Are you afraid of clowns? We know quite a few individuals who are quite scared of clowns including the Ronald McDonald statue in a fast food restaurant. It's interesting that this fear of clowns is found all over the world regardless of race and culture. Because of this, scientists have conducted a study on the main reason why some individuals have a fear of clowns or the scientific name of coulrophobia.
In a study involving almost 1000 respondents aged between 18-72 years, as many as 53.5% said they had a fear of clowns. Of these 5% said it was an extreme fear.
When asked why this happened, respondents said it was due to the portrayal of clown characters in the media was the main contributor and not due to a bad experience meeting clowns. This is in contrast to other phobias caused by previous trauma.
Fear is also caused by the look on the clown's face which cannot be easily read due to the use of thick makeup. Humans need to read facial expressions to interpret whether they have good or bad intentions.
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
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