Anna Victoria Reich
Published: March 21, 2008

One of the most common fears is a “fear of snakes” and I would like to add to that, what about the “fear of rats”?  People have a genetic disposition to be afraid of snakes/spiders, etc. according to the two researchers at the University of Virginia.  I find it easy to believe, this fear has been implanted in our brains and minds to be scared of certain images by our previous generations and roots.  Where did this fear originate from? This study sounds very interesting and of course, creative minds want to know.  So catching up on the Psychological Science journal article that is titled; “Detecting the snake in the Grass” will leave a lot of us wanting to know further details. Yet, snakes eat mice, rats and other snakes, so in many ways the snake is good to the environment but yet the phobia is not.  It is very helpful to have learned that “bad and dangerous” snakes have vertical pupils similar to the cat’s eye and harmless snakes have round pupils. Life is full of things that cause a lot of fear, so leave it alone before trouble arises.

Thank you very much,

Anna Victoria Reich
Stafford