Humanities Homework Help

The text states that specific phobias of animals decrease after childhood. In contrast to the increased heart rate associated with most phobias, blood-injury phobia is associated with a decrease in heart-rate; presumably, this parasympathetic reaction once enabled humans to conserve blood following injury. Consider the possible adaptive value of specific phobias during human evolutionary history. Speculate about why such fears could be of greater value during childhood, and how the nature of common fears (e.g., the dark, heights, spiders, animals) are consistent with the phenomenon of prepared learning.