Are you scared of clowns? you are not alone. Coulrophobia, or fear of clowns, is a well-recognized phenomenon. Studies have shown that this fear is present in both adults and children in many different cultures. However, it is poorly understood due to the lack of focused research.
Many possible explanations for phobias have been put forward in the academic literature, but no studies have specifically investigated their origins. I set out to understand the psychology of We also wanted to investigate how common the fear of clowns is in adults and the severity of the fear among those who reported it.
To do this, we devised a psychometric questionnaire to assess the prevalence and severity of phobias. The clown fear questionnaire was completed by an international sample of 987 of his 18-year-olds to his 77-year-olds.
More than half of the respondents (53.5%) said they were at least somewhat afraid of clowns, and 5% said they were “extremely afraid” of clowns. Interestingly, this percentage reporting extreme fear of clowns was higher than many others, including animals (3.8%), blood/injections/injuries (3.0%), heights (2.8%), still water or weather phenomena. slightly higher than those reported in phobias of (2.3%), enclosed space (2.2%), and flight (1.3%).
We also found that women were more afraid of clowns than men. The reason for this difference is not clear, but it is consistent with research on other phobias, such as phobias of snakes and spiders. We also found that phobias decreased with age. This is consistent with other fear studies.
Origin of this fear
Our next step was to explore the origins of people’s fear of clowns. This new set of questions relates to eight plausible explanations for the origin of this terror, as follows.
- Creepiness and anxiety caused by clown makeup not being human. Similar reactions are sometimes seen with dolls and mannequins.
- The clown’s exaggerated facial features convey a direct sense of menace.
- Clown makeup hides emotional signals and creates uncertainty.
- The color of clown makeup is associated with death, infection, or blood damage, and evokes disgust or avoidance.
- The clown’s unpredictable behavior makes us uncomfortable.
- I learned my fear of clowns from my family.
- Negative depictions of clowns in popular culture.
- Clown horror experience.
Interestingly, the final description of having a terrifying personal experience with a clown showed the lowest level of agreement. This shows that life experience alone cannot fully explain why people are afraid of them.
In contrast, the negative portrayal of clowns in popular culture was a much stronger factor in coulrophobia. This is understandable because some of the most famous clowns in books and movies are designed to be scary, including Pennywise, the creepy clown in Stephen King’s 1986 novel It. (The character recently appeared in his two films, 2017 and 2019, with Bill his Skarsgård in the lead role.)
But some fear the fast food chain’s mascot, Ronald McDonald. This suggests there may be something more fundamental about clown appearance that makes people uneasy.
In fact, the strongest factor we identified was hidden emotional signals, and for many people, fear of clowns stems from their inability to see facial expressions because of makeup. We cannot understand their emotional intentions because we cannot see their “real” faces. So, for example, we don’t know if they’re frowning or wrinkling, indicating anger. Some people get nervous around them when they can’t detect what the clown is thinking or what they will do next.
read more: Calling Politicians ‘Clowns’ Is a Disservice to Clowns – Yes, Really
The study provided some new insight into why people fear clowns, but many questions still remain. Could it be that a person who has been exposed to it produces a similar effect? Or is there something more special about this fear-inducing clown composition? This is now the focus of our ongoing research.
The essay below 
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