Reduced to a screaming girl

[IvonaDestroi]

C'mon... You've got to admit.... they are just a LITTLE bit cute arn't they?

[salsabike]

According to my friend who is a vet, only two humans have lived with rabies and both are pretty much brain dead.

I saw one of those survivors many years ago when I did part of my school psych internship in the neuropsych department of a rehab hospital. It was very distressing to see and I have never forgotten it. I love bats, but I would do whatever is advised by the public health folks in response to this. You're lucky, really, that they have the bat to test.

And about phobias--they by definition aren't rational and almost everyone I've ever met has SOME phobia. Part of the human condition.

[NoNo]

You're lucky, really, that they have the bat to test.

From the sounds of it, there would be a lot more samples if people didn't just shoo them out windows. Besides the rabies, I think it's good to provide a sample so they can see what's going on in the local population. Still waiting for the test results....

And about phobias--they by definition aren't rational and almost everyone I've ever met has SOME phobia. Part of the human condition.

I wonder why people have different phobias. Why aren't we conditioned to fear the same thing? Maybe something to do with where your original ancestors came from and the dangers that were present in that area? That would be interesting to study.

[Aggie_Ama]

No-No we found that documentary on National Geographic channel. Not sure if you have cable but it was fascinating. It talked about the psychological factors, how we react, the reason they theorize we do it. There was a variety of topics like bears, snakes, being buried alive, etc...

[OakLeaf]

Interesting. I didn't realize phobias were so universal.

Mine is falling (not heights, just falling). I've been able to desensitize myself somewhat. I'd always attributed that to a fall I took when I was about 7 years old (from a low height, right onto my face, chipped my front tooth that had JUST come in ). But maybe it's more innate than that?

[salsabike]

I've read somewhere that the two phobias that seem to be inborn and common to all infants are fear of falling and fear of sudden loud noises. They did some great research on the fear of falling in infants--I remember seeing the films of the research in my Visual Perception class in college. Phobias about animals seem to vary more from person to person. Like...I like snakes, bats, don't really mind rats, like mice. But bees, especially yellowjackets---reduced to a screaming girl.

[NoNo]

That's really interesting that they've been able to isolate those fears in infants. I think my fear of spiders is probably from seeing Arachnaphobia when I was really young. There also seemed to be a lot of them in our house, including the fabled Sunday that a nest decided to hatch over our table just as we were sitting down to breakfast

[OakLeaf]

I'm not sure a "phobia" of falling is innate in infants. That would mean they couldn't tolerate being held by a standing adult, which is obviously not the case. You want to see screaming girl, talk me into getting on somebody's shoulders...

[Tuckervill]

It's not a phobia. It's a reflex; the Moro reflex. It's innate.

Karen