Every once in a while, a scientific study comes out that makes you roll your eyes and wonder why they bothered with an empirical study when a random survey of people in the street would have told you the same thing. And so, to the brilliantly named ‘On The Nature Of Creepiness’ study in scientific journal New Ideas in Psychology.
The study, of 1341 individuals, describes itself as the first ‘empirical study of creepiness’ of its kind. Unsurprisingly, for any woman who’s ever felt the clammy breath of a lurker on her back or a boss who maintains eye contact that fraction too long, the study found that men are much more likely than women to be perceived as creeps.
Participants in the survey were asked to rate the creepiness of 44 different behaviours. Creepy vibes entailed when people repeatedly licked their lips, laughed inappropriately, or consistently steered conversations towards sex. The creepiest professions? Aside from the obvious (clowns, sex-shop owners and funeral directors), weather presenters weirdly copped some major creep flak.
What’s interesting about the study is how much of a gendered phenomenon being a creep really is. Both the men and women surveyed agreed that men were more likely to be creeps, and women were more likely to connote being creepy with sexual overtones. Not sure if you’re a creeper? Well, if you’ve come onto someone repeatedly who’s given you no indication they’re into you, asked them for naked photos or sent them repeated ‘heyyyy’ messages, I hate to break it to you my friend – but you’re a creep.
h/t Vocativ
