Thought Experiment: Anger vs. Fear

[Triple_R]

Suppose you had to lose one of these emotions forever-more. Which one would you choose to lose?


What I find interesting about this idea is that "Anger" and "Fear" are often considered two of the more "negative emotions", but I think most would agree that neither is as bad as simple, pure "Sadness". And with both Anger and Fear, I can see some possible pros for each. "Anger" can at times be a good motivating force for positive change, while "Fear" can help us avoid dangerous situations. "Anger" can make it that much more cathartic when we see a hated character get his/her 'just deserts', while "Fear" is inherently entertaining to some people given the very existence of the Horror genre.

Still, there's definitely some big possible downsides to each.

[Urzu 7]

If you give up fear, one thing that might happen is that you aren't afraid of saying something stupid anymore, so maybe you'll start saying things you really shouldn't more often. Something to consider...

I don't know which one to get rid of. I wanna say fear, but like what I just pointed out, getting rid of fear can lead to problems. I'm sure that if people really thought about this thread topic, you could find that getting rid of either could definitely lead to problems.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Urzu 7

getting rid of either could definitely lead to problems.

Then the only way to decide is by the significance of the problems.

Without thinking too much about it, I'd say losing the ability to be angry does not necessarily mean losing the ability to dislike a particular situation. Thus, the idea that anger is a good source of motivation to enact a positive change isn't as significant. At this point, it's a matter of degree.

I think that losing fear, on the other hand, does mean losing the ability to assess a risky situation properly.

[itisjustme]

Anger is useful in some situation. I think studies found people are more pliant when faced with anger. In general it seems to help perform better in confrontational situations.

That said fear is a defense mechanism though so I think it has greater value.

[Guy Incognito]

i would go with fear

[iSuckAtWriting]

If I lose my fear, would I still have the capacity to think? I'm often cautionary and fear overstepping my bounds, but there's likely some thought behind that. Anger is the next to go, but I might lose some motivational omph when determination doesn't go far enough.

[itisjustme]

Actually there's a disease where you can't feel pain, which is pretty dangerous and needs constant monitoring to check you're not just injuring/killing yourself. Losing fear might be the mental equivalent of that.

[Haak]

I think I could live without fear since I don't plan on doing anything risky. I'm generally a very low risk kinda guy. The biggest threat would probably be traffic accidents but I could work around that. XP

However, if I were to lose anger then I could easily see that translate into a loss of passion for a lot things including anime in general. And anime and storytelling is practically half my life so that's a major loss. I don't think I could live with that.

[erneiz_hyde]

Looking back on my life, I think I can live without my anger. I'm very rarely upset and even when I do, I tend to keep it in myself. Without all that I can cease tormenting myself and let's say...'achieve enlightenment'

Speaking of which, can real life psychopath feel anger?

[kuroishinigami]

Originally Posted by Haak

I think I could live without fear since I don't plan on doing anything risky. I'm generally a very low risk kinda guy. The biggest threat would probably be traffic accidents but I could work around that. XP

However, if I were to lose anger then I could easily see that translate into a loss of passion for a lot things including anime in general. And anime and storytelling is practically half my life so that's a major loss. I don't think I could live with that.

There's a logical loophole there though. You assume that your risk-aversion nature doesn't come from unconcious fear, which it usually is. Without any fear at all, there's no reason to be risk-averse at all because being risk-averse usually means lower gain,and once you remove the gear of failing factor in the rational decision making process, there's no rational reason to not choose the high-risk-high-gain one.

[Hooves]

Losing either anger or fear is like impossible to live with for me. Since I'm asking myself personally what I would rather lose. I'd choose fear because it's had the most negative impact on my life so far. I would use common sense and brainpower to make up for losing my defensive mechanism.

Anger: If I didn't have anger in my life, I will admit I would have more friends to this day. Yet, it gives me a high standard for friendship that I value deeply now. Anger also helps me shout out everything that's bothering me, fear would've prevented me from saying anything and I would keep too many things buried within me. If I couldn't get angry at myself for making a mistake, how exactly would I improve if I could just brush it off.

Fear: If I didn't have fear in my life, I would've been more chatty with people. I get frustrated with myself for being too afraid to say things. At the same time, it also prevented me from making a good amount of mistakes in my life. I was too afraid to do something? People laugh at me, but then I hear things didn't go so well. Fear is also common for me when driving. Sometimes I got too scared to drive at all, which stumped progress. When I actually drove, it helps me be more careful. It's so-so with me since I'm still with a permit only. Fear also raised the standards of friendship to me, it's another negative emotion I appreciate having.

Both work so well with me, but I feel in my case, fear is my biggest problem so far in life.

[Fireminer]

Losing Anger+Fear=Zen

[EscapeReality]

Definitely anger.
All the awesome things that anger gave me:
Wall with holes
Mad dad
Broken Wii console
Procrastination

At least fear stops me from doing stupid things.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Both can screw up your body extremely horribly when it sends your nervous system into overdrive and knocks your brain out of sync.

But anger is more damaging (from personal experience) in more than just physical ways

[aldw]

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

Both can screw up your body extremely horribly when it sends your nervous system into overdrive and knocks your brain out of sync.

But anger is more damaging (from personal experience) in more than just physical ways

Having had to deal with road ragers on the highway this is all too true.

[Kafriel]

I would let go of fear - I find anger to be a purifying emotion that allows me to disperse all of the negativity in my mind. Without anger, I would be definitely crazy and/or murderous in nature.

Fear, on the other hand, is a deterrent for social interactions, an emotion closely linked to anxiety, which is very bad for your health, may cause insomnia and can lead people to lie about...well, just about anything.

Of course, the anger of dying over and over and OVER in Dark Souls 2 is the unhealthy kind, so I take care not to build up too much of it :P

[Skane]

There's a fine thin line between being stoic, and being insane.

If the loss of fear also means a loss of self-preservation, then I think it would be suicidal to be absolutely fearless.

Cheers.

[Lota]

Well, you can't really simply answer one or the other, because in real life completely losing either of them would have bad consequences. However, if we talk about losing one of these emotions to a certain degree... Definitely fear.

I don't really have many problems with anger. I am generally quite peaceful, the only person I fight a lot with is my brother, but even that is not really a bad thing. Both of us need to let our anger out and we choose do let it out on each other, but the next minute after fighting we're ok with each other, so it's never a big deal I also think that anger, to a degree, is a great motivator, so it kind of helps.

Fear though... Living completely without it would be completely insane, suicidal even, but I would like to at least have less of it. I've already missed out on so many things because of it, and I will probably miss out on even more in the future. I'm working on it, but I do sometimes wish I could make it magically go away.