ORF Austria: Psychologen wussten bereits, dass Phobien und Ängste nicht immer aus persönlichen Erfahrungen entstehen. Die Studienleiterin Armita Golkar vom schwedischen Karolinska Institut erklärt den Vorgang: “Informationen darüber, was in unserer Umgebung sicher ist und was nicht, werden durch soziale Lernvorgänge von anderen Menschen übernommen.” So werden zum Beispiel die More
The Atlantic: Trypophobia is the fear of clustered holes like those shown in the lotus seed pod above. The lotus seed is the classic example of the sort of holes that frighten trypophobics, but sponges, soap bubbles and even aerated chocolate can be triggers. “The stimuli are usually clusters of holes More
The Daily Mail: Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden claim that dealing with it in this way could be more effective than facing your fears through personal experience. ‘Information about what is dangerous and safe in our environment is often transferred from other individuals through social forms of learning,’ More
The Huffington Post: Are you afraid of spiders? A good way to get over that fear might be to watch another person interact with a spider, and experience no harm from doing so. A new study suggests an effective way to conquer your fears could be to see someone else More
The New Zealand Herald: Does the sight of bubbles, crumpets and aerated chocolate freak you out? New research hints at the cause of this unusual phobia that makes people panic at the sight of a cluster of holes. Trypophobia is “the most common phobia you have never heard of,” said More
Watching someone safely interact with a supposedly harmful object can help to extinguish conditioned fear responses, and prevent them from resurfacing. More
