Being scared of spiders , also known as arachnophobia, is something that effects millions and millions of people across the world.
However, Dr. Daniela Roessler’s recent study has found that we may not be alone in being scared of spiders. In fact, it seems as though spiders themselves may be somewhat scared of…well, themselves!
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There are apparently roughly 100 million people who suffer from arachnophobia in the United States alone.
Arachnophobia is also quoted as being on of the top five most common fears exhibited by people in the US .
While public speaking was quoted as being the most prominent fear amongst American citizens, there is sadly no research being done on how spiders feel about public speaking.
Dr. Daniela Roessler’s ‘Arachno-Arachnophobia’ study has been an eye-opener for many people.
You can watch the brief video covering Dr. Roessler’s study, which was uploaded to her Twitter page, below.
Overall, the study seemed to show that “jumping spiders recognize stationary salticid [meaning a spider of the family Salticidae] predators and robustly run away from them.”
Essentially, spiders may be scared of spiders, just like a lot of people are!
Dr. Roessler hopes that this experiment will also help some arachnophobes to have some sympathy with our eight-legged friends, writing:
“For all arachnophobes out there, we found a thing you have in common with spiders. Time to reconsider and sympathize.”
It was also found that, in the experiment, the spiders were more scared of stimuli that looked like spiders.
The spiders were presented with different stimuli and it was found that the spiders were most frightened when presented with something which closer resembled a spider — or, in some instances, was a spider.
The fact that the spiders were able to recognise stationary predators was particularly interesting, as Dr. Roessler expands upon below.
So, when you next see a spider and think you’re scared…remember that it may be just as scared of both you and itself!
However, some people were also quick to share their own experiences with spiders in which they were decidedly less than cool as a cucumber.
If you have any spider-related memories, be sure to let us know…so long as they’re not too creepy that is!
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