There is research showing people who watched the movie Spider-Man 2 lost their fear of spiders. I suppose if this is effective it will be a good thing. It does make me wonder if watching the movie Willard will help decrease your fear of rats. Will watching the movie Jaws decrease your fear of being attacked by a shark? I must admit after seeing the movie Shrek, I must admit, it did leave me with an entirely new attitude concerning Ogres and talking donkeys.
“Doctor, can you help
me.”
“What seems to be the
problem?”
“I have an intense
fear of snakes.”
“It's not a problem.
I'm going to give you a prescription to watch the movies Snakes on a
Plane, Anaconda and Mega Snake.”
“Will that help
me?
“If not, the medical profession will make quite a bit of money from prescribing you Valium as well as providing therapy sessions.”
“If not, the medical profession will make quite a bit of money from prescribing you Valium as well as providing therapy sessions.”
“Oh.”
A new study finds that
watching “Spider-Man” can actually help ease one’s case of
arachnophobia or fear of spiders.
Similarly, researchers
from Bar-Ilan University and Ariel University in Israel say that
watching the movie “Ant-Man” may also decrease symptoms stemming
from the fear of ants, or myrmecophobia. All it took, in
fact, was just a seven-second clip from each film to significantly
reduce symptoms in study participants, the authors say.
I wonder who chooses
the seven-second clip from a film?
“I say we show them a
film clip showing the spider biting a man.”
“I don't agree. I
say we show them a clip of him swinging from building to building.”
“I'm afraid that
could upset people who have a fear of heights or flying.”
“If it cures them of
their fear of spiders, it could also cure them of their fear of
heights and flying.”
“You have a good
point. We just have to avoid showing them seven seconds of credits.”
“That could cure them
of fear of reading names racing across a screen.”
“No, it may make them
want to no longer be part of the study.”
“Good point.”
For the study, the authors
measured levels of arachnophobia, myrmecophobia, and insect
phobia in general among 424 participants, and then had them watch
various movie clips, including scenes from “Spider-Man 2” and
“Ant-Man.” Participants also watched a seven-second general the opening scene from other Marvel movies, as well as a seven-second
calming scene of nature.
How do you measure the
level of insect phobias? Tell people to go into a room and release
spiders and ants then see what happens? If they scream like their
crazy that would probably rate as a high level of phobia. Should
they scream how they're filing a lawsuit against the researchers,
they may have a lower level of insect phobia. These people watched
an opening scene from other Marvel movies. This makes me wonder if
this is a study funded by Marvel. These researchers could be
conducting future studies on how spending money on products and
movies from Marvel can help you reach a state of euphoria like
nothing you've ever experienced. It's good they included a calming
scene from nature.
(Sarcasm Alert)
I'm sure we all know
there are no spiders and ants in nature that could hurt anybody.
Researchers found that
participants who watched the “Spider-Man 2” and “Ant-Man”
clips experienced a 20% decrease in symptoms from their respective
fears. But there was no change when they watched the generic Marvel
opening scene nor from the nature clip, suggesting that exposure to
the bug-themed superheroes were behind the positive effect.
It could also be caused
by people being so focused on what happened in the movies, they
forgot about their fears. Could it be that distraction is a good way
to deal with myrmecophobia or arachnophobia? It could also be proof
that people find watching generic Marvel openings and nature clips
quite boring.
“What are you doing
with popcorn?”
“Hey, I have an
intense fear of popcorn. I want to test if eating it and watching
Marvel movies can help me get over the symptoms of my fear.”
“Okay, we'll play the
movies.”
“Oh, and could you
skip the generic Marvel openings and nature clips? I think I”m
over my fear of them.”
“Okay.”
The authors tout the power
of in-vitro exposure therapy for the study. That is, being exposed to
something one is afraid of without actually exposing them directly to
their fear. In this case, seeing a positive video related to spiders
or ants, rather than having to experience an actual spider or
colony of ants in person.
(Sarcasm Alert)
I suppose nothing helps
a person deal with a fear of real spiders and ants than showing them
humans who turn into these creatures. Who could be afraid of actual
spiders in the real world after seeing a person dressed as Spider-Man
spin webs, climb on the sides of buildings and fights bad guys? I'm
sure watching a guy wearing a suit and becoming as small as an ant
would eliminate any fears of ants. Even if it doesn't, Marvel has a
great way to promote their movies to an audience of people with these
phobias.
Below is a link to the
story.
https://www.studyfinds.org/watching-spider-man-helps-cure-actual-fear-spiders/
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