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hubie (1068)
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Been around from the beginning, but only recently volunteered as an editor.
Are you scared of clowns? You are not alone. Coulrophobia, or the fear of clowns, is a widely acknowledged phenomenon.
Studies indicate this fear is present among both adults and children in many different cultures. Yet it is not well understood due to a lack of focused research.
While numerous possible explanations of the phobia had been put forward in academic literature, no studies had specifically investigated its origins.
[...] Interestingly, this percentage reporting an extreme fear of clowns is slightly higher than those reported for many other phobias, such as animals (3.8 percent), blood/injection/injuries (3.0 percent), heights (2.8 percent), still water or weather events (2.3 percent), closed spaces (2.2 percent), and flying (1.3 percent).
We also found that women are more afraid of clowns than men. The reason for this difference is not clear, but it echoes research findings on other phobias such as the fear of snakes and spiders.
We also discovered coulrophobia decreases with age, which again matches up with research into other fears.
[...] This new set of questions related to eight plausible explanations for the origins of this fear, as follows:
- An eerie or unsettling feeling due to clowns' makeup making them look not-quite-human. A similar response is sometimes seen with dolls or mannequins.
- Clowns' exaggerated facial features convey a direct sense of threat.
- Clown makeup hides emotional signals and creates uncertainty.
- The colour of clown makeup reminds us of death, infection or blood injury, and evokes disgust or avoidance.
- Clowns' unpredictable behaviour makes us uncomfortable.
- Fear of clowns has been learned from family members.
- Negative portrayals of clowns in popular culture.
- A frightening experience with a clown.
Intriguingly, we found the final explanation, of having had a scary personal experience with a clown, had the lowest level of agreement. This indicates that life experience alone is not a sufficient explanation for why people are afraid of them.
[...] 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.
We cannot see their "true" faces and therefore cannot understand their emotional intent.
[...] This research has provided some new insights into why people are afraid of clowns – yet more questions remain.
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.
Journal Reference:
Philip John Tyson, Shakiela K. Davies, Sophie Scorey and William James Greville, Fear of clowns: An investigation into the aetiology of coulrophobia [open], Front. Psychol., 02 February 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1109466
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13, @02:01AM (4 children)
Coulrophobia, Aristarchusphobia, Transphobia. Any others?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13, @02:00PM (1 child)
Runawayphobia
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13, @08:22PM
Alethiaphobia. SoylentNews can't handle it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13, @06:31PM (1 child)
"Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us."
-Marianne Williamson
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 14, @02:00PM
"I am lost. I've gone to look for myself. If I should return before I get back, please ask me to wait."
-Bill the Cat
(Score: 3, Informative) by istartedi on Monday March 13, @03:57AM (2 children)
Culture says clowns are creepy, so they must be, just like a lot of people suddenly seemed to find the word "moist" repulsive a number of years back.
FWIW, I was never *particularly* afraid of clowns as a child, I just thought the idea was stupid. This dude is not funny. He just put on makeup. Lame. At least *live* clowns were lame. Bozo was on TV back then, and that was something I liked but I think Bozo must have just been a host not the main attraction--think Krusty from the Simpsons, it's got to be based on Bozo but it's been so long I've forgotten what the typical Bozo show was like. I don't consider myself typical, so this probably doesn't contribute much. Later as an adult I thought "You know, there's a poor dude in there, he's not making a lot of money. He chose that". It really is sad and a bit disturbing if you think of it like that, especially the circus which was always kind of a messed up scene anyway--people risking their lives, tormenting animals. A fun day for the entire family, so of course clowns are on board with that too. There was a time when things like this fell under the "suspension of disbelief" kind of thing, and the popular culture programmed us to accept and enjoy them. Now it does the opposite.
Interesting factoid: The late Willard Scott, our local weather man, was also a Bozo at some point. I think he was on WRC in the DC area back then, and got replaced by Bob Ryan (retired) who was an actual meteorologist.
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(Score: 2) by istartedi on Monday March 13, @04:13AM
I was thinking people might not get what I said when I referred to Willard Scott as being "a Bozo". It was mot meant to be an insult. Bozo the Clown was a franchised character--different local markets produced their own versions of the Bozo character. I read Scott's Bio on Wikipedia and found that his career as Bozo ended before I was born, so I was actually watching a different Bozo, but Scott was still a clown and literally created the Ronald McDonald character, check it out [wikipedia.org].
Parents with kids were jamming highways to see Bozo at McDonalds, that's so DC area, LOL, and also speaks to the issue of how the culture has changed when it comes to clowns.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13, @04:34AM
The Bozo you remember was Dick Dyszel, who was also Captain 20 on Channel 20.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 13, @02:20PM (5 children)
What about pantomimes?
Or court jesters?
Or court bailiffs?
Or the scary male man who comes by the house every day?
How often should I have my memory checked? I used to know but...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13, @05:57PM (3 children)
Unexpected result: If you take the money from the rich and give it all to the poor, the poor will soon become poor again.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13, @08:25PM (1 child)
Say goodnight, khallow, you Clown!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13, @10:54PM
Just keep swimming.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Tuesday March 14, @12:45AM
Yes, we haven't fixed capitalism yet. Thanks for reminding us.
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 3, Touché) by turgid on Monday March 13, @07:03PM
It's the female man the conservative types are scared of when he comes by their house.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 15, @12:27AM (1 child)
I never was afraid of clowns, until Pennywise moved in next door.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 15, @04:17AM
Do you live at 147 Wallaby Way, 116 Small River Road, in the provenance of New SouthWest Arkansas? My sources say there is an asshole clown there abouts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 16, @05:47AM
It's already known that most young kids are afraid of clowns. So unless you want to scare/traumatize the kids, what's the advantage from getting clowns vs a magician, balloon artist etc that's not in some clown outfit?