I think certain phobias can be picked up through observation. I watched my mother flee for fear of spiders and then I picked up his irrational fear of them, out of no where. It was all imitation for me.
September 1st, 2011 at 03:20pm
The experiment that you're referring to is the "Little Albert" experiment. Our teacher just taught us about it in our Psychology class.
- Alex; oxytocin.:
- Association is a big part of it. I forget the name of the psychologist who did this experiment, but it essentially involved a child who was placed in a room with a white rat, and every time he interacted with the rat, the experimenter made a loud, off-putting noise. After that, the child had an aversion, not just to rats, but to white, furry things.
It works similarly with food. One day I had one of those Innocent Smoothies, grapefruit and kiwi or something. That night I was horribly sick. Now, the sickness probably didn't have anything to do with the smoothie I'd had earlier that day, but ever since then I've felt instantly sick whenever I've so much as laid eyes on an Innocent Smoothie.
Poor child. LOL
- Alex; oxytocin.:
- Association is a big part of it. I forget the name of the psychologist who did this experiment, but it essentially involved a child who was placed in a room with a white rat, and every time he interacted with the rat, the experimenter made a loud, off-putting noise. After that, the child had an aversion, not just to rats, but to white, furry things.
I'd disagree with being born with a fear of spiders and snakes, but as an arachophobe I know how much it sucks. Being left alone and being afraid of the dark seem quite rational in all honesty, especially in young children, since they often go through a stage of separation anxiety or don't understand that their mother or father is only gone temporarily.
- Bob de Ninja:
- All humans are born with a few basic fears; spiders, the dark, being left alone and snakes (probably a few more too.) You can see this as babies shun away from snakes and spiders, also when Eskimos were first introduced to snakes they were wary of them without having any previous knowledge. Most people grow out of these fears but some develop them (maybe from a bad experience) into phobias. That's just what I remember reading in a book so it might not be 100% accurate. I personally have arachnophobia, spiders just creep me out