Skip to main content

Why Do We Blush?

 


     We understand the chemistry, the physical process, of blushing, butwe blush remains an elusive mystery to researchers. The physiology of blushing is quite simple. When you’re embarrassed, your adrenal glands and certain neurons of the central nervous system release the hormone adrenaline. The general effect of adrenaline is to prepare the body for the “fight or flight” response: increasing heart rate and blood pressure, enlarging the pupil of the eye, and increasing blood flow and oxygen to the muscles, among other consequences. When you experience the stress of embarrassment, adrenaline causes the veins in your face to dilate, or widen, allowing more blood to flow through them. The increased presence of blood in your face makes your cheeks feel warm and creates the reddened look that signals to others you’re embarrassed.


    Blushing triggered by embarrassment is a one-of-a-kind phenomenon: It is exclusive to humans, and it does not happen anywhere else in your body. Why is this reaction so specific? Why have humans developed this unique response to embarrassment?


    Science does not yet have all the answers, but recent studies suggest that blushing serves a functional purpose, having evolved as a means of establishing social relationships. In a study conducted in 2009, a team of Dutch psychologists led by Corine Kijk, Peter de Jong, and Made Long Peters discovered that blushing “serves to signal the actor’s genuine regret or remorse over a wrongdoing.” In effect, blushing functions as a nonverbal “I’m sorry” for committing an embarrassing act or breaching a societal norm. It thereby mitigates “the negative social impression that was caused by the infraction.” According to the researchers, your blushing makes others perceive you have acknowledged your blunder and learned from your mistake.


   The Dutch study concluded with some helpful advice: “Our results showed that in the context of transgressions and mishaps, blushing is a helpful bodily signal with face-saving properties. It seems therefore unwise to hide the blush or to try not to blush in these types of contexts.”


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Causes Volcanic Lightning?

      On March 10, 2010, Eyjafjallajökull volcano, a caldera in Iceland covered by an ice cap, erupted. It sent plumes of clouds across most of Europe and the Atlantic Ocean. Photos of the eruption show lightning originating and ending in the cloud of ash that hovered over the volcanic opening.    The largest volcanic storms are similar to supercell thunderstorms that spread across the American Midwest. But while those thunderstorms are fairly well understood, volcanic lightning still remains mysterious. The remote location of volcanoes and infrequent eruptions make volcanic lightning difficult to study. In general, lightning occurs through the separation of positively and negatively charged particles. Differences in the aerodynamics of the particles separate the positive and negative. When the difference in charge is great, electrons flow between the positive and negative regions. A lightning bolt is a natural way of correcting the charge distributi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Cold Fusion Possible?

       Italian inventor Andrea Rossi really wants us to believe in cold fusion. He claims that his Energy Catalyzer, or E-Cat, a liter-sized device he designed, can output three times as much energy as it draws via low energy nuclear reactions, or LENRs As hydrogen passes over an electrified nickel-based catalyst, hydrogen nuclei supposedly fuse to the nickel, transmuting the metal into copper and releasing heat in the process. If we could harness that heat, the process could furnish cheap electricity banishing greenhouse simultaneously production gases-all creating any harmful waste.      There's only one problem: Cold fusion is almost certainly a myth. Backers aside, has yet to perform a truly independent test of his E-Cat; in most tests by third parties, Rossi handled the materials or was involved in some way. Critics argue that Rossi's device doesn't produce nearly as much energy as he claims and that his suggestion of building factories for large...
Post a Comment
Read more

What Is the Moon Illusion?

     The Moon seems larger when it is near the horizon than when it is high in the sky, a phenomenon called the Moon illusion. Although recognized for centuries—the horizon Moon was important to early civilizations that functioned according to the Moon’s cycle—this ancient phenomenon has only recently been explained. Early astronomers believed the Moon at the horizon was physically closer to Earth than when it was high in the sky, and the closeness meant a larger Moon. However, Newton’s description of the Moon’s orbit showed the contrary to be true. The Moon Is actually closest to the observer at its zenith, or when it is high in the sky, but the difference is so small that it is negligible anyhow. Others theorized that the Moon illusion was caused by refraction when light rays passed through more of Earth’s atmosphere. Today, scientists guess that the illusion occurs not externally, but through a trick of our brains.          Optical illusions p...
Post a Comment
Read more