Studies show that fear of spiders make them look bigger

Studies show that fear of spiders makes them look bigger

According to new research of arachnophobes, the fear of spiders makes them look even bigger to the eys of those afraid. The researchers found that the worse the condition of the fear,
the larger the people estimate the creepy crawlie’s size. Half of women and girls, while up to one in six males are affected by the irrational fear of spiders.

These latest studies explain why many people tell the size of the spider way bigger than normal when they see the insect and get afraid. The study of how a phobia like this affects perception
of feared people can help doctors to find remedies for the fear.

Psychologist Professor of Ohio State University, Michael Vasey said, “If one is afraid of spiders, and by virtue of being afraid of spiders one tends to perceive spiders as bigger than
they really are, that may feed the fear, foster that fear, and make it difficult to overcome.”

Prof added, “When it comes to phobias, it is all about avoidance as a primary means of keeping oneself safe. As long as you avoid, you cannot discover you are wrong. And you are stuck.
So to the extent that perceiving spiders as bigger than they really are fosters fear and avoidance, it then potentially is part of this cycle that feeds the phobia that leads to its persistence.”

The researchers conducted their studies on 57 participants with a spider phobia. They were asked to undergo five encounters with live tarantulas in uncovered glass tanks and then provide
size estimates. The findings showed that the more afraid they rated in anxiety scores, the bigger they described the size of the hairy beasts, which spanned between one and six inches.

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Posted by Zeeshan Gohar on Feb 29 2012. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry