Why are humans inherently afraid of spiders and snakes? | |
Children of the Atom User ID: 20257839 United States 03/15/2013 12:58 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
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Azeratel Axo User ID: 30946295 Canada 03/15/2013 01:03 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I once went hiking in the mountains in PA and thought I was about to step on a tree branch but it was a black snake!!! That was the only time in my entire life when I was paralyzed with fear. Not good! I ended up jumping back and throwing rocks at it then it left. :D .... Spiders and snakes are comrades you know |
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Songtsan User ID: 32006923 United States 03/15/2013 01:04 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Probably because they can be poisonous...but I remember when I was a little kid, I used to play with spiders, pick them up and let them crawl on me no fear, then I saw this movie with giant man-eating spiders in it and after that they freaked me out...so some of it is also social conditioning, learned behavior. |
Azeratel Axo User ID: 30946295 Canada 03/15/2013 01:05 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Probably because they can be poisonous...but I remember when I was a little kid, I used to play with spiders, pick them up and let them crawl on me no fear, then I saw this movie with giant man-eating spiders in it and after that they freaked me out...so some of it is also social conditioning, learned behavior. Quoting: Songtsan 32006923 yup |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 35945685 United States 03/15/2013 01:05 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | i wonder if way way way back they were huge, like the size of a horse or something. so we have it deep in our cells to be afraid Quoting: Anonymous Coward 27963234 Yes, the fossil record indicates that insects grew to several feet long. And of course we know about dinosaurs. And of course, the Bible is correct in the chronology of the earth, in that it is only 7000 or so years old, and man co-exsited with these creatures. Think of it that way, it perfectly explains our fear of insects and snakes. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 9266723 United States 03/15/2013 01:05 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Your fear of snakes is for obvious reasons. They will kill you. Spiders less so... yes there are some deadly ones but the vast majority can't hurt a human too much. People think it's because their angular features and fast, irregular movement is what causes people to fear them. Humans don't like something that they can't tell when/how it's going to move. |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 34139889 United States 03/15/2013 01:06 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Probably because they can be poisonous...but I remember when I was a little kid, I used to play with spiders, pick them up and let them crawl on me no fear, then I saw this movie with giant man-eating spiders in it and after that they freaked me out...so some of it is also social conditioning, learned behavior. Quoting: Songtsan 32006923 yup Doesn't explain Charlotte's Web.... |
Azeratel Axo User ID: 30946295 Canada 03/15/2013 01:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | i wonder if way way way back they were huge, like the size of a horse or something. so we have it deep in our cells to be afraid Quoting: Anonymous Coward 27963234 Yes, the fossil record indicates that insects grew to several feet long. And of course we know about dinosaurs. And of course, the Bible is correct in the chronology of the earth, in that it is only 7000 or so years old, and man co-exsited with these creatures. Think of it that way, it perfectly explains our fear of insects and snakes. it makes no claims regarding that and gives no timelines |
Azeratel Axo User ID: 30946295 Canada 03/15/2013 01:07 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Probably because they can be poisonous...but I remember when I was a little kid, I used to play with spiders, pick them up and let them crawl on me no fear, then I saw this movie with giant man-eating spiders in it and after that they freaked me out...so some of it is also social conditioning, learned behavior. Quoting: Songtsan 32006923 yup Doesn't explain Charlotte's Web.... That'll do, pig. ... That'll do. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 35945685 United States 03/15/2013 01:09 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | i wonder if way way way back they were huge, like the size of a horse or something. so we have it deep in our cells to be afraid Quoting: Anonymous Coward 27963234 Yes, the fossil record indicates that insects grew to several feet long. And of course we know about dinosaurs. And of course, the Bible is correct in the chronology of the earth, in that it is only 7000 or so years old, and man co-exsited with these creatures. Think of it that way, it perfectly explains our fear of insects and snakes. it makes no claims regarding that and gives no timelines Whatever, give or take a few thousand year. But certainly man contemporaneously existed with "dinosaurs". That is undeniable. |
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Anonymous Coward (OP) User ID: 27504938 United States 03/15/2013 01:11 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Probably because they can be poisonous...but I remember when I was a little kid, I used to play with spiders, pick them up and let them crawl on me no fear, then I saw this movie with giant man-eating spiders in it and after that they freaked me out...so some of it is also social conditioning, learned behavior. Quoting: Songtsan 32006923 yup Doesn't explain Charlotte's Web.... Made me cry in school. Especially because my mom was the teacher. I don't need therapy I swear! |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 35945685 United States 03/15/2013 01:11 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Your fear of snakes is for obvious reasons. They will kill you. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 9266723 Spiders less so... yes there are some deadly ones but the vast majority can't hurt a human too much. People think it's because their angular features and fast, irregular movement is what causes people to fear them. Humans don't like something that they can't tell when/how it's going to move. Meh, doesn't explain why we're not instinctively afraid of cats (like lions) or hippos. In fact, hippos kill more people than any other creature on earth. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 34139889 United States 03/15/2013 01:12 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | i wonder if way way way back they were huge, like the size of a horse or something. so we have it deep in our cells to be afraid Quoting: Anonymous Coward 27963234 Yes, the fossil record indicates that insects grew to several feet long. And of course we know about dinosaurs. And of course, the Bible is correct in the chronology of the earth, in that it is only 7000 or so years old, and man co-exsited with these creatures. Think of it that way, it perfectly explains our fear of insects and snakes. it makes no claims regarding that and gives no timelines Additionally, the earth had a different rotation around the sun. A 'day' could have been god knows what during creation. pun. Think about this - A billion years from now - a day will be like 45 hours - so basing the whole "7 days" thing is silly. No telling what type of orbits it had around the sun while it was getting slammed by other planets and asteroids during 'creation.' |
Children of the Atom User ID: 20257839 United States 03/15/2013 01:12 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I once went hiking in the mountains in PA and thought I was about to step on a tree branch but it was a black snake!!! That was the only time in my entire life when I was paralyzed with fear. Not good! I ended up jumping back and throwing rocks at it then it left. :D .... Spiders and snakes are comrades you know Totally how I feel! Spiders keep the other crap out. Although, I do not like these really bright red ones... they are KOS. [link to img199.imageshack.us] |
Azeratel Axo User ID: 30946295 Canada 03/15/2013 01:14 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Totally how I feel! Quoting: Children of the Atom Spiders keep the other crap out. Although, I do not like these really bright red ones... they are KOS. [link to img199.imageshack.us] [link to en.wikipedia.org] They eat woodlice. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 9266723 United States 03/15/2013 01:15 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Your fear of snakes is for obvious reasons. They will kill you. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 9266723 Spiders less so... yes there are some deadly ones but the vast majority can't hurt a human too much. People think it's because their angular features and fast, irregular movement is what causes people to fear them. Humans don't like something that they can't tell when/how it's going to move. Meh, doesn't explain why we're not instinctively afraid of cats (like lions) or hippos. In fact, hippos kill more people than any other creature on earth. hippos are prey to humans and have been for a long time. Yeah they will fuck up an unarmed human but we've been hunting Mammoths for millions of years. As for cats, if you see a lion stalking you, believe me, you will be afraid. |
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Children of the Atom User ID: 20257839 United States 03/15/2013 01:17 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Totally how I feel! Quoting: Children of the Atom Spiders keep the other crap out. Although, I do not like these really bright red ones... they are KOS. [link to img199.imageshack.us] [link to en.wikipedia.org] They eat woodlice. Looks much more closer to this... [link to en.wikipedia.org] Compare my photo to that, but what's odd is that wiki claims that they are not native to Ohio... |
OCD Chaos Theorist User ID: 29524680 United States 03/15/2013 01:20 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I suspect it's, in general, caused by women (no offense). Back in 'the day' when most people lived in very primitive conditions women were responsible for the safety of the homestead/camp. In these conditions spiders and snakes could easily ninja in among the children and were a constant safety risk. Not all were dangerous but it's easier to just be afraid of them all so I think thousands of years of mothers passing on this fear has pretty much stuck. I wish I had more time so I could do even less. |
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