Subconscious Bias Drives Negative Attitudes Toward Snakes

NC State University ^ | 10/21/21 | Laura Oleniacz

[DallasBiff]

Snakes rank among Americans’ top animal phobias, and are among the most disliked animals globally. A new study from North Carolina State University finds that the dislike of snakes is subconscious and, to some extent, learned.

“Snakes are important,” said the study’s first author Audrey Vaughn, a former graduate student at NC State. “They serve as both important predators and sources of prey for other wildlife. They can also serve as important ecological indicators. This disdain that people have for them is something that impacts our ability to make sure they are well conserved. That in and of itself is a reason to better understand these attitudes and to try to figure out what can be done about them.”

[DallasBiff]

I know there are snake lovers, but snakes creep me out.

I dug a hole for a baby pine tree to be planted many years ago, and a copperhead showed up while digging by a stream and I decapitated it.

Flame away, we are in the doldrums of political talk until 1/3/25.

[ClearCase_guy]

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Snakes need to get the PR firm that sharks got to get portrayed more positively in movies and on TV. "Snake week" on Discovery Channel?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I tend to leave nonvenomous snakes alone. I may relocate them but not kill them. The venomous ones are left to enjoy their lives as long as they are not on the homestead. On the homestead they tend to get eaten by the pigs.

I do not LIKE snakes but they do have their place. Just not in my footwear.

[MNJohnnie]

So the snakes are reviled by humans on a “subconscious level” says “Science”?

Hmmm seems Biblical

Genesis 3:14-15

Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all the livestock,
And more than any animal of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And dust you shall eat
All the days of your life;
15 And I will [c]make enemies
Of you and the woman,
And of your [d]offspring and her [e]Descendant;
He shall [f]bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”

[rlmorel]

I find snakes interesting, but...not as pets. Now, you want something that engenders negative attitudes due to any reason whatsoever:

(this one below is ME)

[Larry Lucido]

Does this include James Carville?

[lefty-lie-spy]

I love searching for and catching rat snakes every summer. It’s a fun hobby.

[kawhill]

“Snakes are important,” said the study’s first author Audrey Vaughn, a former graduate student at NC State. Yeah, but what about aardvarks, Audrey, aren’t they important too?

[LoveMyFreedom]

A good snake,in my opinion, is a dead one!

[clee1]

The only good snake is a snake made into boots, belts.... maybe a wallet.

Im not going to hunt them, but if they slither into my life, they die. Period.

[ansel12]

Another lesson about dads and adult males lying about hazards that I learned as a boy, was whenever we asked about the water moccasins in a pond or on a stream they would tell us to just whack the water with a stick a few times and the noise will drive them away.

The reality is that water moccasins will swim right into the midst of where you are all landing from the swinging rope.

[grey_whiskers]

Released the day after Wray announced his retirement?

[Organic Panic]

I always loved having snakes when I was a kid. We would catch them and keep them in aquariums for a little while. Now, on my property, we have rubber boats (kind of rare) milk snakes, garter snakes, and gopher snakes. They help keep the frogs and rodents under control on the property. Occasionally one of the resident hawks catches a snake. Even the occasional rattle snake never freaked me out. I fear more for the dogs when it comes to rattlers.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

I KNEW it! The country is FULL of snakists. You may THINK you’re not a snakist, but it is so embedded in you that you are completely unaware you ARE a snakist.

[Telepathic Intruder]

I’ve never had a bad thought about snakes. I’m saving all that for spiders and flies.

[DouglasKC]

A healthy fear and respect of things that can kill you isnt a bad thing. Snakes have been synonymous with danger for most of human history.

[nitzy]

Institutional snakecism

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“Snakes are important,”

If you are paid to study “X” you have to write “X is important.”

Yesterday we had an article that said “Mountains are important.”

What else is important today?

[I want the USA back]

The fear that most creatures have of snakes is not bias. It is a protective instinct that can keep us alive.

Having a negative attitude towards snakes is a good thing.