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.
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- 19-01-2015 18:50
Last edited by lerjj; 19-01-2015 at 18:52. -
NHM713
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- 19-01-2015 18:53
(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. -
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- 19-01-2015 19:01
(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. -
Chlorophile
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- 19-01-2015 19:04
(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?
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- 19-01-2015 19:32
(Original post by Chlorophile)
I'm pretty sure those are not the only innate fears... -
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- 19-01-2015 19:36
(Original post by NHM713)
Care to share, because I've had a quick skim and all I saw was just the two. -
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- 19-01-2015 19:44
(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?
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- 19-01-2015 19:49
(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. -
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- 19-01-2015 19:51
(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. -
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- 19-01-2015 19:56
(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.
What's with the fear of aulophobia - fear of flutes, is it that certain people have a predisposition to fearing things? -
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- 19-01-2015 19:58
(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? -
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- 19-01-2015 20:00
(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? -
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- 19-01-2015 20:02
(Original post by jakeel1)
Brb getting snake from local forest and showing it to my little brother -
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- 19-01-2015 20:04
(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?. 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. -
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- 19-01-2015 20:16
(Original post by TheStudent18)
I understand what you're trying to say, it's quite a difficult topic I guess. 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.
I'm curious too. -
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- 19-01-2015 20:20
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.
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- 19-01-2015 21:03
(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? -
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- 19-01-2015 21:04
Where does it say we are born with those 2 fears?
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- 19-01-2015 21:48
(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. -
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- 19-01-2015 21:50
(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.
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