Dubai National School

English Language Department

Argumentative Essay Writing #1 / Grade 10
Name: Hamad Qais Grade: 10G

Write a five-paragraph Argumentative Essay of at least 250

words to discuss the following issue:
“The Role of Imagination in Fear”
● Explore and argue whether imagination plays a significant
role in generating fear.
● How do our imaginative faculties contribute to creating
and intensifying fears, such as phobias or anxieties?

General Guidelines:

1. Write an effective title.

2. Follow the paragraph structure.
3. Indent all paragraphs.
4. Revise sentences.
5. Vary the lengths of your sentences by using correct punctuation marks.
6. Use important supporting details that better explain your ideas.
7. Pay attention to capitalization, spelling, and grammar mistakes.

Start writing on the second page…

The Role of Imagination in Creating and Coping with Fear

 Imagine yourself in the woods, all alone with no one around. Suddenly, you hear
frightening noises in the distance. Fear overcomes your mind and body, and you find yourself
paralyzed. In an instant, you begin to visualize and imagine what might happen: the potential
risks, who might approach you, and much more. The term fear means an unpleasant emotion
caused by the threat of danger, or to be afraid. Imagination plays a significant role not only in
creating fear but also in coping with and overcoming it.

Fear can sometimes arise when you are in a dangerous situation, and imagining things
about the situation will probably create even more fear. Imagination allows us to create realistic
mental scenarios of potential future threats or dangers leading to anticipatory anxiety. For
example, Imagining the worst possible outcome of a situation can amplify our fear and anxiety,
making it seem scarier than reality. According to the National Journal of Abnormal Psychology,
a study found that participants who imagined anxiety-inducing scenarios experienced a
significant increase in anxiety levels compared to those who imagined neutral scenarios.

While visualizing future threats or dangers might create fear, Imagining and visualizing
the situation in a different perspective will help you overcome and cope with fear. Imagination
can be used to reframe fearful thoughts. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) often involves
encouraging individuals to imagine different, less fearful situations. This helps in reframing
tragic thinking. For example, someone with social anxiety can be asked to imagine a positive
social interaction rather than a negative one. And according to the National Institute of Mental
Health (NIMH), The study found that participants who engaged in imaginal exposure, which
involved vividly imagining the feared scenarios, experienced a significant reduction in fear and
anxiety related to their specific phobias.

People say that fear has innate responses, and that fear is primarily an innate and
evolutionary response to real or fake threats. While imagination can amplify fear, the main
source of fear is not imagination but rather our brain's ways for survival.While it actually can be
true that innate fear responses exist, imagination can significantly affect how we experience and
respond to fear. This counterclaim does not apply for complex fears, such as phobias, where
imagination plays the most significant role in amplifying and overcoming fear. Additionally, fear
response can be highly affected by emotional processes, making imagination a key factor in
many fear-related experiences.

In conclusion, the role of imagination in fear is a multifaceted one. Imagination can

undeniably amplify fear, especially when we provoke worst-case scenarios in our minds. Yet, it
is equally undeniable that imagination can be a powerful tool for coping with and overcoming
fear, specifically in the context of psychological interventions like CBT. While innate responses
to fear are indeed a real and immediate aspect of our survival mechanisms, the argument that
imagination significantly impacts our experience and management of fear is well-founded. Thus,
understanding the interplay between fear and imagination is crucial for comprehending the
complexity of fear.