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Leonie Huddy Fear and How It Works: Science and the Social Sciences THERE HAS BEEN A N E X T R A O R D I N A R Y G RO W TH IN RESE ARC H ON emotions over the last 10 to 15 years across diverse subfields within the social and human sciences. The four papers included in this section exemplify this trend. Research across varied disciplines has uncovered remarkably convergent views on the mechanism and role of emotions. Fear and anxiety emerge from this research as especially intriguing and important emotional states that are grounded in early human evolution yet continue to dominate contemporary human psychology to a surpris­ ing degree (LeDoux, 1996).1 It is incredibly easy, for example, to experi­ ence lingering anxiety or fear in response to a seemingly innocuous event that is paired with something far more ominous, such as the anxiety aroused by a brilliant late summer day through its association with the September 11 terrorist attacks (Johnson, 2004). And once aroused, the effects of anxiety can be maladaptive. One of the troubling consequences of anxiety is its ability to worsen the quality of thought and reasoning: it tends to direct attention toward threat, weakens the ability to learn new information, and heightens risk-averse decisions and behavior (Eysenck, 1992). We no longer ask whether emotions such as fear help or hinder rational decision making, but rather consider the reality of their influ­ ence on social and political reasoning (Marcus, 2003). Neuroscience has played a central role in boosting research inter­ est in emotions across the sciences and social sciences over the last 15 social research Vol 71 : No 4 : W inter 2004 801 years (Damasio, 1994). Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux’s work on anxiety fits squarely within this tradition and his key findings are summarized in the paper included in this volume. LeDoux has pursued an active program of research on anxiety that sheds considerable light on its pervasiveness, highlights the ease with which fear can be associated with novel events and objects, demonstrates that this can occur outside conscious aware­ ness, and illustrates the difficulty involved in extinguishing these fear reactions once formed. The impact of LeDoux’s work is not confined to neuroscience but has broad implications for social science more gener­ ally. It helps to explain the development of conditioned fear reactions to initially neutral stimuli such as a political figure or a specific ethnic or racial group, and has broad implications for the study of race relations, fear of crime, reactions to environmental disasters, public responses to terrorism, and other social and political matters. Research on emotions extends beyond neuroscience to perme­ ate many facets of psychology and social science. Social scientists have conducted fascinating research on the social and political consequences of fear and anxiety (and threat, more generally) that has been pursued from many angles yet produces the same disturbing finding. There is a broad tendency for threatened individuals to become less tolerant of difference, leading in turn to an increased reliance on stereotypes and a heightened animosity toward outsiders (Huddy, 2003). Tom Pyszczynski’s paper explores the social consequences of anxiety, build­ ing in a sense on LeDoux’s evidence concerning the development and influence of preconscious fear. Pyszczynski draws on terror manage­ ment theory to examine the impact of diffuse existential anxiety on an increased conformity to cultural norms. More specifically, such anxiety produces a preference for political leaders with a clear and patriotic vision, a desire for retaliation against terrorists, and support for the Iraq war. This research sheds light on some of the broader, and more troubling, implications of living in a society dominated by diffuse fears that are not always subject to conscious scrutiny. Fear and anxiety are not simply a matter of individual psychol­ ogy, however. They also depend on larger forces at work within politics 802 social research and the media. Barry Glassner pursues this connection. He examines Americans’ pervasive tendency to overestimate risk, and goes beyond psychology to argue that political elites and the media are involved in this process. Glassner examines fear mongering among political elites and draws on several examples, including a pronounced concern about...

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