Why We're Scared of Snakes
An Evolutionary Explanation of Ophidiophobia
A bank in Australia was recently closed because a nest of brown snakes was discovered in the kitchen. Bank officials had to call a snake handler to remove the snakes safely.
Even if those brown snakes weren’t poisonous or dangerous, people would still refuse to enter the bank. Even the word snake scares some of us – and it’s not because we’ve had countless dangerous encounters with snakes.
Research shows we may be scared of snakes and spiders for evolutionary reasons. We live longer, healthier lives if we can quickly identify and avoid poisonous reptiles.
Why We’re Scared of Snakes
An evolutionary explanation of ophidiophobia holds that humans who can avoid poisonous snakes by detecting the threat early will survive longer. To test this theory, psychologists at the University of Virginia studied how kids and adults react to snakes.
“We wanted to know whether preschool children, who have much less experience with natural threats than adults, would detect the presence of snakes as quickly as their parents,” said Dr. Vanessa LoBue. “If there is an evolved tendency in humans for the rapid detection of snakes, it should appear in young children as well as their elders.”
What the Snake Research Shows
Preschool kids and adults were shown color pictures of snakes and asked to identify snakes, which were grouped with objects. Despite the gap in age and experience, both kids and adults identified snakes more rapidly than the other objects. They more readily recognized snakes, even if they were preschool-aged.
The psychologists pointed out that this study does not mean we’re all born scared of snakes. The study shows that we simply have an instinctive tendency to quickly identify a snake.
An Evolutionary Explanation of Ophidiophobia
These psychologists also found that people who don't fear snakes are just as good at quickly identifying them as people who do fear snakes. This means there may be a universal human ability to visually detect snakes, which could be an evolutionary explanation of ophidiophobia.
Whether or not people are scared of snakes depends on experience. That is, if people are bitten or unpleasantly surprised by snakes, they’re more likely to develop ophidiophobia or a fear of snakes. If they grew up holding and enjoying various reptiles, they’re not likely to be scared of snakes.
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Source: Association for Psychological Science (2008, February 28). Evolution Of Aversion: Why Even Children Are Fearful Of Snakes. ScienceDaily.
