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Quizzes > Health & Medicine > Psychology & Mental Health

Test Your Phobia Knowledge: Take the Phobias Trivia Quiz!

Dive into fear facts and common phobias - take the quiz now!

Difficulty: Moderate
2-5mins
Learning OutcomesCheat Sheet
Paper art illustration promoting a free phobias quiz on a dark blue background

This phobias quiz helps you spot common and strange fears, match names to meanings, and learn a bit about why they stick. Play through quick questions to see what you know and pick up new facts as you go. When you finish, try more phobia trivia .

What is the clinical term for an intense fear of spiders?
Entomophobia
Claustrophobia
Ophidiophobia
Arachnophobia
Arachnophobia is the specific term for a phobia of spiders. It is one of the most common animal-type specific phobias. Entomophobia refers to fear of insects in general, while ophidiophobia is fear of snakes, and claustrophobia is fear of confined spaces.
Under which category of mental disorders are phobias classified?
Personality disorders
Mood disorders
Anxiety disorders
Psychotic disorders
Phobias are categorized as anxiety disorders because they involve excessive and persistent fear or anxiety. The fear response is activated in situations perceived as threatening, even when there is no real danger. Mood disorders involve disturbances in mood, personality disorders involve enduring maladaptive personality traits, and psychotic disorders involve a loss of contact with reality.
Agoraphobia is the fear of what?
Social situations
Open or public spaces
Heights
Small, enclosed spaces
Agoraphobia is the fear of being in situations where escape might be difficult or help unavailable, commonly translating to open or crowded public spaces. It often leads individuals to avoid places like shopping malls, theaters, or public transport. Fear of heights is acrophobia, social situations relate to social anxiety disorder, and fear of small spaces is claustrophobia.
Which of the following is classified as a specific phobia in the DSM-5?
Panic disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder
Social anxiety disorder
Claustrophobia
Claustrophobia, the fear of confined spaces, is listed under specific phobia subtypes in DSM-5. Social anxiety disorder and panic disorder are separate anxiety disorder diagnoses, and generalized anxiety disorder involves excessive worry across various domains rather than a single object or situation.
What is the term for the fear of heights?
Hydrophobia
Aerophobia
Acrophobia
Nyctophobia
Acrophobia is the excessive or irrational fear of heights. Aerophobia is fear of flying, hydrophobia historically refers to fear of water (and rabies), and nyctophobia is fear of the dark. Acrophobia can lead to avoidance of high places like balconies, bridges, or tall buildings.
Which therapeutic technique involves gradual exposure to a feared object or situation?
Systematic desensitization
Psychodynamic therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy
Psychopharmacology
Systematic desensitization is a behavior therapy technique that pairs relaxation exercises with gradual exposure to the feared stimulus. It helps patients build tolerance and reduce anxiety responses over time. Electroconvulsive therapy is used for severe depression, psychodynamic therapy focuses on unconscious processes, and psychopharmacology refers to medication-based treatments.
What is the name for the fear of blood?
Hemophobia
Thanatophobia
Trypanophobia
Zoophobia
Hemophobia, also known as blood-injection-injury type specific phobia, is an irrational fear of blood. Thanatophobia is fear of death, zoophobia is fear of animals, and trypanophobia is fear of needles or injections. Blood-injection-injury phobias often result in fainting due to a vasovagal response.
Which of these is NOT one of the five specific phobia subtypes in DSM-5?
Social anxiety type
Situational type
Animal type
Natural environment type
DSM-5 lists five subtypes of specific phobia: animal, natural environment, blood-injection-injury, situational, and other. "Social anxiety type" or social phobia is its own category, separate from specific phobia. The other options are recognized specific phobia subtypes.
What is the unusually long term often used for the fear of long words?
Megalophobia
Logophobia
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
Sesquipedalophobia
Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is a humorous coinage referring to the fear of long words, ironically being one of the longest printed words. Sesquipedalophobia is a shorter alternative term. Megalophobia is fear of large objects and logophobia is fear of words.
Which brain region is primarily associated with processing fear and phobic responses?
Thalamus
Hippocampus
Prefrontal cortex
Amygdala
The amygdala plays a central role in fear conditioning and the emotional response to threats. It communicates with other brain regions to trigger physiological fear responses. The hippocampus is involved in memory, the prefrontal cortex regulates emotions, and the thalamus acts as a sensory relay.
What distinguishes a phobia from a normal fear?
It is always a rational response to actual danger
It typically lasts less than a minute and then subsides
It is purely a physiological reaction without emotional distress
It is an irrational and persistent fear that interferes with daily life
Phobias are characterized by an excessive and persistent fear that is disproportionate to the actual threat and impairs daily functioning. Normal fear is a proportional, situational response that subsides when the threat passes. Phobias often lead to avoidance behaviors and can cause significant distress.
Fear of contamination leading to excessive hand washing is characteristic of which disorder?
Specific phobia
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Panic disorder
Social anxiety disorder
In obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), individuals may experience intrusive thoughts about contamination and perform compulsive hand washing to alleviate anxiety. Specific phobia involves fear of a particular object or situation without ritualized behaviors. Social anxiety disorder centers on fear of social situations, and panic disorder involves unexpected panic attacks.
What term describes culturally specific syndromes of fear, such as the Koro syndrome in Southeast Asia?
Culture-bound syndrome
Specific phobia
Conversion disorder
Illness anxiety disorder
Culture-bound syndromes are mental health or illness manifestations unique to specific cultural contexts. Koro syndrome involves acute anxiety that the genitals will retract and cause death, seen in parts of Southeast Asia. Specific phobia is a universal category, conversion disorder involves neurological symptoms without medical cause, and illness anxiety disorder is a preoccupation with having a serious illness.
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Study Outcomes

  1. Understand physiological fear responses -

    Learn why your heart races and palms sweat when facing common triggers by exploring the body's fight-or-flight reaction in this phobias quiz.

  2. Identify common phobias -

    Recognize and name widely experienced fears like arachnophobia or acrophobia through engaging common phobias trivia questions.

  3. Recall strange phobias -

    Discover unusual fears such as nomophobia or anthophobia in our strange phobias section and broaden your knowledge of rare phobias.

  4. Analyze fear facts -

    Examine surprising statistics and insights in the fear facts quiz to understand patterns and prevalence of different phobias.

  5. Apply psychological concepts -

    Use principles from the psychology of phobias quiz to explain how phobias develop, persist, and affect behavior.

  6. Differentiate phobia categories -

    Compare specific, social, and agoraphobia types within the phobias quiz to distinguish between various fear-based disorders.

Cheat Sheet

  1. DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria -

    Understanding the DSM-5 definition of a specific phobia is key for your phobias quiz mastery: it requires a marked fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation lasting six months or more, causing significant distress or impairment. Remember the mnemonic "FASI6" (Fear, Avoidance, Six months, Impairment) to lock in these criteria. Review official APA guidelines to see how these clinical rules guide diagnosis in both research and practice.

  2. Prevalence of Common Phobias -

    Knowing statistics boosts your common phobias trivia skills: about 3.5% of adults report arachnophobia and roughly 5% report acrophobia, according to National Institute of Mental Health data. Compare these with rarer fears like emetophobia (2 - 3%) or trypophobia (not yet officially classified) for a well-rounded fear facts quiz. Charting these numbers visually can help cement their relative frequencies in your memory.

  3. Neurobiology of Fear -

    The amygdala-centered fear circuit triggers fight-or-flight responses through rapid neural pathways; think of it as "A-F-F" (Amygdala → Fight-flight). Elevated cortisol and adrenaline levels follow Hans Selye's stress response formula, reinforcing physiological arousal. Review neuroscience journal summaries from PubMed to grasp how these biological mechanisms underpin both adaptive and maladaptive fears.

  4. Classical and Operant Conditioning -

    Behavioral theories explain how phobias form: classical conditioning (e.g., Little Albert's white rat experiment) pairs a neutral stimulus with fear, while operant conditioning maintains avoidance behaviors through negative reinforcement. Use the mnemonic "C.C. = Cookie & Cry" to recall how pairing and emotional responses create lasting associations. Exploring case studies in behavior-analysis journals will deepen your psychology of phobias quiz readiness.

  5. Evidence-Based Treatment Strategies -

    Exposure therapy, the gold-standard intervention, gradually desensitizes individuals to fearful stimuli - virtual reality platforms now treat strange phobias like fear of buttons (trypophobia) in controlled settings. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) complements exposure by challenging maladaptive thoughts - use the acronym "EASE" (Engage, Assess, Shift, Evaluate) to remember core CBT steps. Reviewing APA and NICE treatment guidelines ensures you can confidently explain these approaches on any phobias quiz.

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