Specificity of spiders among fear- and disgust-eliciting arthropods: Spiders are special, but phobics not so much.

ABSTRACT: To investigate a specificity of spiders as a prototypical fear- and disgust-eliciting stimuli, we conducted an online experiment. The respondents rated images of 25 spiders, 12 non-spider chelicerates, and 10 other arthropods on a fear and disgust 7-point scale. The evaluation of 968 Central European respondents confirmed the specificity of spiders among fear- and disgust-eliciting arthropods and supported the notion of spiders as a cognitive category. We delineated this category as covering extant spider species as well as some other chelicerates bearing a physical resemblance to spiders, mainly whip spiders and camel spiders. We suggested calling this category the spider-like cognitive category. We discussed evolutionary roots of the spider-like category and concluded that its roots shou

SUBMITTER: Landova E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8460016 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature