Elephants Beware

Analyzing the concept of "fear" is extremely difficult.

Fear is a self-definitive concept: you always have to use the noun itself in the description.  While this may seem like a detriment, in fact it is very revealing.  It shows that fear is a deeply-rooted part of every person.

My favorite fears to analyze are one that are logically ridiculous.  Like fears of small places, pickles, open places, aaaaaaand mice.

Mice are easier to produce than small places or large places (and pickle phobias are hard to come by).

Original plan: Put the mouse in a box and make members of the class, without knowing what is inside the box, put their hands inside and tell me what they find.

Original Hypothesis: most people will be more afraid of the unknown than they will be of the actual mouse itself.  However, a few will probably be more afraid of the boxed mouse AFTER they figure out that it is a live mouse.  Their fear of the perceived risks involved with interacting with a live mouse will keep them from being willing to put their hand in a second time.

However...
This plan went out the window as soon as we put a classmate inside a box to brave his claustrophobia.  Because I had, in my possession, a live mouse, I couldn't resist the temptation to take the claustrophobia experiment to the next level.  I dangled the mouse through a hole in the top of the box.  Everyone laughed. The box shook violently.  I put the mouse away.

This required me to change up my original experiment and hypothesis, leading me to:

Revised Plan:  Hand the mouse to everyone in the class.  If a classmate is found who has a previous phobia of mice, hand it to him/her with his/her eyes closed.  This heightens his/her sense of touch and general unease.

Revised Hypothesis: The majority of the test subjects will be willingly receptive to holding an "adorable little mouse," but at least one should be reticent to hold the mouse; hopefully even downright fearful.

Then...  the experiment happened.

Exactly as predicted, I found four people who were at least "uncomfortable" holding a mouse.  All four people were, with some peer pressure, willing to hold the mouse and even play with her and let her run on their shoulders.  Three of the four were willing to hold her again, later, which surprised me.

There is a psychological method of pushing past phobias known as "flooding."  This technique involves exposing a subject to their personal fear repeatedly in a controlled environment to condition them to push past their phobias.  This is essentially what I accomplished with the three test subjects.  Mice phobias are easy to cure by "flooding" because domestic mice are relatively calm and free of most contagious diseases.  They are also adorable.  "Flooding" a person to these cute little furry animals helps them realize that mice are not something to be afraid of.

... unless they have rabies.  :P