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If we are only born with two fears, where did the rest come from?

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Reply 20
Do we honestly only have two innate fears? I would have thought that most infants probably don't love spiders or heights. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but at any rate those seemed conditioned genetically and not from past experience.

Heights: fairly obvious evolutionary advantage to stop people falling off cliffs and the like

Spiders: I would assume that this is a reflex against anything "weird/unnatural".

If babies aren't scared of these, then maybe it's because they haven't yet gathered enough information to be able to distinguish strange from familiar? There must be a consensus on this somewhere.

Edit: didn't realise one of the two fears was falling. Replace everything about heights with "the dark" and "being viciously eaten by predators you couldn't see". Fear of the dark certainly has an evolutionary pragmatism to it, if babies aren't scared of it I can only assume that they need to develop more for the trait to display itself.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 21
Original post by lucaf
when you are born those are probably the only two that are relevant to you. It isn't later that other fears become relevant, like social rejection. Or sharks.


oh yeah, fair explanation
Reply 22
Original post by lerjj
Do we honestly only have two innate fears? I would have thought that most infants probably don't love spiders or heights. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but at any rate those seemed conditioned genetically and not from past experience.

Heights: fairly obvious evolutionary advantage to stop people falling off cliffs and the like

Spiders: I would assume that this is a reflex against anything "weird/unnatural".

If babies aren't scared of these, then maybe it's because they haven't yet gathered enough information to be able to distinguish strange from familiar? There must be a consensus on this somewhere.

Edit: didn't realise one of the two fears was falling. Replace everything about heights with "the dark" and "being viciously eaten by predators you couldn't see". Fear of the dark certainly has an evolutionary pragmatism to it, if babies aren't scared of it I can only assume that they need to develop more for the trait to display itself.


Babies a quite fearless, so I guess its down to evolutionary pragmatism or not being old enough to learn it from someone else yet. There is also the fear of loud noises.
Original post by NHM713
So we are born with two fear right, the fear loud noises and of falling.

Where did the rest come from, if everybody is born with only the two?

:confused:


I'm pretty sure those are not the only innate fears...
Reply 24
Original post by Chlorophile
I'm pretty sure those are not the only innate fears...


Care to share, because I've had a quick skim and all I saw was just the two.
Original post by NHM713
Care to share, because I've had a quick skim and all I saw was just the two.


Plenty. A fear of pain is definitely a good example. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, fears of certain types of animals that we are evolutionarily programmed to fear like snakes and scorpions are also innate. I can't find any reputable source (other than the Daily Mail, lol) for the claim that there are only two innate fears.
Original post by NHM713
So we are born with two fear right, the fear loud noises and of falling.

Where did the rest come from, if everybody is born with only the two?

:confused:


Fears we have are due to our life experiences. Some people are terrified of dogs which is most likely due to them having a negative experience with one. It's all about survival. We fear things that we think will harm us so that we will stay out of its way.
Reply 27
Original post by Chlorophile
Plenty. A fear of pain is definitely a good example. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, fears of certain types of animals that we are evolutionarily programmed to fear like snakes and scorpions are also innate. I can't find any reputable source (other than the Daily Mail, lol) for the claim that there are only two innate fears.


I did not look at the Daily Mail. I did say born with, I don't know many infants with an innate fear of pain or snakes.
Original post by NHM713
I did not look at the Daily Mail. I did say born with, I don't know many infants with an innate fear of pain or snakes.


Have you ever dangled a snake in front of an infant or intentionally inflicted pain to see what they'd do?
Reply 29
Original post by TheStudent18
Fears we have are due to our life experiences. Some people are terrified of dogs which is most likely due to them having a negative experience with one. It's all about survival. We fear things that we think will harm us so that we will stay out of its way.


But, so fears are just irrational, which is what I want to get to.

What's with the fear of aulophobia - fear of flutes, is it that certain people have a predisposition to fearing things?
Reply 30
Original post by Chlorophile
Have you ever dangled a snake in front of an infant or intentionally inflicted pain to see what they'd do?


LOL! No but I see act with other things which could potentially harm them, fearless little buggers.
Original post by Chlorophile
Have you ever dangled a snake in front of an infant or intentionally inflicted pain to see what they'd do?


Brb getting snake from local forest and showing it to my little brother
Original post by jakeel1
Brb getting snake from local forest and showing it to my little brother


Your local forest has snakes?!
Original post by NHM713
But, so fears are just irrational, which is what I want to get to.

What's with the fear of aulophobia - fear of flutes, is it that certain people have a predisposition to fearing things?


I understand what you're trying to say, it's quite a difficult topic I guess :tongue:. Maybe they have a fear of flutes because it resembles something in a negative experience they had? I don't know, that's just me guessing.

I don't know enough about the topic to get into an in-depth discussion, I just understand some of the basic biology (i.e. survival).

Will definitely be watching this thread though to see what people say. :biggrin:
Reply 34
Original post by TheStudent18
I understand what you're trying to say, it's quite a difficult topic I guess :tongue:. Maybe they have a fear of flutes because it resembles something in a negative experience they had? I don't know, that's just me guessing.

I don't know enough about the topic to get into an in-depth discussion, I just understand some of the basic biology (i.e. survival).

Will definitely be watching this thread though to see what people say. :biggrin:


Sorry to take it down a peg, I was wondering what you were going to say after the flutes resembling something negative bit, but, you saved it in the end.

I'm curious too.
I don't care what you say, spiders are evil. They look like devil spawn, move creepily and are pretty much asking to be squashed. Hence the fear.
Reply 36
Original post by Chlorophile
Have you ever dangled a snake in front of an infant or intentionally inflicted pain to see what they'd do?


Whilst not the best source, baby Hercules in the Disney movie doesn't seem afraid of snakes. And in fact, I can remember video footage of a child crawling over to a black widow spider. I think this points to the fact that some fears, whilst in-built, only seem to activate a little later. I don't have a source for this and have no idea why it would be the case.
Where does it say we are born with those 2 fears? :curious:

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Original post by lerjj
Whilst not the best source, baby Hercules in the Disney movie doesn't seem afraid of snakes. And in fact, I can remember video footage of a child crawling over to a black widow spider. I think this points to the fact that some fears, whilst in-built, only seem to activate a little later. I don't have a source for this and have no idea why it would be the case.


That is true. However, it is also true that baby Hercules was allowed to play with Zeus' thunderbolts which probably put snakes into perspective.
Reply 39
Original post by Chlorophile
That is true. However, it is also true that baby Hercules was allowed to play with Zeus' thunderbolts which probably put snakes into perspective.


Indeed. I do however, have an idea that babies aren't afraid of some animals you might consider dangerous. I have no idea where the OP got the 'two innate fears' idea from though. It could be true.

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