The Space to Care study was trying to improve hospital design for children, and the University of Sheffield polled 250 children regarding their opinion on clowns.
In an unforeseen turn of events, all of the children, whose ages ranged between four and sixteen, said that they found clowns frightening and genuinely disliked clowns as part of hospital decoration.
Unfortunately, this is an ironic twist because almost every hospital that has a child center uses clowns in order to try and cheer up children. Why do people find clowns so scary? Psychologists believe that the reason people find clowns so scary is because when infants are learning to make sense of facial features, the clowns’ exaggerated features are confusing and frightening because they are so different.
Scared of clowns? You suffer from ‘coulrophobia’. Although, this is only a proposed and widely accepted term on the internet it carries no validity according to the American Psychiatric Association. Coulrophobia is also not recognized by the World Health Organization as a valid disorder.
Learn more about clowns (if they don’t scare you) by clicking the source!