoy the physical sensations that fear generates. They love scary movies and extreme sports. Psychiatrist Fletcher Taylor has found that certain drugs developed for other disorders may protect people from the exaggerated fear response caused by post traumatic stress. The U.S. military developed a "brave pill" to combat anxiety in soldiers. It was withdrawn because the implications were too controversial

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