Fear and Priming in the Animal Kingdom
Imagine growing up around common household pets like dogs and cats. If you grew up with a good experience around them, you will associate them to be “good animals” that you will end up loving your whole life. But, imagine if you never had any animals around you. All that you would know of them is through what you see on TV and what other people would tell you about them.
Generally, we see the media and social programming push the images of wild animals and reptiles like snakes as “dangerous” and “aggressive” creatures rather than our common household pets.
Imagine if the media portrayed animals like cats and dogs in aggressive and defensive poses. Imagine if all you saw of dogs were their teeth, and images of attacks that dogs have done to humans at a very early age like the image below.
Imagine if the media showed documentaries of harmless snakes, and images of non-venomous snakes wearing hats, or seeing their friends and family holding these types of exotic pets. How would each scenario make you feel?
This subconscious phenomenon that happens in the brain is known as Priming.
Priming is a phenomenon in which exposure to a stimulus, such as a word or image, influences how one responds to a subsequent, related stimulus. It is thought to occur when particular mental representations or associations are activated before a person carries out an action or task.
Priming is a very real thing to happen to the human psyche, and it impacts a lot of the way we react subconsciously to things as we grow up. This is very commonly seen in my example with animals we like, dislike, or fear. All of this happens based on things we have seen, heard or experienced.
As our brains are growing and learning, and we see certain things on TV — the subconscious will store image in the memory and associate it to a certain feeling, i.e. fear, excitement, curiosity, etc.
If someone’s first memory of snakes was seeing a rattle snake with their fangs out, they might associate the image with fear, even if the person didn’t really know what a snake was. That memory would just generalize the image and the brain would lock onto how that person is feeling at the time of seeing that image. Once people are primed to feel a certain way, they will have a harder time breaking out of that association and choose to not feel that way about snakes.
The same happens with experiences. If someone grew up knowing someone who was attacked by a dog, or attacked personally, they will have a harder time trying to get over their fear of dogs than someone who had only had good experiences with them.
It seems like most people in general have a fear of snakes, reptiles, bugs, and some wild animals because of the priming that happens with media and images.
It genuinely makes me wonder if people who grew up seeing these “feared animals” saw them with positive associations, images, or experiences, if they would start to feel the way about a snake as they would their dog or cat.
The same happens with the use of words and connotations. For example, most people are primed to hear the word “snake” to coin a deceptive person. Would most people still have this fear or lack of trust in snakes if this was never a connotation that we have grown up hearing?
Now —there is another side to this argument on fear. There are innate fears that we are born with, that aren’t exactly learned behavior. I remember being a kid ALWAYS being afraid of spiders. I never once held a spider in my hand, but I would hold a lady bug. It’s debated on whether fears of animals are innate or learned.
Fear of certain animals sometimes cannot be rationalized, but it can be understood on a deeper level.
Those who let fear control them will spread lies and misinformation that most people will believe, because their fear drives them to believe whatever they hear, like “pet snakes” trying to “size you up” to eat you.
No matter how many scientific facts you post on why snakes don’t try to “size you up”, people will still believe what their subconscious fear promotes and believes based on things they have seen, read, or heard somewhere.
Imagine how much good we can do in the world by catching people posting lies and promoting them with facts. Even if people who let fear control them won’t believe it, it will keep showing people on a search for truth the answers that are out there, allowing people to use rationality to understand why some of their fears exist.
Imagine if we could speak logically about animals, like snakes, to explain that there are venomous and non-venomous snakes. Finding ways to help people understand the differences, and how to be careful in the wild, and how to understand if a pet snake is right for them. Unfortunately, most TV shows centered around animals in mainstream media will consciously show the “scary aspects” of reptiles, thus continuing the priming of generations to come.
Luckily, there are great educational videos and people out there who want to help break these stereotypes and terrifying images that we have seen our whole lives. Steve Irwin was one. Brian Barczyk is another. When I got my first snake, I would watch Brian Barczyk of Animal Bytes TV learning how to take care of them, provide the proper terrarium, and much more. To this day, I will recommend so much of his videos to people who are genuinely curious to learn more.
Understanding fear, and priming can help people with phobias overcome them, or at least accept their fear. You don’t always have to overcome a fear, but you can learn to accept that this is how you feel.
Fear CAN be overcome with understanding. No one has to overcome their fear, but understanding your fears can help you grow to realize truth from lies in false advertising and believing in fake news.
I can tell people with phobias that my snakes are harmless and would never bite a soul, but their fear will not allow them to believe it. Their fear was already programmed at an early age and while some will get the courage to touch or even hold a snake, most people will consciously choose to keep living in their belief of fear because it’s more comfortable to believe in what you do than attempt to change that belief.
Then again, the brain is a powerful thing. I’ve met very few people at older ages who will change their minds even when truth is presented in front of them. Yet, I have also met people who have experienced trauma with certain animals, and learn to understand them and not be as afraid like they once were. A willingness to understand, and patience goes a long way in overcoming irrational fears.
Like I mentioned, I grew up with a fear of spiders. I still am irrationally afraid and shocked when one appears suddenly, but when I see one from a distance now, I’m not screaming like I would have when I was 6 years old. While I am aware that my fear is irrational, I no longer hate spiders, but I can respect their importance in the ecosystem and let them do their thing. Who knows, maybe one day I might hold a tarantula under supervision.
Oddly, even around the priming of reptiles and snakes and stories of fear, I grew up with a passion for snakes even though my entire family was terrified of them.
I would be told things like “you don’t want to get too close to them”, or how they are “bad” or “scary”. I remember the animal planet shows that displayed the scariest and deadliest snakes. It didn’t really phase me as a kid and I can’t really explain why. Even with all of that presented to me at such a young age, that didn’t stop me from my passion to understand them more. When I was 16, I got my first job at a Nature Museum educating kids about reptiles. We would bring out specimens, learn how to handle them, and show people them in person and letting the kids pet them. Which then turned to my passion into taking them on as pets through rescue organizations. As far as I could remember, I was genuinely curious about them and no matter how many images I saw of them as a kid, I still wanted to learn more.
Now, I’m the talk of the town when my nieces and nephews come over. They always want to come over and see and hold my snakes (yes, I have two very sweet and docile ball pythons). They come in with a curiosity to learn and play instead of held back by fear. They ask questions, and I provide them as much logical answers as I can. I can’t really answer their imaginative questions, but I can provide them facts on what they eat, the temperatures they need, the difference between cold and warm-blooded animals, and much more.
While, I don’t write to convert anyone into overcoming their fears, I hope that my readers can leave with a bit of understanding behind fear and priming in our society. It is okay to not like something, and it is okay to be afraid of something, but it doesn’t hurt to challenge yourself to think: “Why do I feel that way about this?” This type of thought-work can only help humans understand each other a little better, and learn to accept and respect our differences.
