Adaptation to potential threat: The evolution, neurobiology, and psychopathology of the security motivation system

The risk of improbable, uncertain, but grave potential dangers poses unique adaptive challenges. We argue that to manage such risks, a special motivational system evolved, which we term the security motivation system. Review of work across a range of species indicates that this system is designed to detect subtle indicators of potential threat, to probe the environment for further information about these possible dangers, and to motivate …