Some people are afraid of clowns. Not even sinister clowns. Normal clowns, who don’t appear sinister at all, make them feel uncomfortable or violated. This might sound strange to those who don’t suffer from coulrophobia, but it’s a much more common phobia than one might think; in fact, up to 5% of Americans suffer from it. Maybe you even suffer from it yourself. And now, a university professor has discovered its causes.
Philip John Tyson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of South Wales, has published an academic article about the fear of clowns alongside his colleagues Shakiela Davies, Sophie Scorey, and William James Greville. Titled “Fear of Clowns: An Investigation into the Ethology of Coulrophobia,” this article, published in Frontiers of Psychology, interviewed over 500 people with a fear of clowns to delve into the reasons behind their fears. Along the way, they arrived at some very interesting conclusions.
The most interesting, although not too surprising, finding is that having a traumatic experience with a clown is not a significant reason for developing coulrophobia. It’s not for any other phobia, and it isn’t for this one either. However, one thing that stood out to people about clowns is that it was difficult to discern what they were thinking while appearing unpredictable. Due to their highly ambiguous features and erratic, unintelligible behavior, people who suffer from coulrophobia perceive clowns as potentially dangerous entities. Similarly to how arachnophobes view spiders.
Neither does the exaggeration of their features help. By emphasizing their appearance to seem not exactly human, the idea of being untrustworthy or potentially dangerous is reinforced, thus fueling the anxiety of those who suffer from this phobia. This is something that, of course, Hollywood has something to say about. Because Hollywood’s portrayal of terrifying clowns seems to have had a significant impact on this negative perception of them, according to this study.
Therefore, we can conclude that, although clowns are not to blame, coulrophobia is inevitable. Simply put, clowns are scary. In their attempt to be charming and funny by distancing themselves from humanity, they come across as sinister and a source of anxiety for many people. And all the clowns in the world will have to live with that eternal contradiction. No matter how hard they try to make people laugh, there will always be a group of people they make cry.
