# Is there a difference between Arachnophobia and common Idiot Fear of Spiders? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542 "2015-05-21T20:04:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/21 "2015-05-22T14:11:18Z")
Is a fear of spiders really irrational if you live in Australia, though? šŸ˜‰ [They banned an episode of the childrenā€™s cartoon _Peppa Pig_ in Australia for saying spiders werenā€™t scary.](http://io9.com/australia-banned-a-tv-episode-because-it-said-spiders-w-1685134561) ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/22 "2015-05-22T14:39:48Z")
> [@The\_Angry\_Badger](#): > > As for the men vs women thing, I have a (maybe slightly sexist) theory: Women are generally allowed to be afraid of spiders, whereas men are expected to be a bit braver and tougher than that - to the point where theyā€™re often expected to ā€˜rescueā€™ the women from the spiders. So possibly a lot of men, even if theyā€™re a bit afraid themselves, will ā€˜man upā€™ and deal with it, while trying not to show fear and be seen as a big girly pansy. šŸ™‚ Anecdata to support your theory: I suspect my wife and I approximately exactly squicked out by spiders and most bugs. But my wife has no idea Iā€™m afraid of them too. She thinks Iā€™m the big fearless hero for calmly dispatching them all in our house. I just suck it up and show her there is nothing to be afraid of. One of us has to face the misery of killing it and if I can make my wifeā€™s life better by taking on the burden, well so I shall. She makes my life better a million ways; I can do it for her at least this one way. Ants and mice are different though. Iā€™m fine with ants and I think mice are cute. My wife strongly disagrees. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/23 "2015-05-22T14:42:06Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Are the Wiki numbers just inaccurate and the true numbers should be much higher for percentage of the population affected by Arachnophobia? Possibly. If these people donā€™t get treatment for their fear of spiders, then how would you get anything like an accurate count of who is arachnophobic? You canā€™t do a blood test for arachnophobia. > [@](#): > > Should phobias be thought of as existing along a gradient and do figures quoted for statistics only refer to people for whom the phobia is truly debilitating? It almost certainly does exist on a continuum. Lots of other psychiatric disorders do. Other anxiety disorders do come in varying severity, so itā€™s not too surprising that phobias would, too. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/24 "2015-05-22T14:43:56Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#): > > Iā€™m not afraid of spiders, I can let them walk on my hands and arm. If someone who visits me has expressed fear of, or said that he was grossed out by, spiders, I try to move the ones that live in my house into the garage while the visitor(s) stay. I used the pronoun ā€˜ā€˜heā€™ā€™, because none of the men I know are afraid of spiders, they simply are grossed out by them. Being grossed out must be more manly than fear. > Mice are cute, I love them. > > However, I understand phobias. I have an unreasoning fear of snakes, even harmless garter snakes. No matter how I try to make myself accept, internalize, the fact that a snake is not always dangerous, when confronted with one I panic, sheer blind panic. This is me exactly. I have no fear of spiders. I will pick them up with my bare hands and deposit them outside. I have such an irrational fear of snakes that I cannot even look at pictures of snakes. Like you, I think mice are cute and once spent an hour peeling all the glue of a mouseā€™s foot after he was caught on a glue trap. I then put him outside. My husband never put down another glue trap after that. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/25 "2015-05-22T16:09:25Z")
> [@The\_Angry\_Badger](#): > > Once youā€™ve woken up in bed to see a [huntsman spider](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsman_spider) three feet from your head Huh. Odd. I didnā€™t remember these pants being soaked with urine before. ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/26 "2015-05-22T18:19:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Is there a difference between Arachnophobia and common Idiot Fear of Spiders? \*\* Yes, about $300 an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/27 "2015-05-22T20:16:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Sangahyando** : > > I suspect that with both genders, it depends on how acute the aversion / phobia is, and thus how overcomeable it is ā€“ or isnā€™t ā€“ for the individual. Iā€™ve known some women to claim that when they became mothers, they fought down their fear of spiders, so as not to pass that problem on to their offspring. (I came by my spider-dislike ā€œon my own hookā€ ā€“ my mother had no problem with the creatures.) Others, in my perception, have the thing so badly that itā€™s beyond them to " ā€˜[wo]man upā€™ and deal with it"; their kids just have to take their chances as regards human / arachnid interaction. I see this as applying to some women, and to some men. It can work both ways, too. One of my aunts used to be deathly afraid of snakes, until her own son, a snake enthusiast, cured her of it. Iā€™m not sure how he came to become a snake enthusiast, raised by an ophidiophobe, but it happened. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/28 "2015-05-22T22:17:20Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > One other thing that I find fascinating: the ā€œfilterā€ that includes/excludes visual stimuli is remarkably narrow. Spiders trigger my phobiaā€¦but scorpions do not! I have no idea how that works. Funny, Iā€™m the opposite. I always said I was a ā€œtrueā€ arachnophobic (despite not having an actual phobia) because, while insects ā€“ even the stinging sort ā€“ might be gross or creepy at times, everything on [this page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnid) gives me serious nightmares. Itā€™s not just spiders for me. I find something about the basic bodyplan of arachnids completely terrifying. I canā€™t explain it. Luckily it isnā€™t debilitating, though I will freak out more than a grown man should if one of these creatures is near me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/29 "2015-05-23T02:09:32Z")
For me, spiders are no problem at all, but house centipedes give me the heebie-jeebies. Though they do so considerably less since about a year ago, when I accidentally handled one. Fortunately for me, house centipedes are much rarer than spiders (or at least, show themselves less often, which is good enough for me). ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/30 "2015-05-23T03:46:58Z")
I donā€™t have fear of spiders. That said, thereā€™s a place called Matrimony Spring just North of Moab, Utah along the Colorado river. Cold drinkable water just flows out of the rock. Thereā€™s a big crack that runs directly above the spring. I looked up one time and that whole crack was full of Daddy Long legs. Like, maybe, a laundry basket of Daddy Long legs, suspended\* right over your head\*. Weā€™re still cool, right? ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/31 "2015-05-23T04:16:47Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > Important question: because I am a committed feminist, I would LIKE to believe that Idiot Fear of Spiders is no more commonly found in women than it is found in men. > Any links to studies that bear this out? > Anecdotal evidence also appreciated. Alas; despite your commitment to feminism, it does not appear your hope there is no gender difference is supported by the literature. [From here:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=18382123) _ā€œTotal point prevalence of any specific phobia was 19.9% (26.5% for females and 12.4% for males). In total, 21.2% women and 10.9% men met criterias for any single specific phobia. Multiple phobias was reported by 5.4% of the females and 1.5% of the males. Animal phobia had a prevalence of 12.1% in women and 3.3% in men. Point prevalence of situational phobia was 17.4% in women and 8.5% in men.ā€_ (Probably the menā€™s fault, though, that women are that way.) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/32 "2015-05-23T12:48:02Z")
Was visiting a friend at her new house when she SCREAMED and pointed. I nearly jumped out of my boots. There was a spider on the wall about 6 feet away. So I have a fear of people that are afraid of spiders. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/33 "2015-05-23T12:56:44Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Is a fear of spiders really irrational if you live in Australia, though? I live in Australia, and I donā€™t fear spiders. Iā€™m careful around them, in that Iā€™ll kill or avoid anything that looks potentially harmful, but I welcome Huntsmans in my house _because_ they kill and eat the nasty spiders. Huntsmans are your _friends_. I have a large Huntsman that lives in my letter box, and I am always happy to see it in there. Letters donā€™t seem to bother it at all, and it must be finding plenty to eat in there because itā€™s large and healthy-looking. I regard that Huntsman, and the ones that I occasionally see in my house, as pets. I would be _extremely_ unimpressed if anyone threatened to harm them. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/34 "2015-05-23T13:20:00Z")
God, the poor mailman. Must be a shock the first time something pulls the letter out of your hand and says ā€œThank you!ā€ ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/35 "2015-05-23T14:04:45Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > I suspect that with both genders, it depends on how acute the aversion / phobia is, and thus how overcomeable it is ā€“ or isnā€™t ā€“ for the individual. Iā€™ve known some women to claim that when they became mothers, they fought down their fear of spiders, so as not to pass that problem on to their offspring. (I came by my spider-dislike ā€œon my own hookā€ ā€“ my mother had no problem with the creatures.) Others, in my perception, have the thing so badly that itā€™s beyond them to " ā€˜[wo]man upā€™ and deal with it"; their kids just have to take their chances as regards human / arachnid interaction. I see this as applying to some women, and to some men. > > One of my favourite travel writers, Dervla Murphy (a mother of one), suffers from very extreme arachnophobia, even re the tiniest of spiders ā€“ an unfortunate trait for one who spends a lot of time in parts of the world where spiders of considerable size, are a prominent element in the fauna. Dervla, whose accounts of her journeyings are very humorous, comes across as in many ways spectacularly ill-suited to be a wide-ranging traveller. > [@Chronos](#): > > It can work both ways, too. One of my aunts used to be deathly afraid of snakes, until her own son, a snake enthusiast, cured her of it. Iā€™m not sure how he came to become a snake enthusiast, raised by an ophidiophobe, but it happened. I suppose: an example of the frequent phenomenon of children reacting, to the max, in the opposite direction of that which instilled by their parents ā€“ ā€œFoolish old Mum is terrified of snakes: that must count as something in their favourā€¦ā€ and, as can sometimes be, positive resolution in the end, for both parties. At risk of derailing the thread with ā€œcommercialsā€ for one of my favourite authors: Dervla Murphyā€™s daughter (with whom she is on excellent terms, and the two do a lot of things together) grew up perfectly OK with spiders, and thinks her motherā€™s terror of them ā€“ well, strange. I get the picture that overall, Dervlaā€™s daughter is boringly well-adjusted and normal, in contrast with her delightful but highly-oddball mother. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/36 "2015-05-23T21:29:13Z")
I have developed an amateur theory over the years to explain the fairly common spider, insect, and snake phobias. Point #1ā€“Humans have 2 legs. Point #2ā€“Most other mammals, while having 4 legs, are cute, useful, or both. Point #3ā€“Spiders and insects have even more legs than that. From a strictly human perspective, there is something fundamentally unnatural about having that many legs, or no legs at all. Conclusionā€“Anything that unnatural is likely to be dangerous, and therefore should be feared. I daresay the professionals will laugh at this theory, but I honestly believe that this goes a long way towards explaining those phobias. Combine this issue with the issue of speed and unpredictability of movement, and there you goā€“one full-blown phobia. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/37 "2015-05-24T03:37:13Z")
**Flyer** : noā€¦ It doesnā€™t work to appeal solely to the number of legs. Iā€™m phobic about pictures of spidersā€¦but not about pictures of scorpions, crickets, ants, bees, or most other critters with eight or six legs. Iā€™m not even the slightest bit phobic about (fantasy) depictions of Odinā€™s eight-legged horse, or human figures with eight legs. A (fantasy) painting of an eight-legged dog or cat would not cause me distress. It isnā€™t just the number of legs. Itā€™s something in the arrangement of a spiderā€™s legs, the angles that they stick out at, the way they bend, and the way the legs move independently. A mime once did a really lovely job of moving his fingers in the way a spiderā€™s legs move. Wigged me right out. It triggered the phobic reaction, something hands and fingers ordinarily never do. Same with people with a phobia of snakes. If you show them a dog or cat that has no legs, they might feel sorrow or pity or even ordinary horror ā€“ ā€œThat poor animal!ā€ ā€“ but it wouldnā€™t trigger a phobic reaction the way a real snake ā€“ or even a rubber snake ā€“ would. Some people with a phobia of snakes also react badly to wormsā€¦but some do not. It isnā€™t a hard-and-fast rule. ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/38 "2015-05-24T08:54:51Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > I have developed an amateur theory over the years to explain the fairly common spider, insect, and snake phobias. > > Point #1ā€“Humans have 2 legs. > Point #2ā€“Most other mammals, while having 4 legs, are cute, useful, or both. > Point #3ā€“Spiders and insects have even more legs than that. From a strictly human perspective, there is something fundamentally unnatural about having that many legs, or no legs at all. > Conclusionā€“Anything that unnatural is likely to be dangerous, and therefore should be feared. > > I daresay the professionals will laugh at this theory, but I honestly believe that this goes a long way towards explaining those phobias. > > Combine this issue with the issue of speed and unpredictability of movement, and there you goā€“one full-blown phobia. Allegedly, there are two fears we are born with, the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises, everything else is learned. Some fears (like the fear of spiders and snakes) are learned easier than other fears, but if a baby sees a spider or a snake, itā€™s playtime unless a parent teaches the baby to be afraid or the spider/snake causes the baby distress. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/39 "2015-05-24T14:30:19Z")
Ref **Flyer** ā€™s theory ā€¦ My competing theory is back when all mammals resembled modern shrews and scorpions were the size of modern alligators it made a lot of sense to really fear things that looked like that. To me most insects, arachnids, crustaceans, etc. all resemble what I think of as very primitive life forms. And in fact some are all but unchanged from the very early days. They certainly donā€™t resemble primates. So critters like that are both very different, and to our innermost primitive brain something to legitimately fear. As such, itā€™s plausible theyā€™re sort of spring-loaded to be easy to develop irrational fears about which sometimes rise to phobias in some people. Yes, research shows young infants donā€™t fear spiders or snakes. But their psyche is so unformed at that point its hard to say whatā€™s going on in there. We can never run the experiment, but itā€™d be interesting to raise feral kids (e.g. treat them like farm animals: food, shelter, and thatā€™s it) and test them periodically as they grow. My speculation is that even absent adverse experience with spiders or snakes weā€™d see a growing percentage of the feral kids developing such fears. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542/40 "2015-05-25T05:26:26Z")
> [@Chief\_Pedant](#): > > Alas; despite your commitment to feminism, it does not appear your hope there is no gender difference is supported by the literature. > > [From here:](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=18382123) > > _ā€œTotal point prevalence of any specific phobia was 19.9% (26.5% for females and 12.4% for males). In total, 21.2% women and 10.9% men met criterias for any single specific phobia. Multiple phobias was reported by 5.4% of the females and 1.5% of the males. Animal phobia had a prevalence of 12.1% in women and 3.3% in men. Point prevalence of situational phobia was 17.4% in women and 8.5% in men.ā€_ > > (Probably the menā€™s fault, though, that women are that way.) Youā€™d probably do well fight ignorance about feminism. Itā€™s not like thereā€™s anything about feminism that would lead one to believe otherwise. And feminism does not teach that everything is the fault of men. Thereā€™s a lot of stuff about women contributing to the problem. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-difference-between-arachnophobia-and-common-idiot-fear-of-spiders/720542.md?page=3)