The clinical characteristics of phobias include behavioural, emotional and cognitive symptoms. Behavioural characteristics of phobias include avoidance. However, if a person is unable to avoid their phobia, this causes panic, which may result in crying, screaming or running away. The key emotional characteristic of phobias is excessive and unreasonable fear and anxiety. Cognitive characteristics include selective attention and irrational beliefs. The person will find it difficult to direct their attention away from the feared object or situation, and their belief about the object or situation is irrational, e.g. all spiders are dangerous/deadly.