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
I’m no expert but from what I understand evolution is super slow compared to how quickly humans advanced in technology and society.
Evolutionarily speaking we’re still tens of thousands of years behind and modern humans originated somewhere in Eastern or southern Africa (not sure which). Both areas have dangerous skittering animals like scorpions and stuff that like to live in cool dark places which is where people would seek shelter too.
There were likrly enough unhappy run ins with such animals that we kind of got hard wired to be wary of things that move like spiders and scorpions do.
I think the feeling of anxiety and the idea that having a spider or its web on you is gross are just manifestations of a really old instinct that likely has been with modern humans ever since they first braved the jungles of Africa to spread out over the world.
Spiders tend to embody a lot of what we’re wired to see as “unnatural.” They look almost alien, night and day compared to the endearing features of other animals.
Not only do they have fangs, but they have eight eyes and eight legs, which is alarming, on it’s own – and paradoxically, you generally can’t even see their eyes. Not being able to see a creature’s face, when you should, can be troubling. Having eight legs sets them apart from the six legged insects we’re more used to.
There’s also the way they move. The scuttling motion can be startling. Some of them *jump.* They also use webbing, and with that they can basically be anywhere in the air. You can walk into their webs by accident. A spider can lower itself on a string down onto your head, etc.
To be clear, I’m not even arachnophobic. I love spiders. But I’ve thought a lot about why this fear might be so widespread.
I can trace my Arachnophobia to a fun little Traumatic Experience in my childhood.
I was 4 years old and I was with my Dad at the property he was building our new house on. He was busy framing and I was playing in the sand out front until I got up and wandered off into the woods next to the house.
I got lost and where I ended up was in a small thicket of trees that were covered in spider webs. I stood there screaming my lungs out til he heard me and found me!
Now I’m afraid of any spider bigger than a quarter in diameter for leg span that isn’t a Daddy Long Legs. It’s not so much a panic attack response but more so very much a “Fight or Flight” adrenaline response that will make me want to burn my fucking house down to kill it if I have to.
An analogy:
The smells we have the strongest reaction to are those that come from sources most likely to kill us: rotten food, feces, vectors for pathogens. Lots of things we haven’t evolved the ability to detect via smell at all, because they have no impact on survival.
The animals we have the strongest reactions to are also those that have at some point in our evolutionary past have had selection pressure.
Maybe because they’re so small and can get you while you sleep. If you roll over on one while unconscious and that sucker bites you, that could have been the end. Also, people saying there “aren’t many that can kill you” have never lived in CA/PNW. Black widows are more common than daddy long legs. *shudder*
*Most* spiders may not be dangerous, but your first run-in with the few that are could be your last. And a black widow is not going to care that you didn’t see it hiding in your shoe.
We have three main phobias: Snakes, spiders and strangers. These were the usual dangers to be aware of. (German TV series “Geist und Gehirn” about psychology). Usually we’ll need to learn to have a phobia but for these we are inclined to rather not be bitten to death or to be invited for lunch (being the meal). We do have rituals to meet and to become friends (e.g. potlatch). In Australia a certain TV episode will not be aired because it features a friendly spider (and becoming friends could be deadly there).
Also we are good at spotting faces of predators. Those who didn’t see the tiger aren’t our ancestors.
Because all the humans who had the “let’s hug those nice little spiders” gene didn’t have a lot of chance to reproduce.
Have you seen those (redacted) in Australia?! They’re like a foot in size!!! Just knowing Jurassic sized spiders exist is enough to cause a phobia for me.
I’ve heard that things are perceived as scarier the less human-like they are. Like snakes and spiders. Spiders are all legs, dark, make sudden movements, And you can’t see their face
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