Afraid Of Snakes? It May Be Hardwired

(AP)  Two University of Virginia researchers believe that humans are genetically predisposed to be deathly afraid of snakes.

Judy S. DeLoache, a U.Va. professor of developmental psychology, said she has a snake phobia, but wonders why. "The question was, where did that fear come from?"

She believes it's because snakes would have posed a significant threat to our ancestors, so a fear of snakes remains hardwired into human brains today.

DeLoache said an experiment she conducted with graduate student Vanessa LoBue proved that adults and preschool children have an extraordinary ability to quickly pinpoint snakes amid harmless distractions.

They conducted three experiments with 24 adults and 24 3-year-olds. Both groups were shown a large touch-screen computer monitor that displayed nine color photographs.

They asked half of the people to find the single image of a snake among non-threatening pictures of caterpillars, flowers or frogs. The second group was told to find the single photo of a single non-threatening item among eight images of snakes.

The researchers found that adults and children were much faster at discovering snakes than they were at locating non-threatening flora or fauna.

The finding that children saw the snakes as rapidly as adults is particularly fascinating, LoBue said, because preschool children tend to be fearless and are less likely to have had a negative experience with snakes.

DeLoache's and LoBue's findings will be published in the March issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

LoBue said she has found similar results when testing for an innate fear of spiders. Much like snakes, some spiders would have posed a deadly threat to pre-humans. That study is currently under peer review, she said.

"It's really neat," she said. "We have an evolutionary bias against snakes and spiders."

Virginia is home to three types of venomous snakes - copperheads, canebrake rattlesnakes and timber rattlers.

Julia Dixon, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, thinks snakes have a bad rap, and said her agency spends time defending snakes.

"The general public out there thinks that the only good snake is a dead snake," Dixon said. But she notes that snakes are a key piece of the food chain because they eat mice, rats and other snakes.

Dixon said the easiest way to identify dangerous snakes in Virginia is to look into their eyes. Virginia's venomous snakes have vertical pupils, similar to a cat's eye, and harmless snakes have round pupils.

Either way, it is usually best to leave the snake alone, she said.

[fiery_searcher]

I agree with the results of the research. My two year old daughter was terrified of a black snake-like string on the floor. She wouldn't walk anywhere near it and I had to pick it up and throw it away before she would calm down.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by andrew_693

Neither. If I am aware of it, I know whether I can get close or not, It I am not aware of it, it will still surprise, regardless of whether snake, or frisbee.

There is a you tube video of a baby, not yet able to walk, playing with a live defanged cobra, the snake strikes repeatedly, the baby is not the least bit bothered, even grabbing the animal, out of curiosity.

While I would say that the video is a disturbing example of cruelty to animals, and also bordering on child endangerment, the child is clearly not afraid, not really knowing what the snake is. If we were "hard wired" to be afraid, the child wouldn''t have to know what it is to show a fear of it.

[andrew_693]

yeah but once you find out that what hit you in the neck was a frisbee is no big deal, but if a black mamba just bit your neck, you would sh it your pants because you know you are dead. There is a little difference. The same thin would happen if you have a black mamba a frisbee in front of you. Which of the two would make you more afraid?

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by ToolMangler

Most people are surprised when an unexpected sudden event happens, I believe that if a pigeon, or a frisbee suddenly landed unexpectedly on ones'' shoulder, you would see the same reaction.

You confuse event shock with innate fear, this is an incorrect association.

[dukeudevil]

Ever looked eye-to-eye with a very large cobra, which can easily lift its head and body six feet off the ground? Most interesting indeed.

[toolmangler-2009]

*** equals ''fecal matter'' (stupid censors)

[toolmangler-2009]

You people telling that you aren''t afraid of snakes and never have been, are full of it. every one of you would *** a brick if a snake fell out of a tree and landed on your shoulders. I am afraid of snakes but handle them all the time, I use to keep a little worm snake wrapped around my wrist when I was youngster. (just to freak out the girls). Do not confuse familiarity with a lack of fear. I can handle fire without messing my pants, that doesn''t mean I am not fearful of its potential. Get real and be truthful with yourself about fear.

[ringading3]

When you come accross a really sneaky low down character, don''t you call him/her a snake in the grass?

[erasmus6]

"I like snakes. Never been afraid of them. Now spiders, on the other hand, provoke a serious phobia." posted by rf35

Hahaha, me too. I could handle a tarantula but not the smaller ones.

I found a spider on my deck chair last summer and it freaked me the hell out. I had never seen one like it before. It was bigger than most spiders I have seen around here. I didn''t rest until I found out what it was. Actually to be truthful, I was in PANIC MODE because I was afraid that it may be poisonous.

There was something about it''s legs that reminded me of one of those little jumping spiders. I went on Google and found out that that is what it was. It was the largest of the species. It isn''t poisonous but you will definitely feel it''s bite.

[ringading3]

It all goes back to our first ancestorys bad experience in the Garden, when Satan disgused as a snake.....