Understanding behavioral modifications due to domestication is of interest from many perspectives. It may be hypothesised that reduced fearfulness has been a major target of selection during domestication. We tested 20 domesticated White Leghorn chickens and their ancestors, red junglefowl, raised in identical conditions in four different fear tests (Open Field, Novel Object, Aerial Predator, and Fear for Humans). The tests were designed to measure reactions to different types of potentially fearful stimuli. The correlations between durations of the same four variables from each of the tests (Stand/sit alert, Locomotion, Fly/jump and Vocalisation) were analysed with principal components analysis (PCA). In the PCA, 33.5% of the variation in responses was explained by a single factor with high loadings (>0.5) for Stand/sit alert (indicating high fear) in all tests, and low (<-0.5) for Vocalisations in two tests (also indicating high fear). This was therefore interpreted as a general fear factor, and birds scoring high on it were interpreted as showing higher fearfulness. Red junglefowl scored significantly higher than White Leghorns on this factor (0.52 ±0.09 vs -0.54 ±0.1; GLM: F 1,36=14.05, P<0.001), and also had a longer latency to feed in the Fear of Humans-test (575 ±28 s vs 440 ±19 s; GLM: F 1,35=7.7, P<0.01), which was used as an independent measure of fear in the same tests. The results suggest that selection for low fearfulness has been an important element of domestication.