Why aren't babies afraid of snakes?

The emotion of fear is essential for humans to survive. So why is it that babies have no fear of snakes?

Do the preparation task first. Then watch the video and do the exercises. Remember you can read the transcript at any time.

Preparation

Transcript

Presenter: The emotion of fear is a vital survival mechanism, designed to protect our body's inner balance, a first line of defence against potential threats, even before they’ve struck. The strange thing is, we aren't born with it. For the first few months of our lives, we're quite literally fearless. Our ability to identify things that can threaten our survival is something we learn from those around us. That's why some of our fears are rational ...:

Woman 1: I'm terrified of sharks.

Woman 2: Very quick-moving rodents.

Teenage girl: I'm really, really scared of spiders.

Presenter: ... but others are not:

Girl: Monsters.

Boy 1: Vampires.

Teenage boy: Giant squids.

Boy 2: /dɔk/. Very, very big /dɔk/. (It is not clear whether he is saying 'dark', 'duck' or 'dog'.)

Presenter: You're scared of the dark or a duck?

Boy 2: A duck.

Presenter: A duck?!

Boy 2: (laughs)

© BBC

Task 1

Task 2

Discussion

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Hi Carlos, I strongly agree with you. And apparently, as the video shows us, the bounderies beetwen dangerous and harmless things have to be set from an early age.

Submitted by Marianac2018 on Thu, 19/07/2018 - 23:22

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No, because i’m fear of snakes. It’s difficulty my baby touch in snake.

Submitted by NikolayB on Thu, 19/07/2018 - 15:33

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Why not))) But only not dangerous of course.

Submitted by Ega on Thu, 19/07/2018 - 13:13

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very good and i love this much