WILLIAM BRYANT
On Fear
William Bryant. born in 1980, graduated from the University of Harvard and later received his masters from Yale University. He studied Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics, and has been in a professor at Stanford University since 2008. However, Bryant also has multiple publications including books, articles, and essays. Some of his most famous works include The Mind in its Natural Environment (1996), Fear’s Control on the Mind (2000), and Manipulating the World for Your Success (2011).
A self proclaimed analyst of the complex actions of humans, Bryant draws his examples from situations he has witnessed and experienced first hand. The intricate detail and description of each…show more content… His pace is unnaturally fast, appearing to be unsettled and in a hurry. The sides of his midnight-black trench coat conceal his hands. Stepping forward to meet his brother, the businessman’s smile fades. The approaching gentleman proves not to be his brother. This mysterious man pauses in the middle of the square and slowly inches his pocket hand outside his coat to expose a gleaming silver handgun. Pointing with no clear target, bullets pierce nearby pedestrians continuously. Confounded, the man begins to back away. He looks towards the road, a sea of people separates him from safety. In his right leg the man feels a great…show more content… As the next day came, which also happened to be the last day of the school year, I walk up to my teacher’s desk. She stares me down like a hawk on its prey. Sweat begins to drip down my face as I attempt to make my claim. But I can’t. I instead compliment her on how great of a teacher she is. I ended English that year with my first B ever. What halted my actions in front of my teacher’s desk that day? Why couldn’t I just say what I wanted to say? While many different circumstances of ranging severity, like the man in the plaza, instill different levels of fear in people, the power of fear remains immensely underestimated. Fear is the emotion felt by someone that is in danger, or that feels threatened. Fear can make you act in almost any certain fashion and make you complete great physical feats. However fear can also stop you from completing those great feats, and can stop you from doing anything, in fact. When your brain feels that you are in danger, or threatened, it triggers the release of epinephrine, a neurotransmitter commonly known as adrenaline. The response from adrenaline, frequently referred to as “Fight-or-Flight, prompts us to directly oppose the threat, or flee from