People aren't born afraid of spiders and snakes: Fear is quickly learned during infan

There's a reason why Hollywood makes movies like Arachnophobia and Snakes on a Plane: Most people are afraid of spiders and snakes. A new article reviews research with infants and toddlers and finds that we aren't born afraid of spiders and snakes, but we can learn these fears very quickly.



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This is very true!

Well, I can say this much My 3 (almost 4 Feb 17th) year old Isn't scared of them by no means as he's seen me work with them since he was 1 and showed intrest in them from the start watching them move around there tanks (as I didnt have a rack at that time) at 3 years old he could tell me when I asked which one was the Albino Green Burmese Python or the Albino Ball Python he can tell you and show you which one if the Mojave female Pastel Female Spider Female Or Pinstripe Male and so on ( I was pretty excited about that when he was trying to tell me which snakes where what)

Many may not agree with me on this but .... He know's the snakes eats rats and knows I pluck them in the head before feeding the Snakes Ball Pythons and well every day on feeding day he ask "Dad can I flick the rat and give it to the Mojave Ball Python or what ever one Im feeding at that time... I was researching Monitors and came across one eating live rabbits (small Rabbits) clicked on it and was watching it he came up and seen the monitor eat the rabbits looked at me and said Dad I want on of them that was awsome and started laughing before I could

My brothers daughter who just turned one not to long ago whenever there over she has a facination for the Burms she will sit there by there cages and watch them almost as if she's amazed by them Now that she's starting trying to speak its a little funnier as she'll look in turn around to my brother point and say dada as she's looking into the cages with a smile ear to ear

Although My sons not allowed to handle the burms due to there size He does handle the Ball Pythons often and now has 3 Leopard Gecko's of his own after Christmas of this year we where sitting down watching a movie and out of the blue he looks at me and his mom and says with a sad sad face Momma Dad My just want a snake of my own thats not dadda's

It caught me so off guard and the way he did it I had NO CHOICE but to bust out laughing as cute as it was it was funny

So he'll more than likely have a Bp of his own in his room before the years out....

I believe the original experiments were with chimpanzees, and found this was true. I have introduce "Nakes", as he calls them, to my 3-yr-old son as well recently, and he thinks they are just the coolest thing since, well, y'know - tatas.
My wife is the one I wish I could teach to not fear snakes. She's from Venezuela, and I guess if I were born and raised in a country with the kinds of hot snakes they have in their back yards, I'd probably have had a fear instilled in me too. I actually was born in Hawaii, and feared snakes via my dad's teaching me to do so until we moved to the mainland when I was 8. My mom found a little ribbon snake in the garden one day, picked it up, and showed it to me. At first I thought she had been working a little too long in the sun, but after a few minutes of seeing it was perfectly harmless, I was hooked. We took that snake, named Algeria Hiss (originally named Alger, but changed when we found out how to tell the difference) all the way to Germany. She was buried behind the house we were stationed in there back in the 1970s. It was a huge house that actually housed one of Herman Georing's leutenants back in WWII. Never thought I would be so attached to a ribbon snake, but she was the first, and I guess you never forget your first.

As long as a few of us ( Most would perfect ) show the truth behind Snakes and continue to work with them and include are children and families The word will get out and more people will take intrest thus hopefully reversing the cycle thats in motion now...

I have to say, I do believe it can be genetic. My parents separated before I was 2 and my Mom has never liked snakes nor encouraged me to be around them. I've loved everything scaley (and buggy for that matter) for as long as I can remember. My Mom finally asked me if someone had ever told me about my Dad without her knowing because I reminded her of him in nearly every way with my attempted collecting of every reptile I could find. I'd never known my Dad was a big snake (python and venomous) keeper until then, but it definitely explained what seemed to me as an odd interest since no one around me felt the same way.

Originally Posted by Kita

I have to say, I do believe it can be genetic. My parents separated before I was 2 and my Mom has never liked snakes nor encouraged me to be around them. I've loved everything scaley (and buggy for that matter) for as long as I can remember. My Mom finally asked me if someone had ever told me about my Dad without her knowing because I reminded her of him in nearly every way with my attempted collecting of every reptile I could find. I'd never known my Dad was a big snake (python and venomous) keeper until then, but it definitely explained what seemed to me as an odd interest since no one around me felt the same way.

Unless your mom specifically taught you to fear an animal, you wouldn't have learned to do so, according to the research. This is not the case if an animal attacks you, of course, but if your dad even showed you a bug or snake when you were less than 2, you would have had the idea they were ok in your head reinforced only that much more. Like the studies show, you children have to be taught to fear snakes and other animals, otherwise, they are more curious than anything.

Originally Posted by akonitony

Unless your mom specifically taught you to fear an animal, you wouldn't have learned to do so, according to the research. This is not the case if an animal attacks you, of course, but if your dad even showed you a bug or snake when you were less than 2, you would have had the idea they were ok in your head reinforced only that much more. Like the studies show, you children have to be taught to fear snakes and other animals, otherwise, they are more curious than anything.

*... show, children... (take 'you' out of the sentence - don't know how it got there, but it sounds condescending, which I'm trying not to be)

No she didn't allow me near them and actually made him get rid of either all or most before they split up (I don't remember what she said it was), mostly due to their sizes or being venomous. She kept me away from them as long as she could and tried to teach me to stay away from them, but I will admit that there wasn't an opportunity for me to see her react until I was already old enough to wander the yard alone.

My first memory of her showing her fear was when I was already in kindergarten and had snuck home a Texas Brown Snake in my backpack from the babysitters. Mom caught me with it in the bathtub and went berserk screaming for my Grandfather. The only thing I learned was not to sneak snakes into the house so I considered everything else fair game and was caught with pretty much everything native at one point or another.