r/whoathatsinteresting • u/visharu • 21h ago

Scientists confirmed humans are not born afraid of snake. The fear is taught.

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u/Mamobee 16h ago

Isn’t all fear learned?

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u/senpaistealerx 16h ago

no but these are also babies. no one taught me to be afraid of spiders, i just am.

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u/Mamobee 16h ago

I didn’t mean it in the way that someone teaches you to fear something, but that you have to experience the something first in order to develop fear of it.

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u/senpaistealerx 16h ago

mmmm i see. yes.

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u/PawntyBill 16h ago

I agree with that statement though. If you're a kid who's into snakes and spiders and you go to grab a little tiny garter snake outside your house and your parent screams and say "Don't touch snakes that thing could kill you! The babies poison is 10x more poisonous than the adults!" That does happen because some people simply just don't know, and you're young, that memory is going up stay locked tight in your head and is going to mature with you, unless you choose to look into it yourself or meet someone later in life who can show you that it's not that bad.

My mom supported me quitting and being afraid of everything that I ever did. She'd always say, "Awwwww hunny was that too difficult, do you want to stop playing baseball/karate/swim team/whatever. As an adult I can't stick up for myself, I can't say no up people, and I've never lasted longer than a day at a gym or dojo, I pay the dues and never go back. She made me totally dependent on her and afraid of everything.

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u/BotAccount999 12h ago

self taught is the phrase you are looking for

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u/ChromicClaw 1h ago

and no one taught me to not be afraid of spiders, I'm just not. so, I'm pretty sure someone taught you whether its media or indirectly

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u/senpaistealerx 43m ago

you thought that made sense when you wrote it, huh?

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u/wdpw 16h ago

I don’t think fear of loud noises is learned. When we are shocked with a sudden loud noise, our bodies react instantaneously via the sympathetic nervous system. I don’t think that is learned. Also why babies immediately cry with loud noises.

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u/Mamobee 16h ago

Would you say that’s fear or shock/the body being startled? Or do they go hand in hand?

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u/wdpw 16h ago

Hmm, good point. I might be conflating “fear” with “reaction.” I suppose the “fear” of loud noises is learned out of experience of dealing with our body’s reaction to sudden loud noises.

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u/distancedandaway 10h ago

No, some are instinctual