Cosmo: Hey, Dr. Universe!
Dr. Universe: Hey, Cosmo!
Cosmo: Where do bugs get off the train?
Dr. Universe: I don’t know. Where do bugs get off the train?
Cosmo: At an infest-station
Dr. Universe: Hey friends, I'm Dr. Universe,
Cosmo: and I'm Cosmo,
Dr. Universe: And if you're anything like us, you've got lots of big questions about our world. Today, we're talking about a question sent in by a kid just like you. Let's get started.
Cosmo: Devyn, 6, from Ohio, wrote in: Insects are scary to me. Should I be afraid of bugs? Can you help me not be afraid please?
Dr. Universe: I love this question. There are lots of things that can make us scared. Like wiggly insects and snakes. The dark. Or being up really high. Do you know what makes me nervous?
Cosmo: Is it misinformation?
Dr. Universe: Actually yes. But also spiders. That’s why I talked with my friend Paul Strand. He’s a psychologist. He told me it’s super common to have anxiety about things like that. Or even to have a phobia. That’s an intense fear that causes distress.
Many common fears involve things that were probably dangerous to our ancestors.
Cosmo: Like way before there were doctors and veterinarians, a snake bite would have been really bad.
Dr. Universe: Exactly. And the dark can be scary now, but it would have been even freakier before there were lights to turn on or houses to hang out in at night time.
Cosmo: I love going camping, but sometimes it’s really spooky in the dark.
Dr. Universe: And we have flash lights! Dr. Strand told me that being scared of insects is like that, too.
Dr. Universe: If something seems scary or dangerous, we might try to stay far away from that scary or dangerous thing.
Cosmo: Like if I’m scared of snakes, I could run away if I see one slithering my way.
Dr. Universe: Or I could avoid spiders. But I have bad news about that strategy.
Cosmo: Oh no.
Dr. Universe: It turns out if we avoid something we fear, that reinforces our belief that it’s scary. If I run away from a spider, my brain says, “Whew, that feels so much better. I was right to be scared.”
Cosmo: Yeah, that’s probably not good. That will probably make me even more scared the next time. But what am I supposed to do—if running away isn’t the best option.
Dr. Universe: Experts like Dr. Strand say we can learn relaxation techniques to help us try to stay calm. And we can gently face our fears.
Cosmo: I don’t know, Dr. Universe. That sounds kind of awful.
Dr. Universe: Here’s how I’m working on my nervousness around spiders. I joined a group for people who love spiders. I’ve learned lots of interesting facts about spiders—like how to tell if a spider is male or female. I’ve also watched people be super gentle and kind to spiders. Like if a spider is thirsty, they use q tips to give it a drink of water.
Cosmo: Aw, that’s really sweet.
Dr. Universe: It is. And it changes how I feel about spiders. Strand told me this works for three reasons. First, I’m using my brain to learn about spiders. It’s harder to be afraid while using the logical parts of my brain like the prefrontal cortex.
Second, I’m looking at spiders instead of avoiding them. That’s called counter conditioning. When I take small steps toward the thing I fear—instead of running away from it—that reinforces the new idea that maybe it isn’t so scary after all.
Third, I’m watching people enjoy spiders. We use cues from others to figure out how to react to something. That’s called social referencing. So, when I see people treat spiders like eight-legged puppies who just need a drink, that starts to change how I think about them, too.
Cosmo: If spiders were like puppies, we could take them for walks.
Dr. Universe: I mean, you could take a spider for a walk now, Cosmo.
If Devyn or anybody else want to work on their fear of insects, they can begin by getting curious about them. Maybe pick an insect that’s especially cute and gentle and that does interesting things—like tortoise beetles.
Cosmo: Oh, I know about those! Tortoise beetles don’t bite or sting. They’re cutely round and come in metallic colors. They have telescopic butts they wiggle around like an elephant’s trunk so they can make poop shields. Unlike most insects, they take care of their babies.
Dr. Universe: Plus, tortoise beetles live all over, so once you’re comfortable, you could meet or even befriend one. The important thing is to keep working on your fear.
Cosmo: So if I work hard and show lots of kindness to myself and the things that scare me, I can start to beetle my fear.
Dr. Universe: That's all for this episode, friends.
Cosmo: Big thanks to Paul Strand, a psychologist at Washington State University.
Dr. Universe: As always, if you've got a science question for me, you can submit it at askdruniverse.wsu.edu. That's A-S-K-D-R-U-N-I-V-E-R-S-E dot W-S-U dot E-D-U. Who knows where your questions will take us next!
