Out the corner of your eye you see something with long black legs !
Quite happily go hunting spiders or let a Tarantula run over your hand (not quite so happily) but a sudden unexpected glimpse send your hear rate up a beat?
2006-11-16 23:54:21 · 16 answers · asked by Perseus 3 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
a fear of spiders is very common. i don't have it, but 95% of people i know do.
it sounds to me more like you are just shocked by their unexpected presence.
maybe it is the surprise/shock that is your problem.
2006-11-17 00:05:41 · answer #1 · answered by Its Josie! 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Arachnophobia seems common enough.... but what you're stating isn't quite the same.
I'm certainly not afraid of spiders, but I don't like their habit of taking me by surprise. There have been quite a few situations where a spider has descended from above while I was concentrating on a computer screen... and it has lowered itself down mere centimetres from my face... and shocked the crap outta me.
But then a second or so later I would just wave my hand through its hang-line to get hold of it and then move it to somewhere else.
I'm not afraid of spiders in the slightest.
Mosquitoes however. My hackles rise whenever I hear that high-pitched drone in the vicinity, and instantly curl up to try and cover as much of myself as possible.
2006-11-17 08:02:22 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
There is no such thing as normal, but all phobias are derived from some survival instinct. This one is what's called a "rational phobia" because way back in the day, if you let a spider get close enough to bite you you could die, from the poison or even just an infection! And you still can today. (As opposed to an "irrational phobia" such as triskadecaphobia. Numbers can't hurt you.)
So I suppose, comparatively, it is normal.
2006-11-17 08:05:00 · answer #3 · answered by Nénuphar 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Phobias are not considered normal but certain phobias are common and arachnophobia is one of them. If you can let a spider run over your hand you have not got arachnophobia you have fear of unexpected, but not sure what that is called.
2006-11-17 08:04:03 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
arachnophobia as with any other phobia is not normal. A phobia is an irrational fear of something. This is not a normal condition.
However, normal people have phobias.... It's like vision... 20/20 vision is normal. 20/60 vision is not. But people with 20/60 vision are still considered normal even if their vision is not.....
2006-11-17 08:03:22 · answer #5 · answered by Andy FF1,2,CrTr,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe arachnophobia is normal at all, it's just one of the more accepted fears in our society. I unfortunately suffer from it. I can't stand them. at one point I couldn't touch toy spiders or eat spider jelly sweets. Now that's not really normal...
It's natural for us to fear it though, we don't really understand them. I don't I feel like their eyes are watching me, or they're going to bite me... typing this now is making me look round the room nervously, thinking ones going to creep out.
2006-11-17 16:19:07 · answer #6 · answered by elin j 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
its because when we are young, we are told spiders are scary. we see people jumping on tables and screaming. if i had a kid and everytime i saw an apple, and everytime everyone else saw an apple, we all lost the plot, im sure the poor little thing would grow up to have an irrational fear of apples.
2006-11-17 08:24:23 · answer #7 · answered by 85 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No phobia is normal. Phobia, by definition , is a fear beyond the reasonable.
While many people are fearful of arachnids, those who are phobic will get hysterical or faint when they see one.
2006-11-17 08:13:37 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have such a fear of spiders that it bothers me to read your question and the already posted answers!! When I call my husband's name in a certain tone, he just says, "Where is it?"
2006-11-17 08:08:42 · answer #9 · answered by Ms. G. 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes it's normal
2006-11-17 08:03:41 · answer #10 · answered by party_pam 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋