Fear were, in order: terrorist attacks, spiders, death, failure, war, criminal or gang violence, being alone, the future, and nuclear war. In an estimate of what people fear the most, book author Bill Tancer analyzed the most frequent online queries that involved the phrase, "fear of..." following the assumption that people tend to seek information on the issues that concern them the most. His top ten list of fears published 2008 consisted of flying, heights, clowns, intimacy, death, rejection, people, snakes, failure, and driving. According to surveys, some of the most common fears are of demons and ghosts, the existence of
Fear rats in two different shock situations responded differently, based on instinct or defensive topography, rather than contextual information. Species-specific defense responses are created out of fear, and are essential for survival. Rats that lack the gene stathmin show no avoidance learning, or a lack of fear, and will often walk directly up to cats and be eaten. Animals use these SSDRs to continue living, to help increase their chance of fitness, by surviving long enough to procreate. Humans and animals alike have created fear to know what should be avoided, and this fear can be learned through association with others