Why are so many humans (myself included) afraid of spiders? Arachnophobia consistently lands in the top 10 most-common phobias. Why? Especially when there aren’t *that* many deadly species of them? Why spiders over other animals?
In: Biology
Its not like its an evolutionary thing that came from learning to avoid venomous spiders. Its a “a cultural phenomenon that is most common in predominantly European societies.”
so most folks are afraid of spiders in the way that some Christians are afraid of the rapture or whatever
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnophobia
It’s in the primal parts of our brains. Spiders and snakes are dangerous so it’s advantageous to be afraid of them…..more so when we lived outside or mainly in tropical areas
Maybe because they have hydraulic legs and the way they move looks unnatural?
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Lions are big, they have long teeth and make loud noises. Lions are very obviously scary and look dangerous
Spiders are small, and easily crushable. They are not obviously scary or look dangerous, yet they can still very dangerous.
Thus it is advantageous for us to have a deep-seated primal, fear of spiders (and snakes), because otherwise we wouldn’t be scared of these potentially lethal animals
Edit: deep-seeded —> deep-seated
It’s an evolutionary trait passed on from our ancestors.
Phobias and inate fears have their purposes. Usually it’s to prolong our own life span.
I can’t find the citation, but I had read or heard a theory that the fear of spiders (and other small stinging or biting bugs) could be a generational holdover from early days of humanity (think nomadic times, hunter gatherer). The danger posed from the spider isn’t direct. They won’t necessarily kill you from venom. But they can injure you. And at a time when speed and agility were way more important to us, an injury could mean:
A) you’re easier for a larger predator to kill
B) It’s harder for you to hunt or gather for your food
C) it’s harder to travel with the clan
All of these could be fatal.
And given that spiders, bees, ants, etc are small and can surprise you, yeah, they can be something to be feared.
Have you SEEN a spider? Uggggh! All legs and eyes and pointy fangs!!! NO thanks buddy!
A lot of the more primal instincts we have, such as a fear of spiders, snakes, and other creepy crawlies, are left over from our evolutionary ancestors. There aren’t that many spiders that are dangerous to humans, mostly based on our size, but imagine 10 or 20 or 30 million years ago, when our ancestors were much smaller, think monkeys. Relative to a small mammal, spiders are MUCH more dangerous just based on volume of the venom being injected by a bite, and also remember that when the world was warmer arthropods like insects and spiders grew to be larger as well. Because there is very little harm that comes from arachnophobia, and there are dangerous spiders out there, evolution hasn’t removed these primitive instincts from our species.
It could also be a cultural thing too. It’s scary because everyone around says they’re supposed to be scary. Is its phobia ranking consistently high all across the globe?
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