In psychology, preparedness is a concept developed to explain why certain associations are
learned more readily than others.
For example,
phobia
A phobia is an anxiety disorder, defined by an irrational, unrealistic, persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected ...
s related to survival, such as snakes, spiders, and heights, are much more common and much easier to induce in the laboratory than other kinds of
fears. According to
Martin Seligman
Martin Elias Peter Seligman (; born August 12, 1942) is an American psychologist, educator, and author of self-help books. Seligman is a strong promoter within the scientific community of his theories of well-being and positive psychology. His t ...
, this is a result of our
evolution
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
ary history. The theory states that organisms which learned to fear environmental threats faster had a survival and reproductive advantage. Consequently, the innate predisposition to fear these threats became an
adaptive human trait.
The concept of preparedness has also been used to explain why
taste aversion Taste aversion is associated with:
* Conditioned taste aversion, an acquired aversion to the taste of a food that was paired with aversive stimuli
* Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, an eating disorder in which people avoid eating or ...
s are learned so quickly and efficiently compared with other kinds of
classical conditioning
Classical conditioning (also respondent conditioning and Pavlovian conditioning) is a behavioral procedure in which a biologically potent Stimulus (physiology), stimulus (e.g. food, a puff of air on the eye, a potential rival) is paired with a n ...
.
References
External links
The Malicious Serpent: Snakes as a Prototypical Stimulus for an Evolved Module of Feararchive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Preparedness (Learning)
Learning
Preparedness