Jesse Bering
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Among the many disadvantages of being pasty white in complexion is the fact that a mere blush can broadcast one’s social discomfort for all the world to see. Granted, people of all colors and ethnicities blush at a basic physiological level—that is to say, human facial veins dilate in response to subtle psychosocial cues. But for mongrelized Caucasians such as yours truly, a white epidermis often acts rather embarrassingly like an objective gauge of subjective discomfort. And there’s not much you do about it, either: blushing is involuntary and uncontrollable.
The good news is that although it may cause you some chagrin, blushing appears to serve a functional purpose. Recent findings by Dutch psychologists Corine Dijk, Peter de Jong and Madelon Peters reveal that if you ever find yourself in a pickle after, say, committing a social offence or being caught in an embarrassing mishap, the presence or absence of blushing can help determine if you’ll be forgiven by others. Surprisingly, these findings, published earlier this year in the journal Emotion , are among the first to address the adaptive significance of the blushing display—what Charles Darwin referred to as “the most peculiar and most human of all expressions.” The gist of Dijk and her colleagues’ evolutionary argument for blushing is as follows:
Publicly conveying embarrassment or shame may signify the actor’s recognition that she/he has committed a social or moral infraction, and regrets this. As a consequence, this message may mitigate the negative social impression that was caused by the infraction.
The authors claim that, much like crying (another peculiarly human expression of social emotion that is difficult to control), blushing serves to signal the actor’s genuine regret or remorse over a wrongdoing. Given the possibility of being deceived, it would have been rather foolish of our ancestors to take at face value a person’s verbal or behavioral expressions of remorse. Instead, over tens of thousands of years, uncontrollable blushing would have evolved as a fairly reliable predictor of the actor’s future behavior. In other words, if the behavior or situation at issue made the person feel so uncomfortable that his or her facial veins dilated—a physiological response that for many people is attended by a somewhat unpleasant tingling sensation—the blusher would probably avoid repeating that behavior in the future. Thus, blushing seems to be an appeasement display. Interestingly, this evolutionary hypothesis is aligned with a recent argument advanced by neuroscientist Mark Changizi in his book The Vision Revolution (BenBella, 2009). Among other things, Changizi claims that our species unusually strong color vision evolved so that we could detect subtle hue changes in other peoples’ skin, thereby deducing their emotions.
To test their own evolutionary hypothesis, Dijk’s group asked 130 undergraduate students from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands to read a series of brief stories about female characters. Participants were told that the woman in the story had either just committed a “social transgression” (such as missing a funeral because of a party, cutting in line at the bakery, driving away after a car crash) or was involved in an “embarrassing mishap” (such as bumping into a rack full of wine glasses, farting in an elevator, spilling coffee on someone). Half of the students were randomly assigned to the social transgression category and read twelve such stories, while the remaining participants read about twelve embarrassing mishaps. Importantly, each brief story was paired with the head-and-neck, color photograph of a different female model (so that there were 24 unique models total) said to be the main character in the story. The students were then asked to rate this woman on a variety of factors. For example, on a scale of 0-100, they were asked to rate their overall impression of this person, how sympathetic they found her, how trustworthy and so on.
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29 Comments
Add CommentIt is simpler than that.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA blush is a sign of sexual arousal.
A blush after embarrassment ,says well f me.
These conclusions make no sense to me. If a blush = remorse, then why do people blush when they receive a compliment? This is as bad as the study that suggested crying served a public purpose when most tears are shed in private.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUnfortunately the compensatory sweating from sympathectomy is not facial. You lose the ability to sweat above the nipples, making the procedure untenable for anybody who runs or otherwise exercises regularly.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf blush = remorse, then people blush after recieving a compliment because they are remorseful of recognising that they enjoy hearing their own egos stroked by a reaffirmation of something that they secretly believed or hope d for.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBlushing is a reaction to shame/guilt. Perhaps people blush when the are complemented because in our society because we are taught that humility in all things is valued. Therefore, upon receiving a we are conflicted by feeling joy for receiving approval and social shame that we are not humble.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt would be this shame that triggers the blush reflex.
These findings fit in the overall trend towards recognizing the social factors in human evolution. Obviously, our (social) culture influenced our (biological) nature deeply.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBlushing is not just remorse, it is far more complicated that that. Add in all the other subtle body language and you have poetry that will forever be beyond the laboratory. The authors use of the term "face saving" is an interesting one. If our ability to detect or see the blushing diminishes with darker skin tones, do we have less favorable responses, even though the other person is actually blushing? In other words, is it harder for people with dark skin tones to "save face"? The evolution of the "pasty whites" is a relatively new development in human evolution, so too with blushing?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNonsense. A signal of sincere regret? It cannot be an adaptation that serves it's bearer, since it would create too much room for cheating to ever become established as an honest signal. Let's not resurrect group-selectionist arguments either. Much more likely it's simply a cue that conspecifics have learned to read.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOf course it doesn't make sense. It's simply another "just so" story to try and reduce people into a set of neurological impulses.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAn interesting study. I certainly find it plausible that blushing has a social function above a bioligical one and, as Michael Blume above posits, that social factor's have and continue to influence human evolution.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI know that it's been argued since Galileo was forced to recant his heliocentric ideas by the catholic church in the 17th century but sciences main goal has been to foster understanding and enlightenment, not to deny God.
It can be difficult and oftentimes inaccurate but the process is a proven one and has vastly enriched our understanding of ourselves and the world we live in. If the results are contradictory to your belief system then it doesn't mean that your belief system is invalidated. It could mean however that the intrepretations made upon that belief system could be wrong. Galileo's views did not invalidate christianity but it invalidate the christian doctrine at the time that God made the Earth the center of the entire universe.
@frgough, "Of course it doesn't make sense". You've made that comment many times before on a wide range of topics. Perhaps you should consider that the reason things here don't make sense to you is because you are scientifically illiterate. That is ok by the way. No one can know everything. For you facts and logic seem to be a problem. What seems strange though is that for a person who neither understands nor respects science you sure do spend a great deal of time here. Since you never have anything constructive to say and no real insights to share please feel free to take your negativity and cram it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAre blushes socially detectable on dark skin?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf blushing is the same in all humans, it must have evolved early, right? Prior to geographical isolation and skin color divisions (before pasty white young women were around to be photographed),would blushes have conveyed information above the noise threshold?
I always find it ironic that the modern "scientist" considers it unconstructive to point out flaws in the conclusions of others.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFYI, I majored in physics and chemistry in college. I understand science a lot better than the majority of people who visit this web site. I understand it enough to know that most of what passes for science today isn't; it's simply re-packaged Aristotlean philosophy (observe and hypothesize).
i like to blush.... it turns guys on :)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think the reference to the evolution of color vision addresses the ability to pick up the blush in different skin colors. Our good color vision allowed us to do this.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisfrgough,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's hard to take your comment seriously as it appears to be saying that there is some sort of "agenda" to the research and the article. If you actually posted legitimate criticism such as "I disagree with their conclusions because of ...." and actually posted some data, alternate hypothesis, or anything that would support YOUR conclusions then this would go a long way to be taken seriously.
Comments such as "Of course it doesn't make sense. It's simply another "just so" story to try and reduce people into a set of neurological impulses." are nothing more than vague strawman arguments. Your disagreements appear to stem from the fact that the author's beliefs in evolution are counter to your own. It is perfectly fine to not believe in the theory or evolution or anything else for that matter. Science must have informed skepticism. However, speculating on the author's unstated intentions is not informed skepticism.
I think Bering is finally on the right track with this post. But I'd add that the prospect of being "caught" blushing also keeps the prospective blusher from trying strategic moves that have a high probability of failure. Such as preventing him from telling a bad or obvious lie - but not from telling a well prepared falsehood, since the latter has survival value in "games" that require such a strategy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@ Ungolythe
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI couldn't agree more! I don't see any inevitable contradictions between science(s) and faith(s). In fact, my personal focus of research is the reproductive benefit of religiosity - the fact that religious people (as i.e. Amish or orthodox Jews) have far more children than the seculars. The idea of a God who urges his followers to be fruitful and multiply seems to be adaptive, at the least. ;-) Jesse did some really good evolutionary studies on religiosity!
@ Matilda
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHmmm... this is an interesting point. Do you feel the same way about blushing guys?
@frgough, "I always find it ironic that the modern "scientist" considers it unconstructive to point out flaws in the conclusions of others." That is the point; you do not "point out flaws", you make inflammatory statements and don't provide a shred of evidence to support them. Like all the other creationists and conspiracy theorists that troll this site, you are not here to learn anything or have an intelligent conversation - you are here to preach and ridicule. Fortunately, we can see through it. You clearly have made up your mind, now you are just trying to change the facts to support your world view.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBlushing can be controlled. When we blush so do our livers. By concentrating on the position of our liver the blood goes to the liver instead of the face and this terrible affliction can be controlled. In time you may be able to stop it altogether.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA "just so" story is an explanation totally disconnected from reality that explains an observation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe fact that blushes occur for many reasons, that embarrassment is not a universal constant and that trying to fit every aspect of human behavior into the straw grasp called 'survival advantage' makes this article a classic "just so" story.
Here's a little science for you: Since embarrassment cannot be quantified, it cannot be empirically measured, and therefore cannot be experimentally tested. Ergo, it cannot be analyzed via the scientific method, which requires reproducible experimentation with empirical measurement.
First year physics and chemistry students learn the difference between qualitative and quantitative and why it's important. Something these pseudo sciences apparently haven't a clue about.
In fact and paradoxically, the opposite can be close, just like two reverse sides of the coin. Previous SciAme reports "Origin of Hatred" and declare the related brain areas is not far from the Love areas. Also, when we receive the compliments, we react covertly with an "reverse" feeling, remorse's, this indicate our feelings is also"extremes meet". A Chinese provers says"extreme joy begets sorrow " to exhort people don't fling themselves too much. Now, we know better about how this philosophy works at a physiologically and neurologically level.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisblushing is a good thing that have been made a bad thing. i think we should change our opinnions about it. we are people of emotions. the body is affected by our emotions . if we pay attention to them we can better communicate with one another. you cant hate blushing because its us.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBLUSHING IS A BEAUTIFUL THING UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS . IF WE ACCEPT IT AS SOMTHING GOOD, IT WILL NOT BE A PROBLEM. NOW WHEN IT IS EXCESSIVE, THEN SOMETHING IS GOING ON.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReading this article made me wonder, if physiologically our lips increase and our face turns red to attract the opposite sex, isn't it natural that we always feel more sympathy for blushed faces? Doesn't seem like a very good study.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is outstanding how many comments there are on the absurdity of this study. Technically, we are just a bunch of neurological implulses, and to say that we aren't is denying the biological aspect of oneself. The fact that is has a social effect does not decline from the biological aspect, they are one in the same.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTake the squid for example, it's instant neurological impulse is to change colour when in fear, this is to warn of other animals that there is the possibility of danger.
This scenario is really like any other emotion. Why do we show emotion at all other than to convey a message to those around us? And aren't all true emotions automatic?
I finally discovered <b><a href="http://www.blushingbreakthrough.com"> how to stop blushing blog </a></b>. I know why I have been blushing and how to make it never happen again. Not only have I found a cure for myself but I'm able to help other people <b><a href="http://www.blushingbreakthrough.com"> stop blushing </a></b>stop blushing. As a former sufferer I know exactly what people need and I can explain in DETAIL every step and technique that you need to take.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have been told that to an observer, blushing appears as if it is unwelcome to the person blushing. However to the person blushing, deep down it could feel nice, warm and tell him or her that they are admired / desired. This is when it is in the context of receiving a compliment that may have a hint of sexuality.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMany who have been specifically quizzed by me have also admitted that it normally does not stop at blushing especially if the giver of the compliment persists or even if silence ensues after the source factor of the blushing kicked in. Very often arousal may be triggered and this manifests in females (more than males) beginning to feel wet.
In such a scenario this could well be a precursor to full blown sexual activity.