The Power of Expressing Yourself

UCLA scientists Katharina Kircanski, Matt Lieberman, and Michelle Craske demonstrated the power of words for people with a professed spider phobia. The experiment went something like this: First, the spider phobics were asked to stand outside next to a Chilean rose-haired tarantula (donʼt worry, it was in a container). People were encouraged to approach the spider little by little. On the first step people took, they were about five feet from the spider. On the last step, they had to touch the spider continuously with the tip of their index finger. Not so fun for spider phobics, but the experiment was only getting started. Next, people were randomly assigned to take part in one of four treatment groups while they sat about two feet from the spider.