The Fear Knot: How Science, History, and Culture Shape Our Fears — and How to Get Unstuck

Why do we fear Halloween candy but not vending machines? Why do “witch hunts” recur so often in history? How dangerous are serial killers, really?

The Fear Knot examines our most common deeply held fears, unpacking which are valid and which are misguided, explaining the history of how our irrational fears developed, and how we can unlearn them. We live in a world seemingly rife with danger, a villainous stranger or new deadly bacteria lurking around every corner. So how do we sort through these fears, determining which are well-founded and which have been manufactured? How can our biases and psychology allow these fears to overtake us, and how can we learn to think logically in a world driven by sensationalism?

In this lively and timely tour, psychologist Natashia Swalve and journalism professor Ruth DeFoster lead readers through the history and psychology behind our most visible and sensational cultural fears, beginning with the most personal—fear within our bodies—and moving outward to the home, our country, and finally to our broadest society-level fears. From micro fears, like how our fear of vaccines has led to measles epidemics, to the broad existential dread associated with climate change and gun violence, The Fear Knot examines the toll our fears take on us, on an individual and societal level. Exploring how shared culture, media consumption, and even our own brain can help drive incorrect beliefs about risk, Swalve and DeFoster help readers to make informed, evidence-based decisions about fear and risk— and along the way, to learn how to think critically, examine your own beliefs, and become confident consumers of media and popular culture.

Combining psychology and journalism in short, light-hearted chapters, The Fear Knot gives readers a fresh look at Americans’ perceptions of risk and danger, with an emphasis on how to recognize misinformation or biases, updated to include the most recent fears that Americans face in the 21st century— and the real dangers that we may be ignoring.

Ruth DeFoster, PhD, is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Minnesota, where she is also the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her research on terrorism, mass shootings, gun violence, tragedy, and identity has been published in academic books and journals, including Health Communication, Contemporary Drug Problems, Journal of Communication Inquiry, Communication, Culture & Critique, and SAGE Research Methods Cases. DeFoster’s first book, Terrorizing the Masses: Identity, Mass Shootings, and the Media Construction of Terrorexamines twenty years of media coverage of terrorism and mass shootings in the United States. She has written for many publications, including MinnPost, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Minnesota Women’s Press, The Winona Daily News, The La Crosse Tribune, and Critique Magazine.





Natashia Swalve, PhD, is an assistant professor of psychology and psychopharmacology at Grand Valley State University in Michigan and has won several awards for teaching and faculty excellence throughout her career. She has published 28 papers on topics involving drug abuse and mental illness. Together, DeFoster and Swalve have published four academic papers and presented at three nationwide conferences on the intersection of psychology and the media, discussing perceptions of risk and audience’s beliefs about the danger of drugs, terrorism, and mass shootings.