Israeli study: Fear of spiders makes them look bigger
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University find people afraid of arachnids consistently view them as larger than those who are not
Fear of spiders can make them appear larger than they really are, Israeli researchers at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba have shown.
In the study, Dr. Tali Leibovich and Dr. Noga Cohen questioned female students about their attitudes toward spiders and divided them into two groups based on their answers: afraid and not afraid.
Participants were then asked to assess the sizes of various animals in comparison to a fly and a rabbit. The results showed that while both groups made similar assessments on non-threatening animals like birds and butterflies, the group afraid of spiders consistently gave their size as larger than the assessments given by the unafraid group.
The researchers said they interviewed females only due to “a higher probability of women to suffer from spider-phobia compared to men.”
Leibovich and Cohen said they had gotten the idea for the study when, while working on their doctorates together at a university lab, they saw a spider walking on the table. Leibovich asked Cohen to take care of the “big” spider while Cohen insisted that it was only a small one. This got them thinking about how their personal experiences influenced their perceptions and vice versa.
The duo now posit the question: Is it the fear that makes the spiders seem larger, or the perceived size that makes them seem scary. They hope further studies may help develop treatments for phobias.
The study was recently published in the journal Biological Psychology.
