“It bites!”: The transmission of negative information about snakes and spiders through a naturalistic picture book interaction.

Abstract

Snakes and spiders are two of the most commonly feared animals worldwide, yet we know very little about the mechanisms by which such fears are acquired. We explored whether negative information about snakes and spiders from parents shapes children's fear beliefs. Study 1 included 27 parents (22 mothers, five fathers) and children (12 female, 15 male, M age = 5.33 years, 18 White, one Hispanic, eight more than one race). Most parents reported having an advanced degree (78%) and an annual household income of above $100,000 (74%). Participants read an animal picture book and then rated their fear toward each animal. Study 2 included 54 parents (44 mothers, eight fathers, two legal guardians) and children (27 female, 27 male, M age = 5.52 years, 30 White, one Hispanic, seven Asian/Pacific Islander, four South Asian/Indian, 12 more than one race). Most parents reported holding an AA/BA degree (28%) or an advanced degree (59%) and reported an annual household income of $60,000-$100,000 (28%) or above $100,000 (59%). In Study 2, half of the parents were primed about how their conversations might shape children's fear prior to reading the book. Across both studies, we found that participants provided more negative than positive information about snakes and spiders and provided less positive (Study 1) and more negative (Study 2) information compared to other animals. Our results highlight the prominence of negative information in conversations about snakes and spiders and suggest that the way parents talk about these animals may shape the development of children's fears.

Effects of relational and instrumental messaging on human perception of rattlesnakes

“…The empirical literature on the use of conservation messaging to advocate for biodiversity conservation is limited, and current findings are contradictory or unclear [ 57 – 59 ]. To elucidate ambiguous results, recent literature proposes that identification of target audiences and examination of individuals’ qualities is key to understanding the effectiveness of conservation messages [ 5 , 60 ].…”

Animals evoking fear in the Cradle of Humankind: snakes, scorpions, and large carnivores

“…This irrational belief could explain their relatively high fear rating detected in this study. It was demonstrated that attitudes towards particular animals can be a subject of social transmission in childhood (Reider et al 2022 ). Nevertheless, lizards were still considerably less frightening stimuli than snakes.…”

The influence of anthropomorphism on children's learning and attitudes toward snakes

“…However, using positive information to talk about animals like snakes is very uncommon in naturalistic parent-child conversations. As mentioned above, several studies have demonstrated that parents use a disproportionately larger amount of negative than positive information about snakes (Conrad et al, 2021b;Reider et al, 2022), leaving children with relatively few (or no) positive attributes about snakes. Indeed, parents may be reluctant to provide positive information about snakes because of the threatening properties associated with many species of snakes.…”

“…Several studies have reported that fear of a novel animal increases after hearing negative information (e.g., describing animals as being dirty or dangerous), and decreases after hearing positive information (e.g., describing animals as being cuddly and friendly; Field and Lawson, 2003;Muris et al, 2003; see Muris and Field, 2010 for a review). Naturalistic studies of parent-child conversations about animals have further shown that parents and children use more negative language when talking about snakes in everyday conversations with children, and they also report greater fear of snakes compared to other animals (e.g., Conrad et al, 2021b;Reider et al, 2022), further suggesting that negative information may be one pathway through which children learn to fear snakes.…”

“…While research provides some support for the role of negative information on children's acquisition of snake fears, the next step is to examine whether and how we can use the input children receive to reduce children's maladaptive fears toward snakes and other commonly feared stimuli. One study has demonstrated initial (albeit limited) success in reducing negative input to reduce children's fear of snakes (Reider et al, 2022), and other studies have demonstrated that the use of positive input can reduce fear of novel animals (e.g., see Muris and Field, 2010 for a review). However, using positive information to talk about animals like snakes is very uncommon in naturalistic parent-child conversations.…”