Is arachnophobia rational?

[watervole]

There are thousands of species of spider and hardly any of them are deadly to humans. So, why do many people have such a strong fear of spiders?

Could this be related in any way to the region in which humans originally evolved?

Does anyone happen to know if there are lethal species of spider in the apropriate parts of Africa?

The same question also applies to snakes. In England at least, you're more likely to die from a lightening strike than a snake bite (I think snakes killed about one person in the last centuary) - so again, why do people have such strong
snake phobias?

Why not a phobia for lions or mosquitoes?

Comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Or cars?

[snowgrouse.livejournal.com]

Because spiders move so damn quick and that squicks people? Hm, it'd be really interesting to find an answer to this that wasn't psychological, but instinctual...

[watervole.livejournal.com]

But flies move even faster.

mmm - interesting .....

[frandowdsofa.livejournal.com]

So while John is busy processing new Paragon2 memberships and I am waiting for my dinner, I went and had a look.

This link was interesting, http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/culent/arach/ - the basic idea seems to be that "Arachnophobia has historical and cultural causes. According to Graham C. L. Davey of the City University, London, " in most of Europe during the Middle Ages spiders were considered a source of contamination that absorbed poisons in their environment (e.g. from plants). Any food which had come into contact with a spider was considered infected. Similarly, if a spider fell into water, that water was then held to be poisoned (Renner, 1990)." Spiders were believed to be messengers of the Black Plague and death." and so on.

There's a lot more about how it is a cultural thing in Europe more than anywhere else, and is a learned response, but learned as a culture not as individuals. Also lots on the different approaches to overcoming it.

I also found out there was a "real "Miss Muffet". She was likely Patience Muffet, the daughter of Reverend Dr. Thomas Muffet (or Mouffet), a 17th century scholar who was extremely fond of spiders and studied them avidly. He also incorporated spiders and spider webs into home remedies with which he dosed poor Patience, likely straight into a raging case of arachnophobia."

I'm fascinated now, what other phobias are culturally learned in that way? Mine is Daddy Long Legs, I'm very glad to note that the recent climate changes have rendered them all but extinct in my bedroom.

Re: mmm - interesting .....

[watervole.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting article. I hadn't realised that spider phobia was essentially a European trait.
INterestingly enough, bats have a related issue in that in China they are regarded as lucky. Apparantly fear of bats probably started with readers of Bram Stoker's Dracula and now it's another ingrained cultural phobia.
I'd find both hard to believe if there weren't other obvious examples of long term cultural hand-downs. eg. Saying 'bless you' when someone sneezes is virtually a reflex and there's no way that can be anything other than cultural.

Snakes

[waveney.livejournal.com]

I think snakes killed about one person in the
last century

Actually the tally was three, and all of those died from anaphylactic shock, rather than from the venom itself. (In the same way that a few people are allergic to wasp stings).

By comparrison, lightening kills several people every year.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I don't mind spiders at all, or snakes (beautiful creatures; I've had a 9-foot python wrapped round me in Thailand to the horror of watching Indian tourists).

I've heard a fanciful theory that insects originally came to Earth from space, perhaps dormant inside an asteroid? [shrug] My theory for wide-spread phobia is that they (and snakes) don't match the usual pattern for macro animal life here of a spine, four limbs, two eyes, and one mouth--even fish conform to that. Spiders don't bother me in the slightest though--in fact I like them and look after them because they eat flies, which I loathe because of their filthiness.

I do hate mosquitoes though, not because of any deep-seated phobia, but because they love my blood and I react badly to their bites.

[temeres.livejournal.com]

IIRC it was Elaine Morgan, doyen of the (controversial) Aquatic Ape theory, who suggested that arachnophobia is a relic of a littoral stage of our evolution when we had good reason to be nervous of large crabs. I can't say I'm entirely convinced.

It wouldn't surprise me if there were several potentially deadly spider species in Africa.

Fear of snakes is common in Africa, where there are several highly toxic species. And the big constrictors also evoke a certain amount of trepidation - apparently it is or was common practice in python country, when sleeping outdoors, to lie down with the legs apart so any python that creeps up on you can only swallow so much.

Crocodiles, on the other hand, though loathed, are not subject to such a phobic reaction. European explorers in the 19th Century found the natives taking a pragmatic attitude to death by crocodile.

Perhaps it's because snakes and spiders are liable to be lurking in the home that makes them the object of phobia. You can fence lions and crocodiles out, but not mambas or tarantulas.

As for mosquitos, any phobia about them would depend on making the connection between mozzie bites and malaria, which in turn depends on modern understanding of disease transmission - a pretty recent development.

On the subject of evolutionary heritage, is it possible that our stock emotional reactions to various musical elements might be related to what our ancestors heard whilst prowling the savannah. If blaring trumpets, say, make us thing big, could that be because they evoke the sound of an elephant?