What creeps us out? Psychologists Francis McAndrew and Sara Koehnke wanted to know.
Their hypothesis was that being creeped out was a signal that something might be dangerous. Things we know are dangerous scare us — no creepiness there — but if we’re unsure if we’re under threat, that’s when things get creepy.
Think of the vaguely threatening doll, not being able to see in a suddenly dark room, footsteps behind you in an isolated place. Creepy, right? We don’t know for sure that we’re in danger, but we don’t feel safe either, and that’s creepy.
They surveyed 1,341 people about what they found creepy and, among their findings, they found that people (1) find it creepy when they can’t predict how someone will behave and (2) are less creeped out if they think they understand a person’s intentions. Both are consistent with the hypothesis that being unsure about a threat is behind the the feeling of creepiness.
They also hypothesized that people would find men creepy more often than women since men are statistically more likely than women to commit violent crimes. In fact, 95% of their respondents agreed that a creepy person was most likely to be a man. This is also consistent with their working definition.
Generally, people who didn’t or maybe couldn’t follow social conventions were thought of as creepy: people who hadn’t washed their hair in a while, stood closer to other people than was normal, dressed oddly or in dirty clothes, or laughed at unpredictable times.
Likewise, people who had taboo hobbies or occupations, ones that spoke to a disregard for being normal, were seen as creepy: taxidermists and funeral directors (both of which handle the dead) and adults who collect dolls or dress up like a clown (both of which blur the lines between adulthood and childhood)
If people we interact with are willing to break one social rule, or perhaps can’t help themselves, then who’s to say they won’t break a more serious one? Creepy. Most of their respondents also didn’t think that creepy people knew that they were creepy, suggesting that they don’t know they’re breaking social norms. Even creepier.
McAndrew and Koehnke summarize their results:
While they may not be overtly threatening, individuals who display unusual nonverbal behaviors… odd emotional behavior… or highly distinctive physical characteristics are outside of the norm, and by definition unpredictable. This activates our “creepiness detector” and increases our vigilance as we try to discern if there is in fact something to fear or not from the person in question.
Re-posted at Mental Floss.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 10
rockerred — September 9, 2015
Actually far more interested in this concept of the 'creepiness detector', the advance warning system needed to enforce social or professional norms. For example, do the people who use this know they are doing it, or that it even exists?
Dan — September 11, 2015
While they may not be overtly threatening, individuals who display... highly distinctive physical characteristics are outside of the norm, and by definition unpredictable."
This is why integration is extremely important. The more that different races experience each other, the less they will consider the other "outside the norm," "unpredictable" and so "creepy."
brnpttmn — September 21, 2015
Vsauce has a good video explaining the concept of the "uncanny valley" as it relates to creepiness...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEikGKDVsCc
John Soto — October 1, 2015
i find it interesting the correlation between breaking a social norm and
being creepy. How why is the rest of the world feel "creeped out" by
people who just choose to do things differently from the rest of
society? i think society should be more creeped out by the fact that
everyone has a standard of being normal or fitting in the norm. People
in today society who stand out from the rest end up going far in life.
Sometimes in a bad way, sometimes in a good way.
Psychologists conducted a survey to find out exactly what makes 'creepy' people creepy — and they had a few things in common - NewsNIM — October 15, 2015
[…] creeped out is "a signal that something might be dangerous," writes Lisa Wade, a sociology professor at Occidental College and founder of the sociology blog […]
Psychologists conducted a survey to find out exactly what makes ‘creepy’ people creepy — and they had a few things in common | BusinessMediaguide.Com — October 15, 2015
[…] creeped out is “a signal that something might be dangerous,” writes Lisa Wade, a sociology professor at Occidental College and read more […]
Psychologists finally figured out what makes creepy people creepy | Global Times — October 19, 2015
[…] creeped out is “a vigilance that something might be dangerous,” writes Lisa Wade, a sociology highbrow during Occidental College and owner of a sociology blog […]
Truth Teller — January 9, 2017
Doesn’t this strike you as strange that some Mental Health Experts who have people who believe whatever they say because it is suppose to be Scientific to judge other people as Creepy or not?
How about their Professions?
Is this Really Science?
Does this contribute to the betterment of Society?
If you lacked social Social skills could a mean spirited person use this against you?
I don’t know about you but this reminds me of High School for some reason.
This hurts Real Science.