- #36
gerben
- 511
- 1
I simply do not see how people in places where no dangerous snakes or spiders live (like Norway) would be afraid of them because of 'environmental components'. What would those components be?
arildno said:"Most people"?
Who are these "most"?
Practically no one I know of personally have any fears of spiders at all!
arildno said:Besides, apart from Moonbear and hypatia's stories, there are other natural occurring ways this might develop:
Suppose a child is sleeping with the window open, and then suddenly wakes up because a spider is crawling on its face.
Wouldn't you think that would give the child a momentary SHOCK?
This is not a fact gerben. Just the opposite, a baby/small child is very likely to try to pick up and even place a spider in it's mouth if someone does not prevent them from doing so. They have no fear of spiders until they "learn" that they are not good by being told so.gerben said:The simple fact that many people fear a spider the first time they see one suggest that it is innate.
No such studies have ever confirmed either, as far as I know.gerben said:Firstly, who says neither 1 nor 2 hold?
Sheer fantasy justifications.And secondly, they do not necessarily have to hold.
(a1)Traits that are determined by or genes may posses just as much variation within families than between families, particularly traits that depend on the interaction of multiple genes.
(a2) Much happened after the time that this fear was (presumably) adaptive and different species develop differently. For example, we have hardly anybody hair in comparison to most monkeys yet this is certainly determined genetically.
Look at what you write here: "learn from others".gerben said:It is not more simple than asumming that we learn to fear spiders. It is quite unlikely that all those people that fear spiders have learned this from others.
I was not making assumptions. I just gave you two examples of why I think that your criteria are too strict.arildno said:Sheer fantasy justifications.
If 1) or 2) doesn't hold, the proper scientific procedure would be to register and classify the various evolution paths of fear of spiders (as clarified through close questioning, for example), without making any a priori, spurious assumptions as you do here.
Come on, you know I do not think that.arildno said:Look at what you write here: "learn from others".
That shows that you haven't been able to regard "nurture" as anything else than "teaching". This is simply wrong.
I don't think that's it. I'll do some hard googling and try and find it.arildno said:Paul Wilson: You are probably thinking of Occam's Razor.
Well, that sounds like it's probably the simplest explanation.Paul Wilson said:lol, my mistake. It was earlier today when I just woke up and posted that. Blame drousiness. :p
Gerben, what these are saying is that there may be a genetic predisposition for people to be more prone to developing fears, phobias, anxiety, etc... I would agree with that. They are not saying that people can have a genetic fear specifically of a certain type of creature. They aren't saying people can be born able to recognize spiders.gerben said:Family factors:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s914237.htm
This is a line from the mentioned article:
"...Interestingly, fear conditioning is more easily acquired and less readily extinguished with evolutionarily fear-relevant (snakes and spiders) than fear-irrelevant (circles and triangles) stimuli."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=12860774
From an earlier article:
"...CONCLUSIONS: Panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, phobias, and OCD all have significant familial aggregation..."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ve&db=pubmed&list_uids=11578982&dopt=Abstract
Some spiders can be potentially lethal, or at least do significant harm. There are very few spiders that fall into this category however. Remember though, phobias are not based upon "normal" or "rational" fears. Most people that are afraid of spiders aren't afraid of the harm they will do, they are more just grossed out by them.gerben said:You seem to favor nurture as the prime cause, my first problem with that view is that I do not see why people would learn to fear spiders (Why do we not learn to fear other harmless things)
I do not think people can be born able to recognize spiders, the visual and cognitive abilities would not be developed enough and babies do not fear them, but the fear develops. Is this because of innate genetic factors or because of experience?Evo said:Gerben, what these are saying is that there may be a genetic predisposition for people to be more prone to developing fears, phobias, anxiety, etc... I would agree with that. They are not saying that people can have a genetic fear specifically of a certain type of creature. They aren't saying people can be born able to recognize spiders.
Yes, that was one of my points: people fear them and yet they are harmless (mostly). So it seems strange that you would learn this (as I said in post #49: "Why do we not learn to fear other harmless things"). People are just grossed out by them, without knowing why. Perhaps they do not know why because it is not something they have learned, but something they are born with. Just like you do not know why you have brown eyes. In both cases there is nothing in your memory that you can point to and say: “that is what has done it”.Evo said:Some spiders can be potentially lethal, or at least do significant harm. There are very few spiders that fall into this category however. Remember though, phobias are not based upon "normal" or "rational" fears. Most people that are afraid of spiders aren't afraid of the harm they will do, they are more just grossed out by them.