• Question: why are people born with fears?

    Asked by ciara2219 to Charlotte, Jo, Kevin, Louise, Valeria on 19 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Kevin Mahon

      Kevin Mahon answered on 19 Jun 2012:

      I don’t think fears are innate (i.e. you inherit them) but are more likely a result of their life experiences and influences. You’d need a psychologist to explain it in more detail than that!

    • Photo: Joanna Cruden

      Joanna Cruden answered on 20 Jun 2012:

      There have been cases where people have been attacked by animals as a baby and then become frightened of them but don’t remember the reason because they were too young, and some researchers suggest that babies may just be frightened when they see a spider for the first time (the size to the baby) and that is why the fear sticks, it often seems to stem back to early childhood, there are also lots of good books that talk about this subject it is really interesting.

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