  Ortony, Clore, and Collins argue that as “prospect emotions,” fear  and hope depend on the desirability and likelihood of a prospective  outcome—the yet to be determined outcome of an event. For  example, fear is amplified as the degree of danger, the  undesirability and/or likelihood of an outcome, increases. If I am  fearful of being attacked, I am more fearful if the prospective  attack is more undesirable: Given equal likelihood, I would be more  fearful of being stabbed in the gut with a knife or a beaten about  the torso with a pillowcase full of oranges than merely punched  repeatedly. Similarly, the more likely I believe an undesirable  outcome to be, the more fearful I may be of that outcome. The  converse is true concerning hope: The more desirable and likely an  outcome seems the more hopeful we may feel. 