Fear according to oxford dictionary is a strong, uncontrollable, unpleasant emotion, caused by actual or perceived danger or threat. From the above definition of fear, one can see that, it may be actual or perceived danger. Fear is an inborn attribute of humans. This explain why a child of three month old will cry when he is kept in the dark alone. People are scared of the dark, not because it is dark, but because of the inability of the person to see where he is going or what is coming his direction.
This fear can be caused by our past experiences. There is this adage that says, fire do not burn a blind person twice. Our past experiences shape what we should fear. There was this pastor at the place where I stay, one morning on his way to work, he gave a girl a lift in his car since she was going his direction, on getting to the place where he was supposed to alight her, she started shouting that the pastor had slept with her as a prostitute and has refused to pay her for her services. He was almost beaten that day, thank God for his wife that rescued him from the mob that day since she knew the truth that he slept at home with her. Because of that incidence, he resolved not to give anyone a lift again for the fear of repeat of what happened to him.
Sometimes this fear is not caused by our instinct or experiences, but by what the media has paint to us, and that create fear to us. Last year was one year that was characterised by fear, because of the covid 19. EVery day in the news, there were thousands figures of those who had contracted or died as a result of the covid 19 illness. In my country, the figures were extremely exaggerated to instill fear to the people.
In whatever case it may be, people are afraid of the Unknown. The fear of the unknown result of an action, may cause inaction. Because the action may cause threat to his life or that of his family.
Ordinarily one would say there is nothing unknown to us, considering we can gather plenty information or knowledge at the tip of our hands using the available technology to gather all the information we need that may erase fear. Ironically, we are even more scared than before despite the information and technology we enjoy now.
In summary, fear is cause by our past experiences. Sometime caused by the information gathered from media. Fear is an inborn attribute that feed upon many external factor that hinders us from taking actions.