Focuses on a study which examined persons' ability to detect environmental threats faster than harmless objects. Comparison of the ability of people with phobias with that of non-phobic persons; Confusions posed by the nature of the ability.
By
Michael Rasiej, published on January 01, 2002 - last reviewed on April 15, 2005
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Spotting a snake in the grass is never simple, but it's easier to
do, it seems, if you're petrified of serpents. Swedish researchers argue
that humans have evolved to detect environmental threats faster and more
accurately than they notice harmless objects and that people with phobias
of creatures like snakes or spiders will find their nemesis even faster
than non-fearful subjects.
Arne Ohman, Ph.D., and Francisco Esteves, Ph.D., professors of
neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, and Anders Flykt,
Ph.D., a professor of psychology at MidSweden University in Ostersund,
asked subjects with no fear of snakes or spiders to identify the animals
against a bucolic background of flowers and mushrooms. Subjects were then
told to identify the flora and fauna against a background of spiders and
snakes. All 55 participants found the spiders and snakes more quickly,
regardless of their position in the picture.
When 130 people with phobias of snakes and spiders performed the
same tasks, they zeroed in on the slithering, crawling critters even more
quickly than did the first, nonphobic group. These results were published
in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
But is this ability inborn? Marc Carter, Ph.D., associate professor
of psychology at Hofstra University in New York, notes that spotting a
threatening spider before a benign flower doesn't prove that we were born
with the ability to do so. We learn to be afraid of spiders or snakes
because they could harm us, Carter maintains.
Anders Flykt counters that, "If the faster reactions to snakes and
spiders are learned, it's difficult to explain why participants who are
not afraid of snakes and spiders found those creatures faster than they
found the mushrooms and flowers."
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