Toddler fears of monsters and the dark stem from perceived survival threats

Evidence

Thrust from the comfortable, warm wash of the womb, babies are frequently plagued by pains, hunger pangs, chills, rashes, and a panoply of other problems. Although infants and toddlers don’t know what they are afraid of or why, they react with distress to many potential threats to their survival. As children become aware of themselves, typically between eighteen and twenty-four months, their budding grasp of their smallness and vulnerability makes them increasingly terrified by even more real and imagined dangers. They are scared of the dark, strangers, big dogs, monsters, and ghosts. From their point of view, all are real threats to survival. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 123

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: A people’s monster myths reveal their deepest values and fears — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 1117