BACKGROUND: Fear acquisition of certain stimuli, such as snakes, is thought to be rapid, resistant to extinction, and easily transferable onto other similar objects. It has been hypothesized that due to increased survival chances, preparedness to instantly acquire fear towards evolutionary threats has been hardwired into neural pathways of the primate brain. Here, we compare participants' fear of snakes according to experience; from those who often deal with snakes and even suffer snakebites to those unfamiliar with snakes. METHODS: The Snake Questionnaire-12 (SNAQ-12) and Specific Phobia Questionnaire (SPQ) were administered to three groups of participants with a different level of experience with snakes and snakebites: 1) snake experts, 2) firefighters, and 3) college students. RESULTS: This study shows that individuals more experienced with snakes demonstrate lower fear. Moreover, participants who have suffered a snakebite (either venomous or not) score lower on fear of snakes (SNAQ-12), but not of all other potentially phobic stimuli (SPQ). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that a harmless benign exposure might immunize people to highly biologically prepared fears of evolutionary threats, such as snakes.

Applied Neuroscience and Neuroimaging Research Programme National Institute of Mental Health Klecany Czech Republic

Center for Psychology at University of Porto Porto Portugal

Department of Psychology Faculty of Arts Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Faculty of Psychology Chulalongkorn University Bangkok Thailand

Institute of Psychology University of Pécs Pécs Hungary

Life Di Center Faculty of Psychology Chulalongkorn University Bangkok Thailand

University Institute of Maia Maia Portugal

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Gutiérrez JM, Calvete JJ, Habib AG, Harrison RA, Williams DJ, Warrell DA. Snakebite envenoming. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2017;3(1):1–21. doi: 10.1038/nrdp.2017.63. PubMed DOI

Kasturiratne,A, Wickremasinghe AR, de Silva N, Gunawardena NK, Pathmeswaran A, Premaratna R, et al. The global burden of snakebite: a literature analysis and modelling based on regional estimates of envenoming and deaths. PLoS Med 2008;5(11): e218, 10.1371/journal.pmed.0050218. PubMed PMC

World Health Organization: Snakebite envenoming. http://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/snakebite-envenoming (2019). .

Arrindell WA. Phobic dimensions: IV. The structure of animal fears. Behav Res Ther. 2000;38(5):509–530. doi: 10.1016/S0005-7967(99)00097-2. PubMed DOI

Seligman ME. Phobias and preparedness. Behav Ther. 1971;2(3):307–320. doi: 10.1016/S0005-7894(71)80064-3. DOI

Öhman A, Dimberg U, Öst LG. Animal and social phobias: biological constraints on learned fear responses. In: Reiss S, Bootzin RR, editors. Theoretical issues in behavior therapy. New York: Academic Press; 1985. pp. 123–175.

Cook M, Mineka S. Observational conditioning of fear to fear-relevant versus fear- irrelevant stimuli in rhesus monkeys. J Abnor Psychol. 1989;98(4):448–459. doi: 10.1037/0021-843X.98.4.448. PubMed DOI

McNally RJ. The legacy of Seligman’s" phobias and preparedness"(1971) Behav Ther. 2016;47(5):585–594. doi: 10.1016/j.beth.2015.08.005. PubMed DOI

Öhman A, Mineka S. Fears, phobias, and preparedness: toward an evolved module of fear and fear learning. Psychol Rev. 2001;108(3):483–522. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.108.3.483. PubMed DOI

DeLoache JS, LoBue V. The narrow fellow in the grass: human infants associate snakes and fear. Developmental Sci. 2009;12(1):201–207. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00753.x. PubMed DOI

Isbell LA. Snakes as agents of evolutionary change in primate brains. J Hum Evol. 2006;51(1):1–35. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.12.012. PubMed DOI

Isbell LA. The fruit, the tree, and the serpent: why we see so well. Cambridge: Harvard University Press; 2009.

Thrasher C, LoBue V. Do infants find snakes aversive? Infants’ physiological responses to “fear-relevant” stimuli. J Exp Child Psychol. 2016;142:382–390. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.09.013. PubMed DOI

Van Le Q, Isbell LA, Matsumoto J, Nguyen M, Hori E, Maior RS, et al. Pulvinar neurons reveal neurobiological evidence of past selection for rapid detection of snakes. P Natl Acad Sci USA. 2013;110(47):19000–19005. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1312648110. PubMed DOI PMC

Öhman A, Flykt A, Esteves F. Emotion drives attention: detecting the snake in the grass. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2001;130(3):466–478. doi: 10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.466. PubMed DOI

Soares SC, Lindström B, Esteves F, Öhman A. The hidden snake in the grass: superior detection of snakes in challenging attentional conditions. PLoS One. 2014;9(12):e114724. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114724. PubMed DOI PMC

Kawai N, He H. Breaking snake camouflage: humans detect snakes more accurately than other animals under less discernible visual conditions. PLoS One. 2016;11(10):e0164342. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0164342. PubMed DOI PMC

Lobue V, DeLoache JS. What's so special about slithering serpents? Children and adults rapidly detect snakes based on their simple features. Vis Cogn. 2011;19(1):129–143. doi: 10.1080/13506285.2010.522216. DOI

Masataka N, Hayakawa S, Kawai N. Human young children as well as adults demonstrate ‘superior’ rapid snake detection when typical striking posture is displayed by the snake. PLoS One. 2010;5(11):e15122. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015122. PubMed DOI PMC

Van Strien JW, Isbell LA. Snake scales, partial exposure, and the Snake detection theory: a human event-related potentials study. Sci Rep-UK. 2017;7(1):1–9. doi: 10.1038/s41598-016-0028-x. PubMed DOI PMC

LoBue V, Rakison DH. What we fear most: a developmental advantage for threat-relevant stimuli. Dev Rev. 2013;33(4):285–303. doi: 10.1016/j.dr.2013.07.005. DOI

Coelho CM, Purkis H. The origins of specific phobias: influential theories and current perspectives. Rev Gen Psychol. 2009;13(4):335–348. doi: 10.1037/a0017759. DOI

Fyer AJ. Current approaches to etiology and pathophysiology of specific phobia. Biol Psychiatry. 1998;44(12):1295–1304. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3223(98)00274-1. PubMed DOI

Lubow RE, Gewirtz JC. Latent inhibition in humans: data, theory, and implications for schizophrenia. Psychol Bull. 1995;117(1):87–103. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.117.1.87. PubMed DOI

Swerdlow NR, Braff DL, Hartston H, Perry W, Geyer MA. Latent inhibition in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res. 1996;20(1–2):91–103. doi: 10.1016/0920-9964(95)00097-6. PubMed DOI

Lingawi NW, Westbrook RF, Laurent V. Extinction and latent inhibition involve a similar form of inhibitory learning that is stored in and retrieved from the infralimbic cortex. Cereb Cortex. 2016;27(12):5547–5556. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhw322. PubMed DOI

Mackintosh NJ. A theory of attention: variations in the associability of stimuli with reinforcement. Psychol Rev. 1975;82(4):276–298. doi: 10.1037/h0076778. DOI

Lubow RE. Latent inhibition as a measure of learned inattention: some problems and solutions. Behav Brain Res. 1997;88(1):75–83. doi: 10.1016/S0166-4328(97)02307-3. PubMed DOI

McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ. An elemental model of associative learning: I. latent inhibition and perceptual learning. Anim Learn Behav. 2000;28(3):211–246. doi: 10.3758/BF03200258. DOI

Mineka S, Cook M. Immunization against the observational conditioning of snake fear in rhesus monkeys. J Abnorm Psychol. 1986;95(4):307–318. doi: 10.1037/0021-843X.95.4.307. PubMed DOI

Golkar A, Olsson A. Immunization against social fear learning. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2016;145(6):665–671. doi: 10.1037/xge0000173. PubMed DOI

Rachman S. The conditioning theory of fear acquisition: a critical examination. Behav Res Ther. 1977;15(5):375–387. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(77)90041-9. PubMed DOI

Coelho CM, Balaban CD. Visuo-vestibular contributions to anxiety and fear. Neurosci Biobehav R. 2015;48:148–159. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.10.023. PubMed DOI

Doogan S, Thomas GV. Origins of fear of dogs in adults and children: the role of conditioning processes and prior familiarity with dogs. Behav Res Ther. 1992;30(4):387–394. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(92)90050-Q. PubMed DOI

Berge Ten M, Veerkamp JSJ, Hoogstraten J. The etiology of childhood dental fear: the role of dental and conditioning experiences. J Anxiety Disord. 2002;16(3):321–329, 10.1016/S0887-6185(02)00103-2. PubMed

Kent G. Dental phobias. In: Davey GC, editor. Phobias: a handbook of theory, research, and treatment. Chichester: Wiley; 1997. pp. 107–127.

Davey GC. Self-reported fears to common indigenous animals in an adult UK population: the role of disgust sensitivity. Brit J Psychol. 1994;85(4):541–554. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1994.tb02540.x. PubMed DOI

Polák J, Rádlová S, Janovcová M, Flegr J, Landová E, Frynta D. Scary and nasty beasts: self-reported fear and disgust of common phobic animals. Brit J Psychol. 2020;111(2):297–321. doi: 10.1111/bjop.12409. PubMed DOI

Onyishi IE, Nwonyi SK, Pazda A, Prokop P. Attitudes and behaviour toward snakes on the part of Igbo people in southeastern Nigeria. Sci Total Environ. 2021;763:143045. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143045. PubMed DOI

Siegal S. Generalization of latent inhibition. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology. 1969;69(1):157–159. doi: 10.1037/h0027950. DOI

Olsson A, Phelps EA. Social learning of fear. Nat Neurosci. 2007;10(9):1095–1102. doi: 10.1038/nn1968. PubMed DOI

Laland KN, Uller T, Feldman MW, Sterelny K, Müller GB, Moczek A, Jablonka E, Odling-Smee J. The extended evolutionary synthesis: its structure, assumptions and predictions. P Roy Soc B-Biol Sci. 2015;282(1813):20151019. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1019. PubMed DOI PMC

Plotkin HC, Odling-Smee FJ. A multiple-level model of evolution and its implications for sociobiology. Behav Brain Sci. 1981;4(2):225–235. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X00008566. DOI

Zsido AN, Arato N, Inhof O, Janszky J, Darnai G. Short versions of two specific phobia measures: the snake and the spider questionnaires. J Anxiety Disord. 2018;54:11–16. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2017.12.002. PubMed DOI

Ovanessian MM, Fairbrother N, Vorstenbosch V, McCabe RE, Rowa K, Antony MM. Psychometric properties and clinical utility of the specific phobia questionnaire in an anxiety disorders sample. J Psychopathol Behav. 2019;41(1):36–52. doi: 10.1007/s10862-018-9687-1. DOI

The JAMOVI project. Jamovi (Version 1.6) [Computer Software]. 2021. Retrieved from https://www.jamovi.org. Accessed 03 Jan 2021.

Nelson EA, Deacon BJ, Lickel JJ, Sy JT. Targeting the probability versus cost of feared outcomes in public speaking anxiety. Behav Res Ther. 2010;48(4):282–289. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2009.11.007. PubMed DOI

Bandura A, Menlove FL. Factors determining vicarious extinction of avoidance behavior through symbolic modeling. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1968;8(2, Pt. 1):99–108. doi: 10.1037/h0025260. PubMed DOI

Golkar A, Selbing I, Flygare O, Öhman A, Olsson A. Other people as means to a safe end: vicarious extinction blocks the return of learned fear. Psychol Sci. 2013;24(11):2182–2190. doi: 10.1177/0956797613489890. PubMed DOI

Poulton R, Davies S, Menzies RG, Langley JD, Silva PA. Evidence for a non-associative model of the acquisition of a fear of heights. Behav Res Ther. 1998;36(5):537–544. doi: 10.1016/S0005-7967(97)10037-7. PubMed DOI

Barry TJ, Vervliet B, Hermans D. An integrative review of attention biases and their contribution to treatment for anxiety disorders. Front Psychol. 2015;6:968. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00968. PubMed DOI PMC

Scheveneels S, Boddez Y, Vervliet B, Hermans D. The validity of laboratory-based treatment research: bridging the gap between fear extinction and exposure treatment. Behav Res Ther. 2016;86:87–94. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2016.08.015. PubMed DOI

Murray EJ, Foote F. The origins of fear of snakes. Behav Res Ther. 1976;17(5):489–493. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(79)90065-2. PubMed DOI

Johansson M, Flykt A, Frank J, Støen OG. Controlled exposure reduces fear of brown bears. Hum Dimens Wildl. 2019;24(4):363–379. doi: 10.1080/10871209.2019.1616238. DOI

Alvares GA, Quintana DS, Hickie IB, Guastella AJ. Autonomic nervous system dysfunction in psychiatric disorders and the impact of psychotropic medications: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2016;41(2):89–104. doi: 10.1503/jpn.140217. PubMed DOI PMC

Macleod C, Mathews A. Cognitive bias modification approaches to anxiety. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2012;8(1):189–217. doi: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032511-143052. PubMed DOI

McNally RJ. Attentional bias for threat: crisis or opportunity? Clin Psychol Rev. 2018;69:4–13. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2018.05.005. PubMed DOI

Bawaskar HS, Bawaskar PH. Profile of snakebite envenoming in western Maharashtra, India. T Roy Soc Trop Med H. 2002;96(1):79–84. doi: 10.1016/S0035-9203(02)90250-6. PubMed DOI

Ariaratnam CA, Sheriff MR, Theakston RDG, Warrell D. Distinctive epidemiologic and clinical features of common krait (Bungarus caeruleus) bites in Sri Lanka. Am J Trop Med H. 2008;79(3):458–462. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.2008.79.458. PubMed DOI

Mitra S, Agarwal A, Shubhankar B, Masih S, Krothapalli V, Lee BM, Kuruvilla J, Alex R. Clinico-epidemiological profile of snake bites over 6-year period from a rural secondary care Centre of northern India: a descriptive study. Toxicol Int. 2015;22(1):77–82. doi: 10.4103/0971-6580.172263. PubMed DOI PMC

Kularatne S, Silva A, Weerakoon K, Maduwage K, Walathara C, Paranagama R, et al. Revisiting Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii) bite in Sri Lanka: is abdominal pain an early feature of systemic envenoming? PLoS One. 2014;9(2):e90198. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090198. PubMed DOI PMC

Rahman R, Faiz MA, Selim S, Rahman B, Basher A, Jones A, d'Este C, Hossain M, Islam Z, Ahmed H, Milton AH. Annual incidence of snake bite in rural Bangladesh. PLoS Neglect Trop D. 2010;4(10):e860. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0000860. PubMed DOI PMC

Chippaux JP. Snakebites: appraisal of the global situation. B World Health Organ. 1998;76(5):515–524. PubMed PMC

Hossain MZ, Atiqullah S, Saha AC, Chowdhury AJ, Jahangir KM, Faiz MA. A fatal cobra-bite in a snake expert. Mymensingh Med J. 2010;19(2):303–307. PubMed

Minton SA. Bites by non-native venomous snakes in the United States. Wild Environ Med. 1996;7(4):297–303. doi: 10.1580/1080-6032(1996)007[0297:BBNNVS]2.3.CO;2. PubMed DOI