Lemire 1
Lauren Lemire
Psychology 100
9 November, 2023
John Bickford
Self Analysis: Fear of Caterpillars
The smallest experiences can lead to the biggest impact on our lives. I am not the type of
person to be over dramatic or make a big deal of things, but there is always one thing that will
always bother me. No matter what the circumstance is I will always make a big deal about
caterpillars. I have a phobia of caterpillars, which is called lepidopterophobia. This fear is rooted
from when I was younger and a large caterpillar was placed on me by my cousin, with no way
out to escape it. I have tried multiple times to overcome this but nothing has seemed to work for
me. Through learning about psychology I can look at this fear, and reason with some possibilities
of why I might have it.
The world is seen in different ways to everyone. Each person has their own interests,
emotions, and fears. This is represented in the different perspectives in psychology, more
specifically the cognitive perspective. The cognitive perspective focuses on how individuals
perceive and interpret the world around them. This would include the shaping from childhood or
previous experiences. This theory would give insight into why things happen to be the way that
they are in one's life today. In my experience, the traumatic contact with the caterpillar that
happened when I was younger, then formed my thoughts and interactions with caterpillars to be
miserable. All of my experiences with caterpillars going on from that moment would be shaped
to be negative. From this bias I would seek to avoid caterpillars in every way possible, and
, Lemire 2
continue to think that everytime I come in contact with a caterpillar will be as awful as the one
bad time I had with one.
Another perspective to focus on the Psychodynamic perspective. This perspective
explains where behavior is driven from the unconscious mind. From the exposure to the
caterpillars, and developing this fear, could now lead to where I have a reflex that happens
without having a second thought about what my body is doing. So when I see a caterpillar I
automatically jump and get away from it, without having a second thought.
One of the only ways that my fear and thoughts would be able to be explained would be
through a certain type of psychologist. A cognitive psychologist would be able to help me
through this fear because they deal with higher mental processes. They could help me to
understand my fear through a therapy process, and target the things I need to work on to get past
it.
This fear of caterpillars has been rooted within me for as long as I can remember. This is
a learned behavior and not one that I was born with. To learn something is an adjustment in
behavior that is long-lasting. A type of learning that could be associated with this behavior is
known as conditioning. There are two different types of conditioning but classical conditioning
happens when a neutral stimulus reveals an independent response after being put together with a
different stimulus to reveal this new response. With each classical conditioning case there is an
unconditioned response, an unconditioned stimulus, and neutral stimulus. In this case the
unconditioned response would be a slight grimace at a caterpillar for it being considered an odd
insect, unconditioned stimulus would be the caterpillar before being placed on me, and the
neutral stimulus would be the high up play structure I sat on. From the experience of being stuck
without being able to remove a caterpillar placed on me the unconditioned stimulus and reaction
Lauren Lemire
Psychology 100
9 November, 2023
John Bickford
Self Analysis: Fear of Caterpillars
The smallest experiences can lead to the biggest impact on our lives. I am not the type of
person to be over dramatic or make a big deal of things, but there is always one thing that will
always bother me. No matter what the circumstance is I will always make a big deal about
caterpillars. I have a phobia of caterpillars, which is called lepidopterophobia. This fear is rooted
from when I was younger and a large caterpillar was placed on me by my cousin, with no way
out to escape it. I have tried multiple times to overcome this but nothing has seemed to work for
me. Through learning about psychology I can look at this fear, and reason with some possibilities
of why I might have it.
The world is seen in different ways to everyone. Each person has their own interests,
emotions, and fears. This is represented in the different perspectives in psychology, more
specifically the cognitive perspective. The cognitive perspective focuses on how individuals
perceive and interpret the world around them. This would include the shaping from childhood or
previous experiences. This theory would give insight into why things happen to be the way that
they are in one's life today. In my experience, the traumatic contact with the caterpillar that
happened when I was younger, then formed my thoughts and interactions with caterpillars to be
miserable. All of my experiences with caterpillars going on from that moment would be shaped
to be negative. From this bias I would seek to avoid caterpillars in every way possible, and
, Lemire 2
continue to think that everytime I come in contact with a caterpillar will be as awful as the one
bad time I had with one.
Another perspective to focus on the Psychodynamic perspective. This perspective
explains where behavior is driven from the unconscious mind. From the exposure to the
caterpillars, and developing this fear, could now lead to where I have a reflex that happens
without having a second thought about what my body is doing. So when I see a caterpillar I
automatically jump and get away from it, without having a second thought.
One of the only ways that my fear and thoughts would be able to be explained would be
through a certain type of psychologist. A cognitive psychologist would be able to help me
through this fear because they deal with higher mental processes. They could help me to
understand my fear through a therapy process, and target the things I need to work on to get past
it.
This fear of caterpillars has been rooted within me for as long as I can remember. This is
a learned behavior and not one that I was born with. To learn something is an adjustment in
behavior that is long-lasting. A type of learning that could be associated with this behavior is
known as conditioning. There are two different types of conditioning but classical conditioning
happens when a neutral stimulus reveals an independent response after being put together with a
different stimulus to reveal this new response. With each classical conditioning case there is an
unconditioned response, an unconditioned stimulus, and neutral stimulus. In this case the
unconditioned response would be a slight grimace at a caterpillar for it being considered an odd
insect, unconditioned stimulus would be the caterpillar before being placed on me, and the
neutral stimulus would be the high up play structure I sat on. From the experience of being stuck
without being able to remove a caterpillar placed on me the unconditioned stimulus and reaction
