We seem to be the minority though. I know multiple people in real life who have an absurdly irrational reaction to rats. They react to merely seeing a rat or mouse scurrying around the way you might if you suddenly felt a tarantula crawling up your neck. Interestingly my wife is one of them, and my daughter once thought mice and rats were cute (I agree!) until she saw mom freak out, and now she's just as jumpy. Makes me wonder if this response is in-built or learned behavior.