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 have a theory that it’s because it’s seen as a “scary” creature for pranks and Halloween and such that we ended up feeding into creating a phobia on accident. Plus, when are we willingly exposed to spiders? Unfamiliarity and ignorance breeds fear
spiders are fucking terrifying. have you ever seen a spider? they have like 800 eyes. you don’t need that many eyes. that’s way too many eyes. and legs. why do they have so many legs. AND WHY ARE THEY FURRY????????????
Fast, erratic, unpredictable movements. You can intuitively guess how a mammal will move, and most flying things can’t fly backwards. They’re easy to evade. It’s much harder to guess whether a spider will start running and in which direction.
“Phobia” is also an “irrational fear” of something. That spiders aren’t usually dangerous and easily squishable makes it a phobia and not just fear. (Though what amounts to “dangerous” for an adult and a toddler is vastly different, it would make more sense for toddlers to stay away from creepy crawlies but *they* often don’t and will happily play with a scorpion)
Most snakes aren’t dangerous either, but those that are are bad news. It’s better to assume they are than start checking colors. The amygdala fires before the conscious brain caught up. Better jump 10 times for nothing than once not when you should have.
Phobias are also learned early on. Phobic parents, even when strongly trying to act cool so the kids don’t get scared still give off signals that something is not ok that little kids pick up on. Rodents are usually cute until adults teach that they’re disgusting and dangerous.
I’m not scared of snakes or spiders, but still involuntarily jump when I unexpectedly see either. Like a fight or flight adrenaline pump just for a moment, then I rationalise and deal with it. Definitely primal reaction, not a phobia, for me any way.
When my son was an infant I introduced him to spiders, he had no fear. But when his mum and sister screamed the place down at the sight of a spider he developed a phobia too…
Have you ever seen a closeup picture of a spider? That’s why people are scared of them. Straight out of a horror movie.
Survival of the fittest isn’t great with specificity.
Humans afraid of spiders would generally, and over long spans of time, have a higher survival rate and have more kids that survive. Not being afraid of spiders doesn’t come with many benefits to your survival. This gives evolution no real reason to discriminate one spider from another, and it’s easier for nature to create a generalized fear than a specific one.
Then you also have to remember the spiders have been evolving this whole time too. So yeah, maybe all you need to worry about today is a brown recluse or black widow. But maybe 40 million years ago there was a green recluse and yellow widow or something, and they moved on to brown and black because it makes them more camouflaged at night. So on and so forth.
As for why spiders as opposed to others? Spiders are one of the few in the first world you ever have to worry about coming into contact with on a daily basis. What’s the number, “there’s always a spider within 10 feet of you”? The nearest tiger is in the zoo, 30 miles away, in a pit, with 12 foot walls.
That’s a lot of nonsense being posted here.
Every fear except from heights and loud noises is learned behaviour.
People with a fear of spiders picked it up from somewhere, maybe their mum screaming at one when they were a kid etc.
Spiders are powerful so the brain is afraid.
But
Not so powerful as dogs, brutal beasts, bane of humanity, That Which Devours Men. Do you know dogs kill 30000 humans per year in the world? They are the biggest predator humanity has. Soon, the human brain will be wired to fear them, and spiders will be forgotten
Spiders just got that creepy vibe, you know? Maybe it’s their legs or the way they move. Plus, they’re all sneaky and pop up in unexpected places. Just gives you the heebie-jeebies.
There are a few theories as to why so many people are scared of spiders. One is that fear of spiders is an evolutionary trait that helped our ancestors survive. Spiders can be venomous and potentially dangerous, so being scared of them could have helped our ancestors avoid getting bitten
Another theory is that spiders are a bit unpredictable in their movements and appearance. Their ability to move quickly and in unexpected ways can trigger a fear response in some people. Additionally, their multiple legs and eyes can make them look alien and creepy to some
Overall, it’s likely a combination of these factors that contribute to arachnophobia being so common, even though the actual danger posed by spiders is relatively low
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