5/2/2023 0 Comments Clown mackupThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. For instance, if makeup which masks emotions causes fear, do people who have their faces painted as animals also create the same kind of effect? Or is there something more particular about the makeup of clowns that drives this fear? This is now the focus of our continued research. This research has provided some new insights into why people are afraid of clowns – yet more questions remain. Read more: Calling politicians 'clowns' is a disservice to clowns – yes, really Not being able to detect what a clown is thinking or what they might do next makes some of us on edge when we are around them. So, for example, we don’t know whether they have a frown or a furrowed brow, which would indicate anger. We cannot see their “true” faces and therefore cannot understand their emotional intent. In fact the strongest factor we identified was hidden emotional signals, suggesting that for many people, a fear of clowns stems from not being able to see their facial expressions due to their make-up. This suggests there might be something more fundamental about the way clowns look that unsettles people. However, some people are afraid of Ronald McDonald, the fast food chain mascot, and he is not meant to scare you. (This character most recently featured in two films in 20, with Bill Skarsgård in the starring role.) This is understandable since some of the most prominent clowns in books and films are designed to be scary – such as Pennywise, the creepy clown from Stephen King’s 1986 novel It. In contrast, negative portrayals of clowns in popular culture was a much stronger contributing factor towards coulrophobia. This indicates that life experience alone is not a sufficient explanation for why people are afraid of them. Intriguingly, we found the final explanation, of having had a scary personal experience with a clown, had the lowest level of agreement. Negative portrayals of clowns in popular culture. The colour of clown makeup reminds us of death, infection or blood injury, and evokes disgust or avoidance.Ĭlowns’ unpredictable behaviour makes us uncomfortable.įear of clowns has been learned from family members. A similar response is sometimes seen with dolls or mannequins.Ĭlowns’ exaggerated facial features convey a direct sense of threat.Ĭlown makeup hides emotional signals and creates uncertainty. This new set of questions related to eight plausible explanations for the origins of this fear, as follows:Īn eerie or unsettling feeling due to clowns’ makeup making them look not-quite-human. A follow-up questionnaire was given to the 53.5% who had reported at least some degree of clown fear. Our next step was to explore the origins of people’s fear of clowns. Minerva Studio/Shutterstock Origins of this fear Not all clowns are meant to be creepy, but that doesn’t stop us from being scared of them.
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