Fear is a thing that everyone has, an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat, according to the Oxford dictionary. Fear comes from the amygdala, which is located in the brain. Phobia is another word for fear, but to an extreme level. As you can guess, different people have different phobias.

“I am scared of snakes because they can kill me in one bite,” freshman Wilson Lin said

Lin’s fear is one of the most common, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The most common fear is spiders, according to fearof.net. Just like snakes, they can kill you with one bite, but they are tinier so they might bite you while you’re not even aware they are near you.

Another common fear is of the supernatural, according to Chapman University. Supernaturals might be scary since they are stronger than us so there might be no way to defend yourself from them. The fear of the dark is also pretty common, according to fearof.net. The fear of the dark might go back to the caveman times since you don’t know what would pop out. Strangely enough babies aren’t scared of the dark. Instead they find it relaxing, according to littleones.co.

Freshman physics and biology teacher Mark Dugay said losing a loved one is one of his fears.

“It’s really hard losing someone that’s really dear to you,” he said.

Chapman University research supports Dugay fear as it was placed #6 on the list. As you can see, many fears are  tied with death. So, is death the greatest fear? Research says no. Consider Patient SM, who has a broken amygdala. She is able to hold snakes and spiders without even flinching and being held at knifepoint didn’t scare her, according to Discover Magazine. However, during an experiment, she volunteered to inhale CO2 and she started panicking. Even people without an amygdala seem to experience panic.

Some people have less scary fears.

“I am scared of my PC breaking,” freshman Jacky Chen said.

Language errors were corrected on March 01, 2020.