Tarantulas don't eat people and even try to avoid them. So chill out.
Why are we afraid of spiders, snakes and roaches? WXIA reporter Julie Wolfe explores that question through a new exhibit at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History called "Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear." Below is an excerpt from a report by Wolfe:
"It was my nightmare inside a glass box: A dozen cockroaches hissing and wiggling and waiting to crawl up my nose. Okay, maybe not that last part.
"When Emory Assistant Psychology Professor Seth Norrholm suggested I slip my hand into a box that may lead to that creepy, crawly nightmare, I hesitated. It's a response that was programmed into me stretching back to my caveman ancestors.
"All fears can fit into three categories: Innate fears, learned fears and preparatory fear.
"'An innate fear is something that you're born with, and it's a survival instinct type of fear,' Norrholm explained. Fear of animals and insects fall into that category. Among the most common fears: Spiders, cockroaches and snakes."
Watch a video of her report on the WXIA web site.
Related:
The psychology of screams
Psychologists closing in on claustrophobia
How fear skews our spatial perception
The anatomy of fear and memory formation
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