Yeah, I mean I hated clowns from being very young. Mum took me to a circus and I remember thinking the creepy guy with the weird face was not trustworthy. Then I saw him throwing buckets of water on people, except the water turned out to be confetti. I decided I didn’t want anything thrown on me by a person with a crazy face and screamed until Mum took me out. Must have been maybe three or four years old.
It’s not hard to understand why some unpredictable, weird looking person would be scary to kids. You can learn that they’re not scary as you get older but that initial strong emotional response will linger on some level because early childhood experiences are formative.
1234WhoAreYou t1_j71g3bb wrote
Reply to New n=987 study into coulrophobia (the fear of clowns) suggests its main causes are clowns' unpredictability, their illness-like makeup, and prior media exposure. by fotogneric
Yeah, I mean I hated clowns from being very young. Mum took me to a circus and I remember thinking the creepy guy with the weird face was not trustworthy. Then I saw him throwing buckets of water on people, except the water turned out to be confetti. I decided I didn’t want anything thrown on me by a person with a crazy face and screamed until Mum took me out. Must have been maybe three or four years old.
It’s not hard to understand why some unpredictable, weird looking person would be scary to kids. You can learn that they’re not scary as you get older but that initial strong emotional response will linger on some level because early childhood experiences are formative.