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Fear signals vulnerability and appeasement, not threat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2023

Abigail A. Marsh Open the ORCID record for Abigail A. Marsh [Opens in a new window]
Abigail A. Marsh*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA aam72@georgetown.edu www.abigailmarsh.com
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Abstract

Humans are not only fearful apes, but we also communicate our fear using social cues. Social fear displays typically elicit care and assistance in the real world and the lab. But in the psychology and neuroscience literature fearful expressions are commonly interpreted as “threat cues.” The fearful ape hypothesis suggests that fearful expressions should be instead considered appeasement and vulnerability cues.

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Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 46 , 2023 , e71
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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