Why is fear important to people?
Lesson Plan
Emilia Niu
Objectives:
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Students will understand how fear is produced.
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Students will examine the pros of an appropriate amount of fear and the cons of acquiring excessive fear.
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Students will analyze and evaluate different ways of moderating and alleviating fear.
Lesson:
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Identifying Fear (Hook) -- 2 min
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Show a horror movie clip of Godzilla (1954) (1 min)
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Ask students to describe their feelings -- Do their hearts beat more rapidly? Are they sweating?
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An Example of an Exhibit Helped People Experience Fear (Introduction);
Source: (“ Find Out What You’re Afraid of When Goose Bumps”) -- 2 min
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The exhibit provided people with an “immersive environment and full-body, interactive experiences” (“ Find Out What You’re Afraid of When Goose Bumps”).
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Experts exhibited their research on the “neurobiology, physiology and psychology of fear” (“ Find Out What You’re Afraid of When Goose Bumps”).
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Fear lab allowing people to experience the process inside the brain producing fear
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Advantages and Disadvantages (Lecture); Source: (Helmuth 568-9); (Bellett E7) -- 3 min
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The amygdala plays an important role in producing fear (directly affects)
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Scientific disadvantages caused by the amygdala
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“damage to the brain’s parietal lobes” (Helmuth 569)
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“suffer from an attentional deficit called extinction” (Helmuth 569)
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“overlooked both emotional and neutral words” (Helmuth 569)
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Advantages of fear
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help individuals to achieve their best
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“learn to delegate things” (Bellett E7)
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Disadvantages of fear
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Excessive fear will cause anxieties to get out of control.
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Analysis of Ways of Alleviating Fear (Activity) -- 5 min
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Students will be given notecards and brainstorm ways to ease the fear.
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Collect notecards and discuss the ideas.
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Illustrating Experts’ Ways to Moderate Fear (Lecture); Source: (Zdenek 46-48; 50; 52; 54) -- 2 min
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In a rider’s perspective
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Breathing, focusing on other putative things, exercise, reorganize the mind, and improve self-abilities
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Epilogue; Source: (Borenstein 62) -- 1min
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“Fear is a basic primal emotion that is key to evolutionary survival” (Borenstein 62).
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Although fear is important, excessive fear will cause trouble.
Materials:
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Various photos of horror movies
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Video clip of Godzilla (1954)
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Notecards handed out
Lesson Plan Slide Show:
Annotated Bibliography
Bellett, Gerry. "Taking Advantage of Fears: ‘we Choke Under Pressure. the Best among Us Choke Less,’ Author Says." The
Gazette, 13 Jul. 2002, p. E7. elibrary, www.explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/433844183?accountid=338. Accessed
26 Jan. 2020.
This source first examines that fear is common in society and many aspects of life will cause fear. It indicates different advantages of fear itself and how people will benefit if individuals could learn how to manage fear correctly. By citing an expert’s explanation, this source proves the importance of fear’s existence and individuals converting fear into an advantage.
Borenstein, Seth. “Don't Fear Science is here Scientists are Making Progress at Unraveling the Emotion of Fear and how it
Affects the Brain.” Townsville Bulletin, 24 Nov. 2007, p. 62. elibrary, www. explore.proquest.com
/elibrary/document/376744561?accountid=338. Accessed 26 Jan. 2020.
This source is important because it directly indicates the facts of fear. It suggests that fear has both advantages and disadvantages and provides detailed examples that I could use in my lesson. Moreover, this source indicates the importance of fear and the involvement of the amygdala. Therefore, I could use this source to discuss the role of the amygdala.
“Find Out What You're Afraid of when Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear Premieres at the California Science Center on July
4, 2007.” U.S.Newswire, 26 Jun. 2007. elibrary, www.explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/451144639?accountid
=338. Accessed 26 Jan. 2020.
This source discusses an exhibit that helped people experience fear and scientists’ conclusions of people’s activities. This source also suggests the process of the production of fear. This source is important because it also mentions that fear causes problems but also advantages. I could use the example of wildlife in this source to prove fear’s importance.
Helmuth, Laura. “Fear and Trembling in The Amygdala.” Science, vol. 300, no. 5619, 2003, p. 568-9. elibrary.
www.explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/213582472?accountid=338. Accessed 26 Jan. 2020.
This source mainly examines the amygdala’s role in producing fear. It also brings up the topic of the amygdala’s relationship with emotions which is a broader aspect of fear. It talks about the scientific disadvantages caused by the amygdala. This source is important because I can use the amygdala’s disadvantages to compare it with fear’s disadvantages.
Zdenek, Paula. “Fear Factor: Turn it to Your Advantage.” Horse & Rider, vol. 42, no. 7, 07 2003, p. 46-48,50,52,54. elibrary,
www.explore.proquest.com/elibrary/document/224960058?accountid=338. Accessed 26 Jan. 2020.
Although this source talks about the fear from a rider’s perspective, I can use this as an example in my lesson. This source is important because it provides various ways to manage fear. This matches my topic of the importance of people acquiring fear. I can use these advantages to support my opinion: fear is important to people.