People aren't born afraid of spiders and snakes: Fear is quickly learned during infancy

Monday, January 24, 2011 - 12:03 in Psychology & Sociology

There's a reason why Hollywood makes movies like Arachnophobia and Snakes on a Plane: Most people are afraid of spiders and snakes. A new paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, reviews research with infants and toddlers and finds that we aren't born afraid of spiders and snakes, but we can learn these fears very quickly.

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