Did you ever see that 1900 movie “Arachnophobia” starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman?  It got 91% approval from the critic website Rotten Tomatoes but it’s got a ZERO percent chance of me ever seeing it!  I hate spiders as much as I love movies and the thought of a movie dedicated to deadly poisonous spiders just doesn’t cut it!

I don’t have full-on arachnophobia but I can’t stand them and yes, big old me is afraid of li’l ol’ them.  And now I learn from the Daily Mail that “fear “can make spiders seem larger than they really are. Great.

Researchers in Israel took two groups of women, one group very afraid of spiders, and one group less afraid of spiders, and had both groups rate how big and unpleasant and what size different animals were based on photos alone. The participants who had a greater fear of spiders listed the spider in a photo as being larger than the participants who had a mild fear of the critters.

The experiment’s researchers say the study revealed how perception of even a basic feature such as size is influenced by emotion, and demonstrates how each of us experiences the world in a unique individual way.

If you are into facing your fears, check out the 10 most venomous spiders!(Daily Mail)

 

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