Behavior Conditioning: A Way to Get Rid of a Fear of Spiders

I hate spiders!!! No, actually I’m afraid of them!!! The only spiders that I have no fear of are those baby ones. I know that there are people who love them. They would never kill one. In fact, I know some who will actually save them in a large jar and will feed them.

I have a friend who made a very well known film on spiders. It was an animation film. In fact, I invited him to come to my house and take all the spiders I see from time to time dangling from their webs in front of my windows. They are all quite large, and frankly give me the creeps. In fact, when I see one that is larger than 1/10^th of an inch, I will call my husband to kill it.. One day, I saw a spider dangling from its web. I took a can of raid and started to spray the spider, hoping to see it drop to the ground. What did it do instead? It came crawling quickly toward me in mid-air, still in its web. Did I run!!!!!

There was a period of time when my husband suffered a back ache so I had mercy on him, but no mercy on the spider. Since I did not want to bother my husband, I became very bold. I took my shoe off and banged on the spider. I looked to see if this gruesome looking thing was on the bottom of my shoe, but it was not there. I looked on the floor all around me—-no spider. Where it quickly crawled to, I had no idea. I guess this clever little insect ran away without my knowledge as to where it disappeared

I once read an article where people can actually be conditioned to not fear spiders. I was glad to know that there are many people who have the same negative feelings that I do about spiders. It was an interesting article about a young girl who got tired of being so afraid of spiders. She was gradually weaned from her fear. It was a slow process where she had to look at a spider at a reasonable distance, trying not to make herself squirm at the sight of t. Each time she went to this type of therapy, the spider was brought closer and closer to her. Finally, she got to the stage where she was able to touch it. This procedure took a little while, but she did conquer her fear.

Once I had a long term substitute assignment to teach a third grade class. I had to prepare for a science lesson. I looked at all the choices . What was my choice? One choice was the subject about spiders. I decided that if I could see books about them, films, and even have the children bring in a few in a jar, I might be able to conquer my distaste for this insect. I realized that not all spiders are harmful, in fact, quite harmless.

I learned that spiders are known in the scientific world as Arachnids. They have four pairs of legs. Included in this group are scorpions, mites, ticks and crabs. I also learned that spiders are not considered insects. Insects only have three pairs of legs.

They are all flesh eaters. Daddy Long Leg Females are larger than males in many of the above mentioned species. They sometimes eat males that come to court the females. (Male humans should be glad they are not in the spider family).

The female spiders are good mothers. They lay their eggs in a cocoon. They stay close to it, or carry it with them. Some female spiders carry the nearly hatched spiders on their backs until they can become good hunters and trappers. This is where I learned no to make an attempt to kill one of these creatures because upon reading more about daddy long legs, I learned that they can be savage-like.

There is what is known as the hunting spider. They do not spin a web. They go in search of their prey. They stay in dark little areas and spring upon their prey. They hide in flowers, waiting for insects to come for nectar.

Spiders that spin webs are the trappers. These are the kind I see in front of my kitchen window. Their webs are sticky. Sometimes when I open a door, and if I’m not careful, I almost bump into a spider and its web.

After seeing many films on spiders and having the students bring in their spiders, and even placed some of them in the palm of my hand, I have become less fearful of spiders. I guess you might say this is some type of Behavior Conditioning technique.