How creepy are you? Do your colleagues always leave the office kitchen when you go in to make coffee? When you enter a room, do people shrink back and stare at their shoes rather than look at you? Are you the guy in the coffee shop always sitting by yourself with several empty tables around you? Do children stare at you in a mixture of wonder, awe and fear? When you smile, does your face contort into Anthony Perkins awkwardness? Can you in fact smile at all? Are you maybe a clown? Researchers have put together the first ever “empirical study of creepiness” to ferret out the weirdos. Almost 1400 participants rated their behaviors, including standing too close, inappropriate laughter, and sexually-threatening conversation and body language.
“The results are consistent with the hypothesis that being ‘creeped out’ is an evolved adaptive emotional response to ambiguity about the presence of threat that enables us to maintain vigilance during times of uncertainty,” report researchers. You can take a sample quiz here to find out if you are basically harmless, mildly creepy, or this guy.
