Reality and Fear

"Reality and fear go together naturally. As the human infant is in an even more exposed and helpless situation [than animal], it is foolish to assume that the fear response of animals would be desappeared in such a weak and highly sensitive species. It is more resonable to think that is was instead heightened, as some of the early Darwinians thought: early men who were most affraid were those who were most realistic about their situation in nature, and they passed on to their offspring a realism that had a high survival value. The result was the emergence of man as we know him: a hyperanxious animal who constantly invents reasons for anxiety even when they are none."

E. Becker