ABSTRACT
The Emotional Schema model stresses the importance of evolution in accounting for the predisposition toward certain emotional responses. All emotions are related to adaptation and have served to assure genetic fitness by protecting against danger, assuring the survival of genes, and protecting the survival of offspring. In this chapter, the universal nature of specific phobia (such as fears of heights, water, strangers, closed spaces, open fields, animals) is linked to the protective nature of emotions that are often triggered by stimuli analogous to the evolutionarily relevant environment. These evolutionary predispositions help account for the sense of urgency, danger and impulsive responses often accompanied by intense emotion.
