Fear Factor

I was reading this article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20091117/hl_hsn/fearless3yearoldsmightbetomorrowscriminals

It was about the correlation between a weakly inculcated fear response and the tendency towards criminal activities. That is, people with feeble fear responses were more likely to commit crimes later in life. Whenever I read this kinda stuff, I cannot help but feel that it is fishy. For one, causality is most certainly rather hard to establish in research on social phenomena.

Moreover, this is simply about fear and crime. It seems to neglect the other possible benefits of having poor fear responses, such as being able to overcome apprehension and thus exploiting opportunities that others deem overly intimidating. It can also mean the difference between freezing up and getting killed, and surviving a crisis.

I really do think it absurd that it is implied that fear is somehow key to a lawful society, and that it is desirable. Fear in reasonable amounts will indeed keep people in line and lead to a reasonably harmonious coexistence. However, excessive fear will lead to a timid and cowed populace that is easily manipulated by the strong. I do not think that desirable at all.