See thread. Although I’m not really sure of my definitions of fear or instinct. I guess that’s the question too.
I don’t have a cite, but I’ve heard that some infants will scream in terror at the sight of a snake, even if they’ve never seen one before. This suggests that the fear is instinctive in some people, at least.
No cite either but I’m sure I read somewhere that humans are born with 3 fears; heights, loud noises and snakes. I believe chimps hate snakes and will kill them if given the chance.
What I’ve read is that it appears to be a latent instinct. That is, we are not as such born with a fear of snakes; we are born with an easily triggered tendency to fear snakes. If we happen across even a quite minor triggering event at an early age (someone on television being scared by a snake, say), then something activates in our heads and we fear snakes; if it isn’t triggered while we are young, then we don’t.
n=1 Personally, I love snakes.
That sounds right. If I meet a snake “in the wild” I’ll keep my distance–Texas boasts a variety of the venomous types. Of course, most snakes try to keep their distance from humans…
But I know some people who can’t even go into the zoo’s Reptile House–no problem for me. And I’ve “petted” the occasional pet snake; not my choice as a pet, but they can be beautiful creatures.
Count me in for someone who doesn’t fear snakes at all. They might as well be any other animal or rock or stick. If one slithered across my foot before I saw it I would probably jump, but my reaction would be the same to a bunny if I didn’t see it first. I will be respectful of any dangerous creature or thing, if I see a rattlesnake I will keep my distance.
Der Trihs 's point is interesting but It would be hard to confirm. I know at least one person that had a traumatic encounter with a snake when young and has a full blown phobia of them. This is a very tough, risk tolerant man. I have seen him ski off a 40 ft cliff. I know a couple others with snake phobias that never have mentioned any known event that caused it. They just seem to be innately terrified of snakes and always have been.
I present educational programs at the reptile house at a small zoo. In my experience, babies and toddlers are fearless unless a parent or sibling shows fear or pressures them to touch a snake. (I set the rules and do my best to prevent pressure from anyone)
I’ve had parents crack the door and ask if I will let their kid look around while they stand weak-kneed and quivering outside. I’ve had two adults faint. I’ve had one or two kids cry when they make the connection to the snake in Jungle Book (the Disney version. Kipling’s snake is benevolent.)
Most of my young visitors are curious and thrilled at the opportunity, and sometimes strut around pleased that they aren’t afraid after all. But kids under 3 just seem surprised that a shiny, weird toy with a plastic appearance is just as warm and alive as a puppy. They mistake the snakes’ natural movements of leaning forward and reaching for a branch as curiosity and friendliness, and they seem charmed (ha) by the snakes’ apparent interest in them.
Innate fear? I’d have to see studies that prove it. My personal experience says most of us are wired to be suspicious of all creatures which hide in the grass, under logs, and jump towards you if provoked. I mean, we don’t try to befriend opossums, badgers, or alligators, either. But watching kids have their first interaction with the brightly patterned corn snakes or California king snakes I work with is awesome, and the kids seem to think so, too.
Having said that, most small kids have seen enough television to tiptoe and stare at the rattlesnakes and copperheads with a mixture of fear and respect, but those specimens on display are full grown, huge, cranky, and they look mean. Slitted pupils and a pointy, triangular head add to their dangerous appearance. Add a cigarette and a tat to those guys and no kids would dare approach the terrariums.
What Der Trihs sounds plausible. I have never had any fear of snakes, myself.
That squares up with an experiment I remember learning about.
Juvenile captive-raised monkeys showed no fear of a rubber snake, or maybe a real snake that was safely inside a transparent box. Juvenile wild monkeys, on the other hand, were scared of the snake. Further, the fearless monkeys appeared to acquire a fear of snakes when they were allowed to see the wild monkeys’ fear reaction.
It’s a dim memory from Psych 105, over a decade a decade ago, so take it for what it’s worth.
I have never been afraid of snakes. As a small child, when asked my favorite animal, it was ‘horses’, and then ‘snakes’. (Not QUITE as fond of them these days, but they are still top 10 for me.)
My mother was terrified of them. She could not watch them on TV without getting creeped out.
So… no scientific proof for me, but I don’t believe it’s instinctive.
Another anecdotal data point… I don’t recall ever fearing snakes, and my children didn’t as little ones. Even now, my toddler will chase down a garter snake and try to pick it up. (But she’s pretty fearless by nature, I think.)
Each person’s different, so fear thresholds vary, but I don’t personally think humans instinctively fear a non-threatening animal without being taught to somehow. Now, an animal in an active threatening or defensive posture… maybe we instinctively recognize that. A growling dog, a hissing mouth-open snake… that kind of thing.
First time I saw a snake it scared me half to death. I nearly stepped on it and it slithered away. I’m sure it was a highly venomous python rattle cobra that resembled a foot long garter snake. I was about 4 years old. But after that I had no fear of snakes, I had just been startled, and my curiosity was triggered. I’ve loved snakes since.
I wish I could recall where I read this, but the essence was that it is possible to teach fear of vitually anything. The difference is in how easy it is. It’s difficult but possible to teach a chimp or a human to fear a flower. It’s fairly easy to teach fear of a snake.
I love high places and find snakes terribly cute.
“A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I’m afraid of widths” - Steven Wright
I also used to run reptile handling sessions with snakes, and found the same as Troppus, most little kids would show no fear of snakes, and would often be fascinated by the royal pythons we handled, unless the adult they were with freaked out.
Oddly though, it was quite common for slightly older kids to freak out, while their parents stood there going ‘Huh? You loved the snake last year! You wouldn’t let go!’. In that situation, it was clear that the parents hadn’t taught the kids to fear them, so it does seem to be a very easy fear for kids to pick up, though of course not all of them do so.
I didn’t come across it as a full blown phobia often, most people were just a bit scared, but would still at least touch after a little persuasion, and a remarkable amount of people went straight from ‘ohgodnotgoingnearitthey’recreepyaaaahhh…’ to ‘huh, they’re pretty cool!’ as soon as they’d touched one.
When young i had curiosity about snakes, right up until i watched a TV program that promised to make you loved snakes… i had what a “Farside” cartoon described as a “cumulative attack of the willies” and don’t like them at all now!
My born-and-bred-in-captivity budgies were terrified of a plastic snake I would show them. The problem is that humans can see snakes in pictures and film before seeing the actual thing and already has information that would lessen their insticnts or that, due to knowing about poison, fear them more than they should.
My dogs had instinctive fear of snakes for what it’s worth.
Even though they were young pups who had never come in contact with a snake before, when I walked them past a tree in my yard where they could pick up the scent of a snake I’d just disposed of – they bristled. It was a different reaction than that of picking up the scent of a squirrel or rabbit. The hair on their backs stood up and they became super alert and cagey.