Fear Affects the Ability to Act Logically – Confronting Christian Nationalism

NOTE TO READERS:
Since 2017, many things have been said and done in America’s political environment that cause people to ask these kinds of questions:

- What are they thinking?
- Why do they say that?
- Why do they do that?
- Where does that come from?

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These are fair questions because the things said and done are far outside of the norms of American politics and civil behavior. Many concerned people have tried to answer these questions and offer ideas on how to deal with the social and political division that norm-breakers have caused. The following series of pages on Fear and Anxiety may provide answers to these questions. You are currently reading the fourth page of a five-part series on fear and anxiety in the context of Christian Nationalism.

OVERVIEW OF THE EFFECTS OF FEAR ON THINKING AND BEHAVIOR
Here is what Perplexity ai reports about fear and behavior:

- Fear significantly affects the ability to act logically. Research shows that fear triggers the brain’s fight-or-flight response, which impairs rational thinking and decision-making. Key points on how fear disrupts logical thinking:

- Neurochemical changes: Fear releases cortisol, norepinephrine, and adrenaline, preparing the body for “fight or flight”. These chemicals interfere with cognitive processes.
- Activation of survival brain: The survival region of the brain, which is incapable of rational thought, takes control during fearful situations.
- Tunnel vision: Fear causes fixation on worst-case scenarios, preventing clear and reasonable thinking about the entire situation.
- Impaired critical thinking: Anxiety often results from inefficient critical-thinking skills, leading to under-thinking rather than overthinking.
- Working memory overload: Emotionally congruent information can put additional load on working memory, affecting reasoning performance.
- Attention allocation: Different emotional states affect how attention is allocated, even with positive material.
- Fear alters our cognitive processing, leading to:

- - Decreased systematic thinking: Anxiety weakens reliance on underlying convictions and reduces heuristic processing, potentially impairing logical reasoning
  - Increased information seeking: Anxious individuals tend to seek out more information to reduce uncertainty, which can lead to analysis paralysis
- Fear introduces biases that can compromise logical decision-making:

- - Risk aversion: Anxiety increases risk aversion, causing individuals to choose safer options even when riskier choices might be more logical.
  - Framing effect: Trait anxiety is associated with greater susceptibility to the framing effect, where decisions are influenced by how options are presented rather than their actual content
- Persistent fear has significant effects on thinking and behavior, impacting cognitive processes, decision-making, and overall functioning. Here are the key effects:
- Cognitive Impacts

1. 1. Impaired memory formation: Chronic fear can damage the hippocampus, leading to poorer declarative memory and difficulty in regulating fear responses
  2. Decreased systematic thinking: Fear weakens reliance on underlying convictions and reduces heuristic processing, potentially impairing logical reasoning
  3. Distorted threat perception: Children with chronic fearful experiences often lose the ability to differentiate between threat and safety

- Decision-Making and Behavior

1. 1. Impaired memory formation: Chronic fear can damage the hippocampus, leading to poorer declarative memory and difficulty in regulating fear responses.
  2. Decreased systematic thinking: Fear weakens reliance on underlying convictions and reduces heuristic processing, potentially impairing logical reasoning
  3. Distorted threat perception: Children with chronic fearful experiences often lose the ability to differentiate between threat and safety

- Decision-Making Biases

1. 1. Risk aversion: Under uncertain conditions, fear can lead to reduced behavioral impulsivity and increased risk avoidance
  2. Slower decision-making: Fearful situations can significantly slow down the speed of decision-making
  3. Impulsive reactions: Fear can interrupt brain processes that allow for emotion regulation and reflection before acting, leading to impulsive behavior

- Physiological and Emotional Effects

1. 1. Hypervigilance: Fear enhances functional connections in the brain, causing a state of hypervigilance
  2. Mood swings and anxiety: Chronic fear can lead to persistent anxiety, mood swings, and obsessive-compulsive thoughts
  3. Physical health issues: Persistent fear can weaken the immune system, cause cardiovascular damage, and lead to other health problems.

- Learning and Development

1. 1. Impaired learning capacity: Fear affects the brain’s ability to retrieve previous learning and can distort the perception and storage of sensory information
  2. Developmental consequences: In young children, persistent fear can disrupt the developing architecture of the brain, potentially leading to lifelong consequences

Obviously, it is impossible to absorb decades of research and come to any conclusions about applying concepts to the phenomenon of Christian Nationalism. Nevertheless, these effects highlight the profound impact of persistent fear on cognitive functions, behavior, and overall well-being, emphasizing the importance of addressing and mitigating chronic fear, especially in developmental stages.

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See these pages for more on the adverse effects of fear on the brain:

See articles below for more about the ways fear and anxiety affect behavior:

How emotions affect logical reasoning: evidence from experiments with mood-manipulated participants, spider phobics, and people with exam anxiety. Article in Frontiers in Psychology byNadine Jung, Christina Wranke, Kai Hamburger, Markus Knas

Science shows that exposure to circumstances that produce persistent fear and chronic anxiety can have lifelong consequences by disrupting the developing architecture of the brain. National Scientific Council on the Developing Child.