3 - The role of emotion and psychological defense in self-protective behavior

Summary

Early and provident fear is the mother of safety.

Edmund Burke

Introduction

As a young woman was driving to work one wintry morning, her car hit a patch of ice and veered into oncoming traffic. What might the young woman have experienced as she felt her car go out of control and head for a possibly fatal accident? Fear, most likely. But what is fear? Perhaps the young woman felt her heart pound and a sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach; her thoughts may have raced, but without coherence; and perhaps she engaged in frantic maneuvers, or simply froze at the wheel. These are all typical manifestations of fear. But it is also possible (and commonly reported in such instances) that the young woman's attention was so riveted on controlling the vehicle and taking evasive action that none of these symptoms of fear was evident. Was she then lacking in fear?

Assume the evasive actions were successful, and the young woman's car reached the other side of the road without a collision. Also assume, for the sake of argument, that the car overturned on an embankment and was totally wrecked. The young woman fortunately escaped injury because she was wearing a seat belt. Only after the car had come to rest did she lose her composure, start to tremble, and break out in a cold sweat. Was she then experiencing fear, even though she knew the danger had passed?