Correlation between the Knowledge of Snakes and the Snake Fear

Authors

  • Nino Kaishauri Ilia University
  • Malkhaz Makashvili Ilia University

Keywords:

snake, fear, knowledge

Abstract

The question addressed in the current study is to what extent factual knowledge of snakes may influence the fear of snake in humans. Academy of Fine Arts students, mean age 18, of both sexes were asked to fulfill two pencil-and-paper questionnaires (Q) consisted of 21 statements referring to the fear of snake (Q-1) and of 28 false statements  about snake anatomy and behavior (Q-2). Experimental subjects were asked to agree or disagree with each statement given in Q. All tests were scored according to standardized procedures and the data were entered into an SPSS file for further analysis. Data obtained revealed positive correlation between positive answers (“agreeâ€) in Q-1 and Q-2. Considerably weak but positive correlation was found between negative answers (“do not agreeâ€) in Q-1 and Q-2. Presumably people having superficial (if any) knowledge of snake anatomy and behavior are more afraid of snakes as compared to those possessing correct information about snake biology. The data obtained suggest proper factual knowledge to help reduce the snake fear.

Author Biography

Malkhaz Makashvili, Ilia University

Institute of Applied Psychology

References

Allen R., American Camp Association Magazine, June, 2010

Archer, J., The nature of human aggression, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, no. 32, pp. 202–208, 2009.

Arindell, W.A., Eiseman, M., Richter,J., Tian, P.S., Oci, T.P.S., Caballo, V.E., et al., Phobic anxiety in 11 nations, Part 1: Dimensional constancy of the five-factor model. Behavior Research and Therapy, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 461-479, 2003.

Australian Reptile Forum, http://www.australianreptileforum.com/arf/f84/bring-your-snake-phobia-bristol-zoo-therapy-13833/, 2010.

Bandura, A., Blanchard, E., Ritter, B., Modeling approaches to the modification of phobic disorders, Giba Foundation symposium,: The role of learning in psychotherapy, London, Churchill, 1968.

Baron, R., Richardson, D. Human Aggression, Second edition, Springer, 444 p., 2004.

Bishop, S.J., Neurocognitive mechanisms of anxiety: an integrative account, Trends Cogn Sci., vol. 1, no. 7, pp. 307-316, 2007

Blanchard, R. J. Pain and aggression reconsidered, In K. J. Flannelly, R. J. Blanchard, &D. C. Blanchard (Eds.),Biological perspectives on aggression,(pp. 1−26), .New York: Liss., 1984.

Blanchard, R. J., & Blanchard, D. C., The organization and modeling of animal aggression, In P. F. Brain & D. Benton (Eds.),The biology of aggression, pp. 529−561, 1981.

Cook, M., Mineka, S., Selective associations in the observational conditioning of fear in rhesus monkeys, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, no. 16, pp. 372-389, 1990.

Davey, G.C.L., Cavanagh, K., Lamb A., Differential aversive outcome expectancies for high-and low-predation fear-relevant animals. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychology, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 117-128, 2003.

DeLoache, J., LoBue V., The narrow fellow in the grass: human infants associate snakes and fear, Developmental science, 12, 1, 201-207, 2009.

Ellerbeck M. Snakes face cruelty and extinction too, Available at: http://veganvine.blogspot.com/2011/03/snakes-face-cruelty-and-extinction-too.html accepted May, 2011.

Fetchenhauer, D., Buunk, B. P., How to explain gender differences in fear of crime: Towards an evolutionary approach. Sexualities, Evolution & Gender. vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 95-113, 2005.

Field, A., The behavioral inhibition system and the verbal information pathway to children fears, Journal of abnormal psychology, no. 115, pp. 742-752, 2006.

Fredrikson, M., Annas, P., Fischer, H., & Wik, G., Gender and age differences in the prevalence of specific fears and phobias. Behavior Research and Therapy, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 33-39, 1996.

Hayashi, N, Someya, N, Maruyama, T, Hirooka, Y, Yamaoka, Endo M., Fukuba, Y. Vascular responses to fear-induced stress in humans. Physiology & Behavior , vol. 9, no.4, pp. 441-6, 2009.

Jankowitsch, J., The origin of snake and spider fear: How infants learn to associate evolutionary fear-relevant stimuli and paired stimuli. The Carnegy Mellon University Research Showcase. http://repository.cmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1013&context=hsshonors, 2009

Kellert, S., Values and perceptions of invertebrates. Conservation Biology, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 845-855, 1993.

LoBue, V., DeLoache, J., Detecting the snake in the grass: Attention to fear-relevant stimuli by adults and young children. Psychological science, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 284-28, 2008.

Mantil, T., Snake: A learning experience. www.brocku.ca/massasauga/Mantil.pdf‎., 2011

McClure, E.B, Monk, C.S, Nelson, E.E, Parrish, J.M., Adler, A., Blair, R.J., Fromm, S., Charney, D.S., Leibenluft, E., Ernst, M., Pine, D.S., Abnormal attention modulation of fear circuit function in pediatric generalized anxiety disorder. , vol.. 64, no.1, pp. 97-106, 2007.

Merkeblach, H., Muris, P., Specific phobias. Anxiety Disorders: An introduction to clinical management and Research. Grietz, E.J.L., Faravelli, C., Nutt, D., Zohar, D. (eds), Chichester: UK, John Willey & Son: pp. 105-135, 2001.

Mineka, S., Zinbarg R., A contemporary learning theory perspective on anxiety disorders: It’s not what you thought it was. American Psychologist, no. 61, pp. 210-269, 2006

Morgan, J.M., A theoretical basis for evaluating wildlife-related education programs. American Biology Teacher, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 153-157, 1992.

Muris, P., Merkeblach, H., Olendick, T.H., King, N.J., Meesters, C., van Kessel, C., What is the revised fear survey schedule for children measuring? Behavior Research and Therapy, vol. 40, no. 11, pp. 1317-1326, 2002 a.

Ocepec, R., (2001). Cited in: Tomazic I., Pre-Service biology teachers’ and primary school students attitudes towards and knowledge about snakes, Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 7, no. 3, p. 161, 2001.

Öhman, A., "Fear and anxiety: Evolutionary, cognitive, and clinical perspectives", In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.). Handbook of emotions. pp. 573–593. New York: The Guilford Press, 2000.

Ohman, A., Of snakes and faces: An evolutionary perspective on the psychology of fear.Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, no. 50, pp. 543-552, 2009.

Olsson, A., Nearing, K., Phelps, E., Learning fears by observing others: the neural systems of social fear transmission, Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci., Vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 3–11, 2007.

Poulton, R., Menzies, R.G., Non-associative fear acquisition: a review of the evidence from retrospective and longitudinal research, Behavior Research and Therapy, no. 40, pp. 127-149, 2002.

Prokop, P., Tunnicliffe, S.D., Disgusting animals: Primary school children’s attitudes and myths of bats and spiders, Eurasia Journal of mathematics, science and technology education, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 87-97, 2008.

Prokop, P., Ozel M., Usak M., Cross-cultural comparison of student attitudes toward snakes, Society and Animals, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 224-240.

Prokop, P., Tunnicliffe, S.D., Effects of keeping pets on children’s attitudes toward popular and unpopular animals, Anthrozoös, 23(1): 21–35, 2010.

Rackison, D., Does women's greater fear of snakes and spiders originate in infancy?, Evolution and Behavior, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 439–444., 2009.

Selingman, M., Phobias and preparedness, Behavior Therapy, no. 2, pp. 307-320, 1970.

Shin, L.M., Liberzon, I., The Neurocircuity of Fear, Stress, and Anxiety Disorders, Neuropsychopharmacology, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 169–191, 2010.

Soares, S.C., Esteves, F., A glimpse of fear: fast recognition of threatening targets in visual search with brief stimulus durations., PsyCH Journal, no. 2, pp. 11-16, 2013.

Stanley, J., Snakes: Objects of Religion, Fear, and Myth, altweb.astate.edu/electronicjournal/.../Stanley_snake_myth_paper_r...pdf‎., 2013.

Tomazic, I., Pre-Service biology teachers’ and primary school students attitudes towards and knowledge about snakes, Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, no. 3, pp. 161-171, 2011.

Downloads

Published

2013-08-30

How to Cite

Kaishauri, N., & Makashvili, M. (2013). Correlation between the Knowledge of Snakes and the Snake Fear. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies, 1(3). Retrieved from https://ajouronline.com/index.php/AJHSS/article/view/426

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 3 (2013): August 2013

Section

Articles

License

  • Papers must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal published by any other publisher.
  • It is also the authors responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular source are submitted with the necessary approval.
  • The authors warrant that the paper is original and that he/she is the author of the paper, except for material that is clearly identified as to its original source, with permission notices from the copyright owners where required.
  • The authors ensure that all the references carefully and they are accurate in the text as well as in the list of references (and vice versa).
  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
  • The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.