What fear looks like

Imagine yourself sitting alone in the dark when a freak equipped with a chainsaw and a set of knives suddenly appears in front of you flexing his muscles and aiming to cut down your head. Now that’s scary! More often than not, the reaction would be widened eyes and flares on your nostril due to the horrific sight that you have just seen.

It just so happens that this is not just for some cool cinematic effect. This is a biological function according to scientists. Their hypothesis said that different changes in the face would lead to different amounts of sensory intake. This means that when one is scared, the idea is for vigilance. You would expect changes such as opening the eyes because you are trying to assess the situation more and find ways on how to escape or even fight back.

Scientists tested this with two types of emotions. One is through fear and the other in disgust. When one is scared or is actually facing fear, the eyes widen, mouth opens, sense of smell and hearing becomes sharper. It was the natural reaction of the human body. On the other hand, when one is disgusted, he pinches the nose, shuts his eye and tries to think of something else to disrupt his senses. Why? In the case of fear, one actually has the tendency to get more information while in the case of being disgusted, one rejects all the incoming information like the way an object looks, feels, sound or smell.