It's a very interesting talking point...Also remember that this is an article written
about the study, and I'm thinking that the original study doesn't purport to "prove" one point or another, but posit the likelihood of "hard-wired" fears and phobias. That said, almost all phobias may be cured through positive conditioning.
From personal experience, I was raised not to fear ANY animal, but respect them all. My parents never taught me to fear snakes, kill them, run away, or anything of the sort. However, I DO remember my first encounter(s) with snakes in the back yard, from a very very young age (probably about 4-5) when we first moved to a house near a forest...I can remember my first recollection of a wild Black Rat snake that surprised me coiled on the branch of a tree I was playing around...My first reaction was an adrenaline rush, and yes, almost paralyzing fear, and I was stunned...yet at the same time fascinated somehow. But for the next 3-4 years until I actually had the opportunity to handle a snake, all my encounters were basically the same...I was fascinated by them, thrilled, but also almost paralyzed with fear, even when I was old enough to know they couldn't hurt me, if one sprung out of a pile of logs I was climing on, first reaction was an extreme "yikes"...It's funny because even during this time, with no hands-on experience, I was truly fascinated with snakes despite the fear, and loved to read about them and stare at them at the zoo or pet store...Finally one day, although my heart was racing, and yes, I was quite afraid on a "gut" level, not a mental level, a guy at the local pet shop handed me and let me handle an awesome Red Rat snake....after about 1 minute, most of that 'gut' fear subsided...and of course, then I was hooked
. It took a few more encounters with snakes (encouraged by my parents, nonetheless) to completely lose that fear of snakes, and by the time I was 15 or so, there wasn't a snake I wouldn't handle.
Now, I do not believe I was conditioned in any way to fear them, however I distinctly remember a guttural fear initially to them, not mentally though, because I was instantly logically enthralled by them. I doubt most people have that same instinctive fear of birds, cats, or rabbits, even though they surprise us unexpectedly all the time, even from early ages. My mother is desperately, pathologically afraid of small rodents, and she definitely tried to pass that to me for an early age as I can remember, but NEVER have I been the least bit creeped out by those.
In all, maybe it's genetic, but likely not sweeping across "all" humans...I personally am somewhat of a "mutt" genetically in that my father's background is mostly made up of a culture, as posted above, of living on an island with many venemous snakes, no constrictors, few colubrids, etc...All my life, he thought my snakes were great, interesting, etc....but to this day he will NOT touch one...
I'd say at best it's a combination of genetic disposition and social conditioning, with lopsided variations between the population...Very interesting either way....
