Okay. Yeah, yeah… I’m behind on my stories I know... I have a couple of great excuses though. Firstly, I tore a muscle in both forearms and one in the shoulder… Just me chasing Lions as usual… Secondly, I’m in production on an amazing TV show and initiative so time has been limited. But they’re all coming, promise! Okay, you’re gunna’ lurrrrve this! And WAIT until you click on the video at the end!!!! OMG It’s a nail biter.
So lets go straight to the title, Why Are People So Scared of Spiders?
Why are YOU scared of spiders? The erratic movements they make? Is it because they have EIGHT LEGS and know exactly which way to go with them…? That’s some serious technical coordination and the movement can be creepy. And get this, that’s four more legs than nature deems necessary! How many people do you know that can’t put one foot in front of the other…and end up sideways? Double entrende’ right there for the intellectuals. ; ) Perhaps it’s because of their impressive ability to lower themselves from your ceiling with their web…on to your HEAD! Hahaaa… Sorry. That wasn’t funny … Much!! Lol. For you Girls we might be able to give you a free pass if it has something to do with being told the Little Miss Muffet nursery rhyme as a child. “Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey. When along came a spider, and sat down beside her, and frightened Miss Muffet away!” I bet every one of you know that off by heart.
It’s usually girls that leap into the air when a spider enters their personal space. However… evidence (Youtube) has shown, there is no shortage of grown men who do the same if not worse… When put in slow motion you can actually see these men physically change into a woman… It’s clear to me and I don’t know why they haven’t done this already, the NBA (that’s basketball…) simply need to have their fans throw spiders into the shooting area when their team has the ball. You can be sure they will each become a Michael Jordan… or forever remain as a fairy, and float away.
When a spider makes itself known, I’m not sure which comes first for guys and girls, the body launching off the ground or their face contorting into something that is by far more horrifying than the spider they met. This facial contortion ability, also known as, “Dear God…that face you made?” is a brilliant adaptation for natural defense against the creatures of our nightmares. It is clear though that the, “Dear God…that face you made?” cannot be repeated, created, emulated, or manufactured in any situation that does not come as a direct behavioral response to the stimuli, “I am now seeing a spider in my personal space…” The next stage in this traumatic event comes something that science still does not fully understand… the sound that comes from the individuals mouth… It is a scream so chilling that you would think it came straight from the pit of hell. I believe this is the point in the physical transition process when, the man changes into a woman.
"We really swallow 8 spiders per year??!!
There are some scientific reasons that explain why it is unlikely... that we end up with a spider in the esophagus during the night. First, spiders have extremely sensitive chemo-receptors on their 8 small legs. These receptors help them spot carbon dioxide and other substances we exhale. So even if a spider makes its way to your mouth, she knows it's better not to enter. We hope... (but she still went on you!!).
Secondly, there is very little chance that a spider will land by accident in your mouth. Research has shown that most people sleep on their side and open their mouths for only 25% of their sleep. That's some bad luck right there if a spider falls from the ceiling into your mouth! But remember, scientists are just guessers...
"…but what's the REAL reason people are scared of SPIDERS??"
Arachnophobia – the fear of Spiders. According to the American Psychiatric Association, phobias affect more than one in ten people in the US, and of those individuals, up to 40% of phobias are related to bugs (including spiders), bats, mice and snakes.
There are A LOT of arachnophobes... But you ask nearly all of them and they won’t know why… Those that think they do will usually relate it to a traumatic interaction that had with one…
Believe it or not, it's actually evolutionary beneficial for peeps to fear spiders. Studies show that fear has been shaped by evolution… Mammals, which include You and I, (no I am not calling you a cow, a dog, or a rat… Did you know that a Dolphin is also a mammal? “Ooh I don’t mind if you call me a dolphin!” Says a bunch of dolphin loving readers.) Mammals are warm blooded, have four limbs, hair or fur, a better developed brain than most animals, and produce milk for their young. (I can’t do the last one.) Thank you, ladies, for taking care of that! And some other things… Mammals developed the ability to focus and identify objects seen as threatening, such as spiders and snakes, which induce the fear emotion, aka fight or flight response. Which is the body preparing itself to run away, or enter combat… It was critical in keeping our ancestors alive. Fear can actually be divided into two stages, biochemical and emotional. The biochemical response is physical and universal, while the emotional response is highly individualized… (This would be the rocket people I talked about) : )
Experiments were conducted where subjects were asked to identify pictures depicting sources of fear (snakes and spiders) from images that did not induce feelings of fear (mushrooms and flowers). A significant number of the subjects found the pictures of the snakes and spiders more quickly than they did those of mushrooms or flowers. Meaning there are certain stimuli that are pre-wired in the brain because they have been perennially dangerous to our ancestors.
Researchers found that people who indicated they were afraid of snakes or spiders identified the fear-inducing images even faster than they identified the objects that didn’t evoke fear. The quicker response by people with a phobia about snakes and spiders is an emotional reaction that enables them to better avoid the objects they fear.
"So then why are we scared of harmless spiders and snakes?"
It doesn’t matter how many venomous snakes and spiders there are around the world (“Are you kidding me Zack??” Says basically everyone…) but it does matter how many were in East Africa where the human race evolved over a very long time... Our aversion to spiders is built in and a kind of heuristic instinct. We have a number of them. Like seeing faces where there is a hint of one. The aversion isn’t based on all or some spiders and snakes being dangerous. It’s based on some being very dangerous, and the rest not being really useful to our East African hunter-gatherer ancestors. It was far safer to avoid them ALL than to sit there trying to figure out whether the critter trying to bite you was dangerous or not…
In East Africa, plenty were and ARE dangerous… Here are the TOP 8: 1.The Baboon Spider 2. Button Spider 3. Ogre-Faced Spider 4. Sac Spider 5. Violin Spider 6. Rain Spider 7. Six-Eyed Sand Spider and 8.Darwin’s Bark Spider…
"Can something be done to control the fear?"
I personally like spiders, snakes, creepy crawly’s, mice, rats etc and am fine with them near me or on me… Have I always been like that? No. When I was younger I’m pretty sure there was some fear there. So where did this fear go?
Well, I can tell you exactly where it went and how. And I received no phobia conditioning treatment from any psych… By connecting with and learning about countless ‘animal-beings’ of all types, I understood that they not only had a purpose, but no two were alike, and each have a soul, just like you and I… So when I see a dangerous spider or snake or bug, I see a being that deserves the same respect I’d give a human being I met for the first time. I am aware of the threat they can pose to me but they have the fight or flight response like we do. And in most cases will only attack if threatened… I was watching TV last year and this large spider just kept appearing next to me, and would just stay there. He was the friendliest spider I’ve ever seen and I talked to him just like I would any animal. He just wanted to hang out with me… I turn my head and there he is on the sofa right next to my head. And he would just sit there… It was extraordinary as I had not seen such a thing. I became very fond of him.
But one evening, whilst we were watching a movie together, my dog jumped on the sofa and squished him…
So what I’m saying is its all in your perception… If you have a sheep mentality break it! Think for yourself otherwise you're doomed. "Oh but EVERYbody's scared of that so I should be too!" Really? An example is how we perceive domesticated dogs. We see they each have their own personality unlike any other dog. That’s how I see each spider, snake, bug, rat, and so on… I'm just meeting someone new. And I look forward to getting to know who they really are. There is no fear....only love.
Try it...you may just find something new about yourself, and your own evolution
AND NOW… HERE IS THE VIDEO YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR… THIS WILL LITERALLY BLOW YOUR MIND!! BE SURE TO READ WHAT I SAID ABOUT IT...
CLICK HERE...IF YOU DARE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jolPaEQF4Hw&t=2s