Humans and Phobias Draft 1

This topic submitted by Carrie Musson, Chloe Langefeld, Dan Mcmahon ( mussoncm@muohio.edu ) on 10/20/05. [Section: Myers]

Natural Systems 1 Syllabus---Western Program---Miami University

Carrie Musson
Chloe Langefeld
Dan Mcmahn
Lab Proposal
Chris Myers

Introduction

Phobia is an irrational, uncontrollable fear of a specific object or situation that affects all humans and their everyday life. Many specific phobias are most common such as flying, heights, blood, thunderstorms, dogs, mice and most of all spiders. A fear of animals, known as zoophobia, is the most common phobia reported in the country, which includes arachnophobia, a fear of spiders (N.W.Jr. 1). People often mistake tarantulas, jumping spiders, wolf spiders and some other spiders to be dangerous and extremely poisonous. Although these spiders are often large, hairy and formidable-looking, their bite is typically less harmful than a bee sting (Jackman 1). So why do people have such a strong phobias against these small creatures? It is unsure exactly how phobias are caused but most scientist believe they arise over time due to classical conditioning, genetics, from an earlier traumatic incident or simply a disgust response.

Our experiment focuses on gender relationship and the phobia they have towards spiders. We are testing to see whether males or females have a stronger and more visual fear of spiders. We plan to study western students of Miami University to test and observe their physical and emotional reactions along with how they communicate and present themselves. Due to research we have predicted that females will have a more apparent phobic reaction when encountered with a spider. In a study of 261 adults in the UK, 32% of females and 18% of males reported that spiders made them feel anxious and nervous or very frightened (Davey, 1993a). Fredrikson and group of scientist did a study and concluded that females give a higher fear rating for all objects and situations. Through an experiment the results stated that animal phobias are more prevalent in females (12.1 %) than males (3.3%). We feel that females will have a higher phobic response due to the way females approach situations. Communication is a big component when someone is scared and females tend to approach this safety concept more often than males. In general females are more expressive through communication than males who conceal and control their emotion displays. Females have a need to release the build up of emotions inside of them through verbal expressions (Canary 1998). With our experiment we hope to conclude that females will have a predominant sense of phobic reaction to spiders over males because of their need to verbally and emotionally express themselves through communication.

Experimental Design

Phase one of our experiment will include a standardized survey given to 50 males and 50 females.

Sample Survey

1. Are you Male or Female (circle)
2. How would you describe the area where you were raised?
Urban Suburban Rural Other: _____________
3. Do you have a fear/phobia of spiders? Yes or No
4. If yes, do you believe there was a traumatic incident linked to your phobia?
Yes or No
5. How often do you come in contact with spiders?
Daily Weekly Monthly Once every several months Other:_____
6. On a scale of 1 (not afraid) to 10 (extremely afraid), how would you rate your fear of spiders?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7. Do you believe there is a relationship between gender and fear of spiders?
Yes or No
8. If yes, which gender do you believe is more likely have such a fear?
Male or Female

Phase two of our experiment will include a series of trials designed to test the relationship between gender and fear of spiders. In the first treatment, one male will be accompanied by one female member of our group. The subject will be asked to approach a cage with one tarantula and touch it to assist in a study of spiders. The encounter will be video recorded for later analysis. The subject will be unaware of the true nature of our experiment before and during this process. Immediately after the encounter a subject deemed extremely afraid will be given a follow-up survey and subjects deemed completely comfortable will be given a separate survey.

Survey for Completely Comfortable Subjects

1. Are you Male or Female
2. Before the encounter did you believe you had any fear of spiders?
Yes or No
3. Did being accompanied by another person contribute to your comfort?
Yes or No
4. If yes, did his or her gender contribute to your comfort?
Yes or No

Survey for Extremely Afraid Subjects

1. Are you Male or Female
2. Before the encounter did you believe you had any fear of spiders?
Yes or No
3. Did being accompanied by another person increase or decrease your fear?
Increase or Decrease
4. Did the gender of the other person influence how afraid you were?
Yes or No

This same scenario will be repeated with a total of 25 individual males accompanied by the same female every time. Additionally the process will be repeated with 25 additional male subjects accompanied by a male member of our group, 25 female subjects accompanied by a male group member, and 25 more female subjects accompanied by a female group member. A total of 50 male and 50 female subjects will be individually tested.

The video recording of each trial will be used to test three areas of the subjectÕs behavior. One area will be how close the subject gets to the tarantula. A line will be placed 2 feet in front of the tarantulaÕs aquarium. We will observe whether or not the subject crosses the line in each trial. Another area of behavior we will test will be how afraid we determine the subject to be on a scale of ÒoneÓ to ÒfiveÓ. A subject will score ÒoneÓ if he or she shows no sign of fear or anxiety and ÒfiveÓ if he or she shows extreme fear or anxiety, which may be characterized by screaming, shaking, or running away. The third area of behavior tested will be how much the subject communicates with the group member he or she is accompanied by. The time a subject spends talking will be recorded in seconds. It will also be noted whether what each subject talks about more closely relates to his or her personal emotions or to interaction with the group member.

Our Day

November 15, we are planning on presenting the class with our topic, phobias of spiders. We will first introduce the class to the thesis of our proposal. We will then go on to show a clip from the movie ÒArachnophobia.Ó After showing the clipping we will present phase two of our experimental design using our classmates as the subjects. Phase two is explained earlier in our methods section. We will use our day to gather and retain observations in verifying our predictions on whether or not females are more phobic toward spiders.

Results

From our surveys we plan on gathering data that will provide us with helpful information that will help prove our prediction. We will use phase two of our experimental design to record quantitative data, from the results of our subjects communication, time to approach the cage, and their evidence of fear. We will use these results to place each subject on a level one through five. Each subject rated a one (no sign of fear and/or anxiety) or a five (extreme signs of fear and/or anxiety) we will use to observe further. We then plan to analyze all of the data we obtain so we can compare our predictions to our results.

Discussion

From our results we hope to obtain strong evidence to conclude that our prediction, that females are more phobic toward spiders than males are. We hope to obtain this information through the use of our surveys and experimental interactions. We hope that our proposal and experimental design do not provide too much room for error, so that our results and conclusion provide us with accurate evidence to accept or reject our prediction.

Work Cited

Book References:
1. Adoring Nature, till it Bites is in the Back, Natalie Angier
2. Zoophobia!, N.W. Jr.

Article References:
1. Pet Phobics, W. Bradford Swift, Animals
2. Isolating the Enemy: How we Find Threats Fast, Rasiej, Michael, Psychology Today
3. Bio-phobias/techno-philias, Joyce Davidson, Mick Smith, Sociology of Health & Illness
4. A Survey of self-reported fears to common indigenous animals in an adult U.K. population. Submitted. Davey, G.C.L (1993a)
5. Fredrikson M., Annas P., Fischer H., Wik G. Gender and age differences in the prevalence of specific fears and phobias. Copyright 1996. www.ncbi.nih.gov
6. Canary, Daniel J. & Dindia, Kathryn (1998). Sex Differences and Similarities in Communication Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Student Lab:
1. Natural or Synthetic Dangers: Which do we fear more?
2. What factors cause a person to have a phobia of a certain animal? How do these phobias affect their everyday lives.

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