<p>Yes! Of course fear can be rational, especially when there is in fact a big scary monster and you are in danger. </p>

<p>There is an unfortunate meme in society that emotions and rationality are incompatible, but that's not the case. Emotions can only be irrational if you are mistaken to feel those emotions in that context. </p>

<p>Cases where fear is irrational include:</p>

<ul>
<li>Fear of cotton balls</li>
<li>Fear of a non-existent monster</li>
<li>Not fearing being chased by an actual monster/cheetah/grizzly bear</li>
</ul>

<p>Now, it's largely up to you to decide what emotions are reasonable for each context, because otherwise the examples become a bit normative. For example, is it irrational to feel a lot of anxiety in social situations? That depends on the social situation, but I'll guess not.</p>

<p>The folks over at Less Wrong have given this sort of thing a lot of consideration. Here's their <a href="http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Emotion" rel="nofollow">wiki link</a> to the subject.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-07T22:15:13.787Z
I'm not sure I agree that the emotion itself is rational.  The action of running away from danger is rational,  but the emotion is supplementary.
Keegan Keplinger
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-07T17:37:22.763Z
2013-03-07T17:37:22.763Z
Gordon Fierce
<p>Why are you running away?  </p>

<p>1) Are you running because of fear?<br>
2) Are you running because the monster might harm you?<br>
3) Are you running because you've had an encounter with a monster before and even though this one doesn't look like that one and that one had claws and this one doesn't but this one is still coming towards you, kinda fast?</p>

<p>Fear is a marker, like pain.  Fear can be automatically activated by occurrences in one's environment in order to activate a response before the conscious mind could possibly have time to react.  </p>

<p>LOOK OUT, DUCK! ---  Yell this at someone sometime and watch them flinch, down and back.  Almost every time.  </p>

<p>The problem comes when we aren't paying full attention to our environment, and instead using cognitive shortcuts, such as stereotypes.  In these cases, we're using past experiences to inform future expectations - when past experiences are traumatic, we will sometimes (unconsciously) assume negative future expectations, which is the fundamental basis of anxiety.</p>

<p><em>Is fear rational?</em></p>

<p>Let me turn that around:</p>

<p><em>Is a dishwasher rational?</em></p>

<p>Fear is a tool, baked into the human brain.  A dishwasher is a tool.  Both can malfunction, both can run improperly (long, short, etc).  We can even, over time, reduce our exposure to both (meditation / washing the dishes by hand).</p>

<p>If we run a dishwasher once for each dish we have to wash, that would be irrational.  If we feel fear at every occurrence, that would be irrational.  If we run the dishwasher without soap, that would be irrational.  Unless we have need for it.</p>

<p>It's all about context.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-08T14:49:49.937Z
2013-03-08T14:49:49.937Z
BenCole
<p>Let's suppose a big ugly monster thingy wants to eat you. While you're running away from it, you're feeling fear. Can this situation be considered one where fear would be rational?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-06T22:48:04.110Z
As a related topic you may want to read up about the evolution of emotions and arguments for their adaptive functions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_emotion
Jeromy Anglim
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-08T15:52:13.350Z
I closed the question as "Not A Real Question" instead of suggested by @what as Off Topic. It might be on topic but it's way too vague, and you leave it up to the answerer to guess what you are referring too. Additionally there is no background research whatsoever. You can still update your question to address these issues.
Steven Jeuris
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-08T15:53:35.593Z
I do see you are new to Stack Exchange, so don't feel offended by this. I advise you to read through the [faq](http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/faq) properly to better understand what is expected of you when asking a question here.
Steven Jeuris
<cognitive-psychology><social-psychology><emotion><rationality>
Is fear rational?
Melly
# Is fear rational?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-03-06)

Let's suppose a big ugly monster thingy wants to eat you. While you're running away from it, you're feeling fear. Can this situation be considered one where fear would be rational?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, social-psychology, emotion, rationality

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: As a related topic you may want to read up about the evolution of emotions and arguments for their adaptive functions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_emotion  
> **username_2**: I closed the question as "Not A Real Question" instead of suggested by @what as Off Topic. It might be on topic but it's way too vague, and you leave it up to the answerer to guess what you are referring too. Additionally there is no background research whatsoever. You can still update your question to address these issues.  
> **username_2**: I do see you are new to Stack Exchange, so don't feel offended by this. I advise you to read through the [faq](http://cogsci.stackexchange.com/faq) properly to better understand what is expected of you when asking a question here.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2013-03-07. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Yes! Of course fear can be rational, especially when there is in fact a big scary monster and you are in danger.

There is an unfortunate meme in society that emotions and rationality are incompatible, but that's not the case. Emotions can only be irrational if you are mistaken to feel those emotions in that context.

Cases where fear is irrational include:

* Fear of cotton balls
* Fear of a non-existent monster
* Not fearing being chased by an actual monster/cheetah/grizzly bear

Now, it's largely up to you to decide what emotions are reasonable for each context, because otherwise the examples become a bit normative. For example, is it irrational to feel a lot of anxiety in social situations? That depends on the social situation, but I'll guess not.

The folks over at Less Wrong have given this sort of thing a lot of consideration. Here's their [wiki link](http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Emotion) to the subject.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: I'm not sure I agree that the emotion itself is rational.  The action of running away from danger is rational,  but the emotion is supplementary.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2013-03-08. Score: 1

Why are you running away?

1) Are you running because of fear?  
2) Are you running because the monster might harm you?  
3) Are you running because you've had an encounter with a monster before and even though this one doesn't look like that one and that one had claws and this one doesn't but this one is still coming towards you, kinda fast?

Fear is a marker, like pain. Fear can be automatically activated by occurrences in one's environment in order to activate a response before the conscious mind could possibly have time to react.

LOOK OUT, DUCK! --- Yell this at someone sometime and watch them flinch, down and back. Almost every time.

The problem comes when we aren't paying full attention to our environment, and instead using cognitive shortcuts, such as stereotypes. In these cases, we're using past experiences to inform future expectations - when past experiences are traumatic, we will sometimes (unconsciously) assume negative future expectations, which is the fundamental basis of anxiety.

*Is fear rational?*

Let me turn that around:

*Is a dishwasher rational?*

Fear is a tool, baked into the human brain. A dishwasher is a tool. Both can malfunction, both can run improperly (long, short, etc). We can even, over time, reduce our exposure to both (meditation / washing the dishes by hand).

If we run a dishwasher once for each dish we have to wash, that would be irrational. If we feel fear at every occurrence, that would be irrational. If we run the dishwasher without soap, that would be irrational. Unless we have need for it.

It's all about context.


---

