Why are we so afraid of spiders?
In: Biology
Someone said it here, but I thought I would expand on it. Fear is learned, and very directly linked with childhood experiences. Just think of your strongest fears. Got one? Does it have a scary memory from your childhood to go along with it? Most likely. Humans, let alone animals, don’t come along with memories, and as such, can only learn what to be scared of after being born. You don’t know what a spider is until after you’re born. You don’t know that it moves “creepily” until after you’re born. You don’t know that other people are scared of them until after you’re born. Objectively, nothing is scary, but because everyone thinks spiders are scary, the cycle continues, and more and more people are taught that they are scary.
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