Why are we scared of spiders?

I'm in my bed right now and a giant, long-legged arachnid just abseiled down my curtain. To say I jumped out of the bed would be an understatement. I opened the window grabbed the edge of the curtain and flung the whole lot out and slammed the window again. Half the curtain is locked outside now but once the spider went with it I don't care!

What is it about spiders that makes grown men jump and run away? Men who could wrestle a bear freak out at the sight of them. My friend was telling me yesterday that she threw her cigarette lighter over a wall with fright one time when she spotted a spider out of the corner of her eye as she was lighting up. Same person drenched me with the contents of her watering-can when one popped out of a flower pot as she was watering the plants.

What is it about spiders? Is it something psychological? I've always thought it was about how they move, the way their legs are bent. Any ideas?

Good question! I know I would rather have a snake on me than a spider! I think its their looks. I can pick up a granddaddy long legs, but only because I know it can not bite me! The rest of them freak me out. I will hurt myself trying to get away from a spider. To me they look sinister!

I used to have a parrot, he was such a mental bird, he was really smart.... But if he ever spotted a cable out of the corner of his eye he would flip right out, staring at it and making one hell of a noise!!!

It's commen to all parrots - one of the biggest threats they face in the wild is tree dwelling snakes -- anything that liiks vaguely like a snake and they go mad!!

I'm gonna say it's as simple as that but with spiders for people - we are taught from a very young age that spiders are bad - there must be an instinct that we are born with, spiders in most parts of the world can kill... and even if they are not deadly, when your living as the achients did just being ill can be life or death, you cant fight or hunt.

reply to post by Yossarian


i think it is the combination of 8 legs, uglyness and possible death from the injection of its poison.

i am the biggest wuss when it comes to spiders...yuck!

reply to post by Yossarian


When I was young I was s__t scared of spiders.
They do not worry me anymore though; I realised they are an irrational phobia. Infact, they are probably more scared of us.
I have since found they are quite tasty also; tarantulas that is!

Originally posted by Yossarian
What is it about spiders? Is it something psychological? I've always thought it was about how they move, the way their legs are bent. Any ideas?

...i think its learned behavior... some spiders are quite beautiful and ditto for webs... they're also beneficial... about an hour from where i live, theres a stretch of highway that tarantulas migrate across every year... hundreds die on the highway - really messy... i've read that its only the males that migrate... the first time i encountered that it creeped me out a little bit when i realized how high they can jump and how long they can hang on, lmao...

reply to post by Now_Then


It's odd though because if I can handle ants or moths or beetles or whatever other kind of bugs you have around he place but once I see a spider I'm gone. What about those people (strange people) who have no problem with spiders and can pick them up in their hand to bring them back outside? I could handle being in a room with a snarling dog but put me in a room with a spider!

reply to post by KRISKALI777


OMG!! Kudos to you for having the gonads to even attempt to eat a spider! I think!

reply to post by Yossarian


I was always scared of them, lol more so the Camel Crickets (I know they aren't spiders, but they look close enough and can JUMP!!) and , well yea pretty much anything with more than four legs.. I think humans are afraid of them because they just look so odd, and are so scandalous (really just creepy,lol). It is funny though, because now I am not afraid of any insect (although centipedes still freak me out a lil') unless I know it is poisonous. Here in Tennessee we have two of the most poisonous spiders and they are quite common (Black Widow and Brown Recluse ).

...lmao @ kriskali777 - too funny... btw, what happens to the fluid in that sack when cooked?... is it gooey or crunchy, lmao...

reply to post by KRISKALI777


Fair dues!

Another time I remember I was minding a neighbour's house while they were away and I came across a medium sized spider in their bedroom on the carpet. I picked up a bottle of hairspray and sprayed the bugger. It curled up all dead-like so I went downstairs to get some paper to remove it. When I got back there was a spider-shaped hole in the hairspray foam on the carpet. They can play dead too! Never found that one.

[edit on 22/8/09 by Yossarian]

reply to post by KRISKALI777


aaahhhhh...duude!..so wrong...

next time maybe some BBQ sauce?

reply to post by Greenize


Sweet actually, and crunchy. They fry 'em up in a sugary syrup. they are very good with a cold beer.
No Kudos needed for that; its a cultural conception of what we value as normal foods.
In some parts of Asia, this and other 'creepy crawlies' are snack foods.
They are much more nutricious than half of the junk us westerners eat as snacks; such as crisps, doritos etc.
or only look more apperising- to us.

reply to post by KRISKALI777


The best I could do was eat a snail when I was in Brussels. Blegh. You can keep your spiders and I'll keep my nachos!

reply to post by KRISKALI777


I might be able to do that after several cold beers, and if it was totally dark and I didn't know what was handed to me!!!!

reply to post by Yossarian


Not meaning to show off; it was the best way I could think of to demonstrate that phobias are generally irrational and can definately be overcome; also such things as dry-wreaching at the smell of rotten meat etc.
Its amazing what we can actually become accustomed to when we have confronted a particularly unfriendly stimulus, on a regular basis.
I met an old man whom was a currator at a local museum in Katoomba NSW, when I was about 10 yo. He had the most amazing collection of Funnel-Web Spiders I have ever seen; including living examples that he would milk venom from for vaccine research.
he had a De-fanged female funnel web, that he coerced me to hold in my hand.
It was OK after I was sure I wouldn't be bitten.

reply to post by KRISKALI777


That's pretty interesting. I mean, I don't consciously think that I'm afraid of being bitten. All I know is that it's the sight of one alone that immediately puts me into fight or flight mode and once they start moving that experience is heightened again. I'd love to be able to hold one on my hand but that seems light years away!

I think its just the way they feel on you when your not expecting it. If you had a pet spider and you knew it was on you. You wouldn't be scared but let's say one gets on you and you don't expect it. You just freak out.

Just the other week a spider about a centimeter in diameter crawled up on me onto my neck and I just freaked out. My friends said that was the first time they've ever seen me like that and I've known them my whole life

I hate spiders. I kill them on sight. Before any bug-kissing PETA nazis show up, I KNOW they are benficial and eat other pests and deserve to live because they are just so important to our ecosystem. Blech. I kill 'em. They bite, they have EIGHT legs and an EYE for each one. That's just wrong. They are ALL poisonous and they are just plain icky.
I've been bit several times and it's usually while sleeping. I heard the average person swallows about 8 spiders a year while they are sleeping. And yeah, that's just wrong.
Arachnids in general are some of the most gruesome little boogers going. Spiders are also some cold-blooded little bastards. That whole sucking the juices out of something while it's still alive is just bad news.
If I had to try and understand the phobia, I would be looking at feelings of powerlessness. Logic tell us that the spider cannot eat us, but we KNOW what happens when something gets caught in the web. They have more arms than us, so they have an advantage in martial arts. They can crawl on the ceiling (scorpions too) and drop down on us anytime they like. Some are indeed deadly.
Here in KS we have brown recluse and black widows. The bites of either can have very serious effects on some. I don't take any chances. If a spider comes across my path, it is ME that is going home tonight.
I set sticky traps by all the doors. It gives me GREAT pleasure to pick up a trap and see six or seven of them bastards on there.
Nope! I'm not scared. (lie)

Why are we scared of spiders?

Childhood trauma may be a factor. Imagine being a two month old baby and a spider crawling on your face in the middle of the night and biting you. You wake up and cry, and mommy comes, but by then the spider is gone.

Until the next night. And the next.

Night after night the spider makes a meal of you. Hurting you. But you don't have enough control over your arms yet to make it go away, and mommy never seems to show up in time to make it go away.

Helplessness...pain...mommy can't protect you...this is the stuff that nightmares are made of.