Tuesday, September 4, 2012

English III Journal- Fear as a Motivator

Many people would agree that fear is one of the most powerful motivators of human behavior. Fear of injury makes us buckle our seat-belts. Fear of failure makes us study or work harder. Edwards and other pastors used harsh warnings in their sermons to make "sinners" understand the danger of their actions and situation by actually FEELING the fear and horror of their sinful state. Do you think fear is a great motivator? Write about what motivates you and whether you would use fear to motivate someone else.

36 comments:

  1. Emely Perez
    I think fear is a great motivator. What motivates me is fear and my parents. When I do something good like get a good grade on a test my parents are proud of me and maybe reward me depending how good I did on the test. That motivates me to do better on another test because then I know that I will get rewarded. On the other hand fear also motivates me. For example I fear that one day I will forget all my dance sequences and will be taken out of the dance. So fear motivates me to practice my dance routines more often.

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  3. fear can be a great motivator. fear can be a great motivator because it will make people do what they need to do will the consequences right behind. for example the fear of a car accident, the fear of a accident will help motivate you to drive safely and to wear a seat belt. people can also use fear to motivate others. if a teacher said he will call students parents home because he didn't do work can motivate the student to do his works. if the students doesn't do his work he will suffer the consequence. fear can be a good motivator because if people don't do what they are fear of fear will take control of them.

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  4. For me as a Fighter, I use fear as my motivator. When hitting pads with my coach when training for a big fight, my coach always gives me that pep talk while hitting pads, he would yell out, "Come On Roman! No Fear, No pain, No Fear, No pain! Push Yourself!" Those words of his sinks into my head like gorilla glue onto my brain! Then i say those words, "No Fear, No Pain, No Fear, No Pain..." and it gives me that extra boost of motivation to push myself harder. When teaching or help preparing my teammates for their fight i pass on those words to them, and use Fear as their motivator, so far its been working. Then once your fight day comes, and you enter that ring, staring down your other opponent on the other corner, and you hear that bell ring, *Ding..Ding* Its ON! Fear can be use as a motivator for almost everything, sports or academic wise, it just depends how the person Perceives it as a motivation or not. This is how i visual and Perceive fear for me.

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  5. i think fear is a great motivator because when people think of the consequences of what they are doing fear strikes into them and they immediately do what they are suppose to do i would use fear on people but it would only be enough because a human being can only take so much fear before they just explode and they go crazy from all the fear. i also would only use fear if i needed to such as something important like a seat belt or something like that so that way its not putting so much pressure on them at all and they wont feel too much fear and wont explode from all the fear that they are feeling. most people say that fear is good so it can help people which is true in certain areas like seat belts and safety first but that is just my opinion.

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  6. I think that fear is a great motivator because it gets people to do things on fear of consequence. They would much rather comply with someones demands than resist and get punished or have something taken away from them.Fear can help people do great things such as get good grade because they are afraid of what their parents might to or say if they don't. It can also have a negative affect on people such as when someone does drugs or drinks alcohol because, if they don't, they are afraid they will be ostracized. Depending on how fear is used it can be great or it can be terrible. What motivates me to do my best in school is the fear that I will disappoint my mom because I know how hard she has to work to keep me alive and healthy and, seeing as school is my only priority, I have no excuse not to do well. Another thing that motivates me is the fear of failure because we work our entire lives to reach some type of moderate success and the idea of never achieving that makes me want to work that much harder.

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  8. Fear is one of the greatest motivators. It's often the fear of consequences that motivates people to do things just to avoid having to deal with the possible aftermath. Sometimes fear is moreover a push that consistently nudges you to do something to escape what you dread will happen. What motivates me is the potential, positive outcome of the work I do. For example, if you want to be successful, a motivation you might have is gaining a number of things you don't have, like money. Another one of my motivations is my family. If anything, all I'd like to do is make them proud. Using fear to motivate someone else can go good or bad. it can be translated as blackmail when you're putting fear into someone to get good out of them. There are times though, when you scare someone with the possible outcome of how things will be if they don't do a task or such. That can actually be a quality of a good friend who looks out for the future. An example could be Jonathan Edwards. He cast a cloud of fear above those of his congregation in order for them to act and live righteously. Although fear can help motivate you to do better and to double-check what you're doing, one should not let fear control them.

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  9. I believe fear is the highest motivator for the loyal. Only the loyal behave because they do not want to suffer the consequences. On the other hand, rebels do not use fear as a motivator, their motivation is the benefit of not doing the action they were told to do. For example, you must have a GPA of 2.0 or higher to be in a sport at our school, the loyal players of the team will achieve this since they do not want to get kicked out of the team as a consequence. The rebels wouldn't since they believe nobody is superior than them, and they see the benefits of not doing the action, for example, having more time to do whatever they want and not having to try in school. I'm one of the loyal people, I do most of my homework since I don't want to get grounded by my parents, having to serve 20 minutes and still do the assignment either way because I am loyal. The rebels would not because they wouldn't have to face the consequences as they believe there is no superiority over them, therefore, they would not serve the unfinished business and listen to their parents because people can not be controlled.

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  10. I think fear is a great motivation. Fear would involve punishment or negative consequences are a form fear. If you break the rules or fail to achieve the set goal then you have the fear but is better to not have fear and to over come them. Every one has a fear of something and you put your mind to overcome them. My fear is my mom because if i don't do what she says then there would be consequences. I fear her because she buts the rules and if i don't do what she says or do bad in school then she will talk to me about what i did and tell her that i don't do it or will take thing from me. Fear is something that you could deal with because is how you feel and everyone els has it to. I like over coming mines because its makes feel none fears. my other fear is being in front of the class because what if you mess up or they laugh at you but the more i go up the fearless i get. So fear is great for people because you are overcoming them don't have fear for them.

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  11. Fear is a greatly used motivator. This is because people mainly associate fear with consequences. A lot of the time you are afraid of failing or getting in trouble, this motivates you to do whatever it is to avoid these consequences. I personally use the fear of letting my parents and myself down when it comes to school and my education. My parents worked endlessly to get me to where I am, one way I can even slightly repay them is to show them their hard work paid off. I believe that if you start something you are only failing yourself when you don't follow through with it. I mainly connect that with my education, I fear that if I stop doing well at any point all of my previous efforts will have been completely pointless. I have utilized fear to motivate someone else, and it worked out well. However, there is an extent to which you can frighten someone into believing or doing something. Once you've reached that point, I believe the outcome may result in rebellion or they could even stop trusting your word all together.

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  12. I think fear is a great motivator, for almost everything that people do. Fear, in my opinion makes people do what they need to do best, because they are scared of the consequences that will occur if they don’t do it. The way I look at it is, I want to win a basketball game so I do my best during practice and use the fear of losing as my motivation to work hard. I also use fear as a motivator for my grades, I don’t want my parents to be disappointed therefore I do my best for good grades. Yes I would use fear to motivate other people, for it helps them to do better and myself as well.

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  13. Many people have a reason of doing something and fear is that reason most of the time. People hate consequences and always try to avoid them, and that is why people do certain positive things. In example, people do their homework because they fear the consequence of receiving a bad grade. Other people do other things or else they will get in trouble. My parents motivate me to do as best as possible, and the fear of letting them down is an even greater motivation for me. Yes, I have had the experience of using fear to motivate someone else. The people I usually motivate with fear are younger family members and it works all the time. But of course, there is a limit to everything.

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  14. Fear is a primitive instinct that we are born with. It keeps humans and animals alive. If you experience something horrible once and survive it, you will do everything possible in the future avoid it. If, for instance, you had driven under the influence and got into a car accident you would never do such a thing again. Because you would fear that you will lose your life the next time around. This fear motivates you to become a better and more responsible driver. Our most intense recollections are borne in fear. The trauma engraves them into our memories.
    Humans have so many fears that we have stored away in our brains. We all have a fear of hurt, sickness, life threatening diseases, disappointment, inability to succeed, not being accepted by society and just not being the person we think we have to be. This motivates us to comply with society’s image of what a person should be and how we should act. This motivates us to do well in school and to make our parents and teachers proud. Fear takes everybody out of their comfort zone, which is why we have this penetrating fear of fear itself.
    Fear of not being successful in life has recently started to motivate me to try my absolute best in school. I do not want to walk into adult hood struggling. I will take any measures to avoid that. Thus fear inspires me to be the best I can be. Depending on the scenario, yes I would use fear as a motivator.

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  15. I think fear is a great motivator.For me if i don't get good grades then my parents will take away my phone or iPod.That puts fear into me that i won't be able to text or listen to music so i try to get the best grades possible.Also if i get below a C- then he won't let me hangout with my friends after school or on weekends so that is what really motivates me to do well.Although i believe some kids don't think fear is a great motivator because they may get mad that there parent or guardian is trying to scare them with fear then they may try to rebel and prove a point that they aren't fearful.

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  16. i feel that fear is a motivator in my life as well as others.i play basketball every year and fear of losing relates to me. as i play basketball i don't like to lose. so in the game i play as hard as i can and practice hard to prevent losing. but as i work hard to not lose, it improves me as a player.

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  17. Dustin Piring

    I think fear is a great motivator because of how powerful it can be. Especially when it comes to consequences. Many people do what they can do to avoid the consequences and punishments. So that fear inside makes them work hard. Many people use it today to peruade people. Especially parents. Parents use fear to their children so they avoid doing something very stupid. Or when it comes to grades, and a child does poorly in school. They will use fear to persuade their child to do better next time. As leila said in her journal, fear is a instinct that everyone is born with. And i agree with that. Everyone will be exposed to fear more than once in their lifetime. Its just a common thing that people of all ages go through. In my opinion i do best when i get exposed to fear because that fear makes me strive and work hard. That feeling inside my stomach makes me worried that something bad will happen so i do my best to avoid it. But i know many people will disagree and say the opposite. But in my opinion, fear is one of the greatest motivators.

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  18. I believe that fear is a great motivator. Fear causes people to do things they may not normally do. For example, if a person is about to get killed by a mugger, their first instict is to fight back. This person might be the shyest person ever but the fear of dying caused him to fight for his life. Fear can also cause people to think twice before doing something. For example, a teenager steals something from a store and gets busted by the police and gets put into juvie. They would most likely think twice when they get the urge to steal again because the fear of getting into trouble will linger in their minds.
    For me, fear is a motivation I use to an extent. I use it to motivate myself to do my homework when I'm in a lazy mood. I tell myself that if I don't finish my homework I will fail the class which would cause me to not go to college and end up as a hobo. Yes, it's sort of extreme but it works. I'm a B+ and A student. The fear of consequences could really push people. Another example would be my fear of dying in an earthquake. Because of this, I've thought of ways to exit my house as safely as possible. I know what things I need to grab before jumping out the window or the prefered exit.
    I think I would use fear as a motivator for someone else but I wouldn't take it to the extreme. I would use it to make them do positive things. I don't want to cause them to live their life in fear.

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  19. Alexandra Barton
    Fear can be a good motivator but luckily it’s not the only one. For example, if somebody did poorly in a particular class they might end up doing summer school. Fear wouldn’t be the one I’d use. I think you would get better results from people if you use different type motivators. Using positive reinforcement/motivators might give for better results and happier people. People might learn better if they are taught in a positive atmosphere.


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  21. I believe fear is a great motivator. Fear leads people to do what they are suppose to so they won't face the consequences. What puts fear into me is when my parents tell me they well take my phone away if i get bad grades.Yes i would use fear to motivate someone else because that makes them do it and also do better.

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  22. DARREN NGUYEN
    Fear is probably the strongest motivator out there. The cost of consequences strikes people with fear. People are forced to do things when they are afraid of what will happen if they don't do goods. For me I use fear as a motivator to fulfill my goals and achievements. When I fear of failing I try harder to succeed. When I am wrestling I am always scared but I use that fear to push myself to what I normally can not do. The adrenaline and feeling you get from fear makes people do things right. If fear did not exist people would do what ever they want and there will be no consequences. Fear is a great motivator for doing good things and achieving things people can't do normally without fear.

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  23. I believe that fear can be the best motivator, but can also be the best to discourage. My views on fear come from the human instinct to boost your body with adrenaline in moments of fear or close encounters. Adrenaline can boost energy in a pinch and, in this case, wake someone up to the reason why they were instilled with fear.
    The things that motivate me are the following: One, fun would be my most powerful motivator; If you can enjoy what you do, nothing can stop you from going all-out. My second would be the future, because consequences are what someone would want the least. If someone can avoid misfortune, I think that would be a good type of motivation. My last motivator would have to be passion. Passion for something gives that certain inner strength to fight along when the going gets tough. With passion, you have the need to continue and persevere, which I find to be an amazing motivator.
    For the third point, would I actually put the fear into another for my gain? Why, yes, yes I would, and I do. But I fear that I could never do that in person. The term that we internet geeks call this is a "keyboard warrior", where we can take advantage of the safety of being behind a screen in order to take advantage of others. One way would be by DDoS Attacks as a serious threat, even though I quit that long ago. You could completely shut down one's internet for a certain duration, depending on the cost of the DDoS Tool and host, which is pretty darn scary (and annoying) to me. I've been threatened with it before, and what did I do? I fought fire with fire till they collapsed to their knees and plead for mercy.

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  24. Jose Maciel
    Yes, i think fear is a great motivator, because it makes you think about negative consequences, so fear motivates you to do the best posible to reach for your goals. One thing that motivates me is fear of disappointment. Fear of disappointing or failing my parents, is what pushes me to do better at school, to get better grades, to be a better student, because i want my parents to feel proud of me and i want to show them that I'm doing everything that i need to do, in order for me to graduate from High school. For instance, when I'm playing my xbox instead of doing my homework, and then i realize that my mom is working just so I can have a better life and I can have all this privileges, then i stop playing, at that moment i fear disappointing them. I know I'm not perfect and that sometimes I'm lazy, but i also know i can work a little bit harder and dedicate some time to do what i have to do for school, because i want to graduate and will be walking on that stage.

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  25. Fear is the best type of motivator for law abiding citizens. I don't think it is as effective to a person that really follows the rules. To people that think that fear is a great motivator roots from tem not wanting to get the consequences. For example when I get bad grades or step out of hand, my dad will usually punish me by taking away something that I cherish, such as my iPod or my phone. Considering that I don't want it to get taken I will work my butt off to get that good grade and avoid the consequence of getting my phone or my iPod getting taken away. For people not following the rules, using fear will not scare them in any way . For example I have a friend whose been arrested 3 times, but never learns his lesson. While his parents used fear to scare him to not redo his actions, it never really worked as he redone his actions that got him arrested. What motivates me is fear mostly. I do not want to face the consequences of the actions so I tend to avoid actions that get me in trouble. For example I'm afraid of getting a detection so I avoid doing actions I'll regret or maybe I really wanna start slimming down as I do not want to face the problems later in life with having a larger body size. The fear motivation can steer me out of trouble, help me lose weight, and even help me raise my grade with the proper technique. It depends who I use fear on. I tend to use fear on people smaller than me, but it's all for a good cause such as grades (except brother). I avoid using the fear method on my more ghetto friends as they're not afraid of me and can beat me up.

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  26. Fear is a powerful word. Fear in history has inspired men to take arms, to invent new technologies, to create diffused cultures. The effects of fear on our society and on us the individuals shows that fear is one of man's greatest motivators. In my personal experience, fear of failure has been my one consistent fear that has motivated me to become who I am today. If I picture myself as a poor man as a result of failure, that is fear working to instill better behavior in me and to prevent me from failing again. Fear of death has allowed our society to create many medical advances just to evade an inevitable event, once again using fear as a motivator to progress. I myself have used fear as a motivational technique onto others, and I can say that it is very effective, which encourages me to use it in the future as a method of motivation or coercion. Fear's powerful motivating factor has a profound state on our behavior as human, for better and for worse, and we will continue to live our lives in constant fear.

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  27. Nathan Balmes
    I think fear can be a great motivator in my opionion. Like fear of failure, makes you always want to come out and be the best you can be because you don't want to fail. It steers you away from what you least want to do. It is like the opposite of your conscience. Fear tells you what not to do, to help you succeed in the opposite direction of what you are fearing. Fear has its own consequences as well because you try so hard to not fall in the end that it can make you worry about it every moment of your life.

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  28. Fear has been a prime motivator throughout history and will continue to motivate us until the end of time. It is a very effective tool if one wishes to accomplish something. It is fear that makes us buckle our seat belts because we know that we can face serious injury if we don't. We drive at the speed limit because we know that we won't have as much reaction time if we don't. We wear coats because we know that we can catch a cold if we don't. We have these fear because the media constantly shows us tragic new reports of death and disasters within our area. They make us feel that we aren't protected and they plant that seed in our subconscious thoughts so that we obey our leaders and don't question them.They make examples out of the corpses. Our government uses nuclear weapons to keep power, money, and territory thirsty mosquitoes from invading our lands and attacking our country and people. Yes, our politicians abuse this power, but if it weren't for this very power, we wouldn't be living as comfortably as we do. This is the negative view point of fear. But, look at the positives. We avoid accidents and tragedies by wearing our seat-belts. We don't push our vehicles past their limits by driving at the recommended speed limit. We maintain a slight amount of peace and calm n our communities by doing so. The same applies to families and children. Of course my parents used fear to calm me down. Yes, I know it comes out in a lot of comedies, but it's true. Scary stories get to you when you're 6. You aren't going to risk being taken away by the Boogeyman or La Llorona. These stories scare us straight and they're going to scare my future kid(s) straight as well. They're effective, useful, and eventually we lose the fear (unless you still believe in ghosts because you know that they're real and everywhere!), but not the norm because we became accustomed to behaving a certain way. My prime motives aren't simply fear. I'm motivated by respect, pleasure, comfort, opportunity, and loyalty. I don't ditch school and go waste my time doing drug or committing crimes because I have too much respect for my parents and the struggle and effort that they they've put in for us to be where we are and not going to make all of that worth nothing. I put a lot of effort into projects because I like feeling the pleasure and pride of receiving a good grade. I enjoy getting good grades because that means that more doors open up to me and allow me to chose a field that I can enjoy and love and will allow me to live comfortably without much hassle. I will make certain decisions if I feel that there is a good opportunity approaching me and that I can gain something from it. However, i will never choose a good opportunity over a close friend or relative. Loyalty holds a higher level of importance in my life.
    P.S.- This thing wouldn't let me publish. :(

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  29. Fear is a great motivator to a certain extent. Having a fear of consequence enables people to do good things and stay out of trouble. At the same time though we have rebels who will push past these set limits. So fear might not work on all people but it works on a good majority. The stronger the fear the most likely people will do their best to avoid punishment. For example Muslims pray five times a day because we fear that we will not be able to go to heaven. Also we follow the five pillars of Islam so we can avoid the costs of going to hell. Many people do fear something and that is why Edwards was a motivator. He thought was actually doing something good at his time because he probably feared of all the people around him going to hell. Therefore he tried to help them by telling them the consequence of what will happen if they don’t do certain things and be more religious. I would use fear to motivate others like my siblings or family but I won’t use it at an extreme level.

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  30. Aidan Aseron

    Fear is a great motivator. It has been used throughout history to keep people in check and set boundaries. Fear can be used by anyone, but it is most common amongst our family, coaches, and teachers. Without fear, there would be chaos. Everyone would do whatever they please. Fear is there to urge them not to do it and motivate them to do something. I would use fear, but not as much as some others. There are alternative motivators out there.

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  31. Fear is a great motivator. Even though this type of motivation is twisted and manipulative it is effective towards the person it's aimed for. Fear has people on their guard and alert for anything and everything they are supposed to do. This one of the reasons why so many people use the motivation of fear everywhere. There is nowhere where people haven't used it as a motivator. We see it everyday in media, classes, and even home. Personally i would not like to use fear as a motivator, but we have been so used to it, that become one with us. This motivation with fear is human nature, as we do not know how in any other ways to discipline people. But not people are motivated by fear. SOme are motivated with reward , only if the fear motivation has gotten dull. This is one of the reasons for revolt and revolution. It's because many of these people seek for something greater than something that is not effective. Fear is in all of us. At some point we will break to our greatest fear and hopefully it'll come to good use for us.

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  32. In my opinion, I think that fear has an outcome of being both a good motivator and bad motivator. I think a good example of fear being a good motivator is if you are afraid of failing at something you don't give up. Instead you chose to stand strong and keep trying until you succeed at whatever it is you are trying to accomplish. Also, I believe that fear can also be a bad motivator because if someone were to be having a horrible day and they go home with so much mixed emotions and they see something that triggers their pain it can motivate them to do something that they might later on regret.

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  33. Justice Pangelinan

    I think fear is a great motivator. It is used in everyday life without people even noticing it. Just like fear of messing a recipe up, or a fear of losing a game, people put in extra effort into succeeding without even thinking about it as fear. I motivate my sister in doing good in school, using fear. I tell her that if she doesn't do good in school, I wont help her if she has problems later in life. I probably would help her, but I actually want her to succeed so I scare her a bit and it works! I myself, have the fear of living a hard life, thus it is a drive for me to do good in school and become someone great. Fear, is what we are built on. without it, we as people, wouldn't be functional.

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  34. Steffon Williams
    Fear has been a very important instinct/behavior for humans, and everybody has it. Fear is reason why we are still around. Fear makes us aware and be cautious. I think fear can be a great motivator when used at the right time. If you use fear to make somebody do something and be afraid of the consequences then they most likely would do it. For example if someone tells you to stop talking or you will get a phone call home most people would stop talking because they don’t want a phone call home.
    Fear can also be a bad thing when used too much or at the wrong time. Fear can also make you paranoid and play tricks on the brain; it can be a big de-motivator. Fear can also cause people to mess up. For example if you keep putting fear into someone’s head or try to make them fear at the wrong time they could panic and make things worse. So I do think fear is a great motivator when used in context.

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  35. Melissa Ruiz

    Fear is something that pushes us to do the "right thing" it helps us distiguish between good or bad, we don't do certain things for fear of the consequence, we usually follow rule because we fear we'll get in trouble and by getting there's following consequence. When we're little our parents or guardians tell us what to do or what not to do htey tell us to study hard because if we dont we wont be succesful and fear failure, they tell us why certain things are wrong and why you shouldnt do them they persuade us by inducing fear into our life. There is need for fear in order to know limits and know right from wrong. Fear is a motivator although they have opposite conotations, fear does motivate you to do the right thing, what's necessary and it helps u take the right path to reach your goals. For example, if I wasnt afraid of not not doing good enough in school or not getting the credits I need to attend to a good college I wouldn't be trying lile I do to keep my grades up.

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  36. Fear us ab extremely efficient method of motivation or persuasion. Since everyone has a fear of something, whether it be the fear of losing someone, drowing, small spaces, the list goes on. And anyone with good speaking skills and a little observation could easily manipulate anyones fears and use it to their advantage. This method is common among power seekers or greedy archetypes, such as military leaders, con-men, dictators , preachers, etc.
    In general what motivates me is the fear of failure and being looked down upon. The reason for that is, obviously for one, no one wants to be called a failure and be thought as incapable of doing anything. For example, if you're thought as a failure, how do you think your future would be? Being unable to get a good job as well as everyone having that lingering thought of you being a worthless failure, Would you want that kind of ridicule to forever stay with you? Then don't fail, don't become insignificant. Now, in addition to showing you insight within my mind, that was also an exaple as to how one could use fear to convince people not to become a failure.
    Fear is so powerful tht it causes people to shiver, breath nervously, scream, as well as cause them to do things they would never normally do. For example, if someone's fear was losing a loved one and their loved one got kidnapped and they knew where they were being held. That person would rush through danger and risk their own life for their loved one's life. So yes, I would use people's fears to motivate them. It may seem harsh or even evil, but it is one of the simplest ways to motivate or convince someone.

    -Zac Borja

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