Dr. Fear

I will interview about 60 grade 6 students and see if they think their fear would be scarier if they were diagnosed with the phobia relative to that fear
Layla Elsherbiny
Grade 6

Problem

Question: Does being diagnosed with a phobia make a fear scarier?

Method

My method for the interviews I have conducted are:

i only interviewed grade 6 as they are accessible and all in the same age group

i took each grade 6 student outside of the classroom, and asking these questions

1.What is your biggest fear?

2. Do you think that fear would be scarier if you wrecked diagnosed with the phobia relative to that fear?

Research

When we get scared, things happen to us. This is because of a special part of our brain called the amygdala.The amygdala is like the body’s fear system. The amygdala then prepares the body to run away or to fight. To do this, it sends a chemical like adrenaline to make us do something to keep us safe.

  • Make us breathe faster
  • Make our heart beat faster
  • Make us sweat more
  • Make our pupils dilate           

Our body becomes so hyper focused on the possible danger,even if it’s all your imagination.  


Fears: 

As a noun it means: an unpleasant feeling, making someone feel unsafe,or threatened by a certain something, that could be dangerous

As a verb it means: Being afraid of a certain something that you could believe could threaten you or inflict pain, or be dangerous



Phobias: 

A phobia is a noun, meaning a very extreme fear that causes obsessive thoughts on that fear


How phobias affect our lives: 

Phobias can affect people in many different ways. For example, if I had arachnophobia, spiders will make me sweat, make my heart beat faster, and possibly make me cry. The reaction for seeing or feeling the phobia is quite different from person to person. People with phobias might be too scared to try something new, but then again, phobias make different people react differently. If people are constantly fearing that their fear will come to haunt them, what is the point of diagnosing phobias?

        Fears v.s phobias

 Fears: In some ways, fears keep us safe, if we are always on the lookout for something, we might be way more prepared for any possible danger than just going about your everyday life fearless. Fears are a reasonable thing in our life with an important purpose

v.s

  Phobias: Phobias are irrational fears. An irrational fear is an intense fear with no meaning, or cause. To make things super clear, fears are just things that scare you, so that in case of a real danger, you are prepared. These things could be spiders, snakes, murderers, getting kidnapped and more. Irrational fears are intense fears like, the fear of pretty woman, the fear of children, and the fear of death ( you can’t control death, in most cases) 



 

 

 

 

 

Data

  • White= Yes
  • Dark blue= No
  • Light blue= I don’t know



 

Based on this information, 43 out of 59 grade 6 students have said that they think being diagnosed with a phobia would make the fear scarier.

Conclusion

About 10% of people in the U.S alone, are diagnosed with phobias. Based on the data i collected, I could guess if i interviewed more people, more people would say yes. 

My hypothesis was slightly correct. The people who did provide an explanation as to why they said yes, all said they felt that way because the fear would feel more real.

Now, how will this data help? Well if i interview 1000 people, and the majority said yes, we could try and stop people from diagnosing others with phobias. Phobias make specific fears on people's minds all day everyday. So knowing all this, would the answers be completely different if I did another age group, like adults?

 

 

 

 

 

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my friends, who helped encourage me when I felt my project was bad or impossible. I would like to thank Ms. Tan for answering my questions, and Mr. Degelder for answering my million! I would like to thank my parents for giving me feedback even when I felt it was harsh,and got me a new computer, both things truly helped. I want to thank my 3-year-old sister for dining me happy birthday even when it wasn't! I want to thank my aunt, who sent me encouragements, and she is in Ontario! I would finally like to thank anyone who has done something but I didn't mention. Whatever you did, it was a great help.

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