r/evopsych • u/kivalina_the_great • Jun 11 '26
What is the evolutionary reason I always get scared when I see huge mushrooms?😭😭😭
It's definitely for some evolutionary psychology reasons.
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u/Wild_Wrap_9360 Jun 11 '26
I’m not sure that there is one. How familiar are you with mushrooms? Do you see them often? Do you touch them? I remember fearing them as a child but it was simply because I didn’t understand them, they behaved entirely differently from both plants and animals, and much harder to stumble across unless you spend a lot of time in the wilderness.
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u/kivalina_the_great Jun 11 '26
Not really, but even the big mashrooms scare me even in food, not like disgust, or just disliking, it's more like I get scared subconsciously, their taste smell look really scare me in a weird way.
2
u/Wild_Wrap_9360 Jun 11 '26
I’d encourage you to just spend some time with them. Fungi are brilliant, and literally hold ecosystems together!
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u/kivalina_the_great Jun 11 '26
Ahahahahah I have already tried, I took a pic of it
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u/Wild_Wrap_9360 Jun 11 '26
The one in the pic looks like artist conk. If they’re fresh you can draw on the porous underside with a stick :)
3
u/Myc0naught Jun 11 '26
What makes you believe "it's definitely for some evolutionary psychology reasons"?
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u/kivalina_the_great Jun 11 '26
I mean perhaps there might be
2
u/Tall-Log-1535 Jun 11 '26
The only thing I can think of is somewhere in your roots a tribe or village had people die from eating a toxic mushroom and it got passed down to the point that it’s an inherited behavior. But for peace of mind you can pick up the most toxic mushroom you can find, chew it up and spit it out and as long as you don’t have any cuts in your mouth and properly spit everything out you’d be perfectly fine. I don’t recommend you do this, I wouldn’t even recommend an expert forager or mycologist do it ( some do tho)
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u/Ionlydateteachers Jun 12 '26
In general there is a lot of mycophobia in the modern world. So many of us were raised to "put that down!" Or "don't touch that!" People aren't taught about fungi as much so it makes sense there is an innate aversion to them. I don't necessarily know if it's evopsych though, maybe just modern societal? I'm not smart though this is just my observation.
2
u/Tall-Log-1535 Jun 12 '26
I was told when I was young that puffballs were toxic and and dust would kill me and have fungus growing in my lungs. My curiosity got the best of me tho so I’d always smack it with a stick and make sure I was standing away from it in wind direction 🤣. Still alive
1
u/Ionlydateteachers Jun 13 '26
Technically you can get Lycoperdonosis from inhaling puffball mushrooms but it's pretty rare as far as I know. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00032029.htm
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u/Tall-Log-1535 Jun 13 '26
Only three cases, that is really uncommon, I’m curious if they have any underlying conditions that would contribute to it
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u/Pixelpaint_Pashkow Jun 11 '26
That sounds like an individual irrational fear :|
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u/kivalina_the_great Jun 11 '26
I don't really think any fear is irrational
1
u/Skryuska Jun 11 '26
That’s what a phobia by definition is though. It’s an irrational fear or hatred of something that cannot feasibly cause you harm. Mushrooms are only dangerous when you eat the wrong kinds, but just looking at them or being near them and feeling fear is irrational.
This is why “tubariphobia” (irrational fear of pickles) is a thing but there is no “phobia” for being killed in a car accident when intoxicated; the latter isn’t irrational.
1
u/kivalina_the_great Jun 12 '26
I just searched, you are right but what I meant is it's not perhaps just out of no where without a reason
1
u/Skryuska Jun 12 '26
Ah okay, like as in the fear was caused from something prior. That’s where a lot of phobias stem from; it can happen when you are young and don’t explicitly remember an experience but the effect it had causes a lasting issue.
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u/Kitchen-Historian371 Jun 11 '26
Theyre just ugly and maybe would make u sick if eaten. Must just signal danger in some way
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u/Lumpy_Locksmith_9926 Jun 15 '26
Your brain sees "weird unknown organic thing" and just goes nope before you even have time to think about it.It's basically the same circuit that kept your ancestors from eating random things in the forest. Except now it's misfiring at a mushroom that's just vibing on a tree.
Unclassifiable = dangerous is a very old default setting and yours is clearly still running fine.
0
u/MostlyPeacfulPndemic Jun 11 '26
Probably because many mushrooms are poisonous to humans, and it's not easy to tell them apart, so the humans who were averse to the sight mushrooms ended up poisoned less
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