Fear of animals: Correlations between fear ratings and perceived characteristics

Seligman (1971) proposed that, as a result of evolutionary processes, there is a genetic predisposition or preparedness to fear certain animals (e.g., snakes and spiders). Experimental and clinical studies have confirmed the notion of prepared fears of animals. Do prepared fears pertain to complete memory representations of these animals or are they related to specific, salient qualities that subjects attribute to these animals? A questionnaire designed to measure fear and avoidance of 30 small animals was administered to one group of 155 students while the characteristics of these animals (e.g., visual appearance, suddenness of movement, speediness) were rated by a second group of 116 students. For fear and avoidance as well as the perceived characteristics dimensions the animals were ranked on the basis of the scores that were given to them by the subjects. Spearman rank correlations of self-reported fear and avoidance with perceived characteristics were significance. This result suggests that subjects are prepared to associate fear not with complete representastions of animals but with specific characteristics attributed to these animals.