The Malicious Serpent
Snakes as a Prototypical Stimulus for an Evolved Module of Fear
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23314964 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Arne Öhman (Karolinska Institutet, corresponding author), Susan Mineka (Northwestern University) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 5-9 |
| Publication date | 2003-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Current Directions in Psychological Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0963-7214 • E-ISSN: 1467-8721 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-8721.01211 |
| OpenAlex | W2130087017 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 73 |
| References cited | 13 |
As reptiles, snakes may have signified deadly threats in the environment of early mammals. We review findings suggesting that snakes remain special stimuli for humans. Intense snake fear is prevalent in both humans and other primates. Humans and monkeys learn snake fear more easily than fear of most other stimuli through direct or vicarious conditioning. Neither the elicitation nor the conditioning of snake fear in humans requires that snakes be consciously perceived; rather, both processes can occur with masked stimuli. Humans tend to perceive illusory correlations between snakes and aversive stimuli, and their attention is automatically captured by snakes in complex visual displays. Together, these and other findings delineate an evolved fear module in the brain. This module is selectively and automatically activated by once-threatening stimuli, is relatively encapsulated from cognition, and derives from specialized neural circuitry.
Amygdala · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Fear conditioning · Neural correlates of consciousness · Serpent (symbolism) · Memory and Neural Mechanisms · Neuroscience · Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
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| Unique citing works | 73 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,32 |
| Citation span | 2004 - 2026 (23) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 58 |