Abstract

Snakes and spiders commonly elicit fear. However, despite the pervasiveness of these fears in adulthood, little is known about how they develop in early childhood. Informal learning environments, like zoos, allow for observation of parent–child conversations about these animals. Such naturalistic conversations may contain negative talk and may be one mechanism for the development of fears. In Study 1, we interviewed 241 preschool-aged children about snakes and spiders. In Study 2, 15 parent–child conversations were observed at a zoo. Across studies, we found that participants provided less positive (Study 2) and more negative (Study 1) information about snakes and spiders than other animals, and that children reported more fear (Study 1). Our results highlight the availability of negative information about snakes and spiders, and we discuss how we can use children’s early experiences in informal learning settings to teach them about animals without contributing to the development of early fears.

摘要

蛇和蜘蛛通常引起恐惧。然而，尽管这些恐惧在成年时期普遍存在，但对其在儿童早期的发展知之甚少。非正式学习环境（例如动物园）可以观察有关这些动物的亲子对话。这种自然主义的对话可能包含负面言论，并且可能是产生恐惧感的一种机制。在研究1中，我们就蛇和蜘蛛采访了241名学龄前儿童。在研究2中，在一家动物园中进行了15次亲子交谈。在所有研究中，我们发现与其他动物相比，参与者提供的关于蛇和蜘蛛的正面信息较少（研究2），负面信息较多（研究1），而儿童报告的恐惧更多（研究1）。我们的结果强调了有关蛇和蜘蛛的负面信息的可用性，