Why do we blush when we're embarrassed? - Big Questions - (Ep. 35)

Hi, I'm Craig

Cameras make me embarrassed. And this is Mental Floss on YouTube. Today, I'm going to answer Renny DiCarlo's big question

why do we blush when we're embarrassed? Let's get started. So blushing is related to the fight or flight response

They both come from the sympathetic nervous system. When you do something embarrassing, your body automatically releases adrenaline

This causes faster breathing and a faster heart rate because your body is getting ready to, wait for it, fight or flight

Vasodilation also occurs thanks to this release of adrenaline. That's when blood vessels widen and blood flow increases

Then the veins in your face respond to that, so they dilate in order to allow this increase in blood to flow through them

And because there's more blood flow in your cheeks than there normally is, they appear red, hence blush

Interestingly, a 2004 study published in the journal Psychophysiology found that blushing isn't always symmetrical

And that's the first time I said a word with three Y's and two H's in it

I'm pretty excited. In the study, they had participants sing to an experimenter, which they considered embarrassing

The singing, not the experimenter. The researchers found that when they stared at one side of the person's face while they

were singing, blushing was more prominent on that cheek that was being stared at

What So that covers the physiological aspect but it doesn really explain why we blush Too bad No I explain Scientists aren sure yet but they think it because it may have positive social effects

It may have evolved as a silent way for a person to acknowledge that they made a mistake

And this still works today. A 2011 study conducted at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands found that people

who are blushing are generally considered more trustworthy. Researchers had students play a computerized prisoner's dilemma, a game in which they decided

whether to betray an anonymous prisoner. If they both betrayed each other, they both got two years in prison

If one betrayed and one stayed silent, the silent prisoner got three years in prison. And if they both stayed silent, they'd both serve one year in prison

So no matter what, someone's going to the slamma. In the game, the virtual opponent betrayed the participant

Then the computer displayed a picture of the opponent. If the picture featured a blushing person, the participant was more likely to claim that

they would trust that individual in the future. Pictures of non-blushing opponents were considered less trustworthy

And less blush-worthy. Basically, even though blushing might make an embarrassing situation feel even more embarrassing

it's not all bad. evolved this way considering people are more likely to forgive a blushing person. So just

try to blush a lot, or wear a lot of red paint on your face