14. Fear

Fear evolved in human beings in response to concrete stimuli in concrete situations. Our visceral emotion of fear is not attuned to deal with remote, general, or abstract risks. In fact, when it comes to remote risks, fear works against us, because it motivates us not to consider them, as the prospect is vaguely scary, but not terrifying enough to make us actually care. An example would be when a man refuses to get a medical analysis of a bump on his prostate because he is afraid that something malignant will be found.