https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svWPTUNlPTE

Study: On the nature of creepiness

The study featured 1,341 participants from around the world. The study gave them hypothetical situations, posed various behaviors or attributes, and got the participants to rank them from least creepy to most creepy.

Other interesting findings from the study:

  • 95.3% of our participants thought that creepy people were much more likely to be males than females.
  • In response to the question "Do most creepy people know that they are creepy?" The responses were 115 "yes" (8.6%), 797 "no" (59.4%), and 429 "unsure" (32%), indicating that our participants did not believe that most creepy people know that they are creepy.
  • The researchers isolated that one of the biggest contributing factors toward someone being perceived as creepy is when people don't understand the motivations or intentions of that person. "Believing that one understand the intentions of an individual makes them less creepy."
  • "Consequently, the feeling of being creeped out is unpleasant. It would be considered rude and embarrassing to run away from an odd person who has done nothing overtly threatening, but, on the other hand, it could be perilous to ignore your intuition and remain in an interaction that is dangerous. This ambivalence leaves you frozen in place, wallowing in unease."

"It's the uncertainty and the ambiguity that creates the perception of creepiness."

Top [14] attributes and behaviors that contributed to someone's perceived creepiness:

  1. The person stood too close to your friend
  2. The person had greasy hair
  3. The person had a peculiar smile
  4. The person had bulging eyes
  5. The person had long fingers
  6. The person had unkempt hair
  7. The person had very pale skin
  8. The person had bags under his/her eyes
  9. The person was dressed oddly
  10. The person licked his/her lips frequently
  11. The person was wearing dirty clothes
  12. The person laughed at unpredictable times
  13. The person made it nearly impossible for your friend to leave the conversation without appearing rude
  14. The person relentlessly steered the conversation toward one topic

The 7 Rules of Creepiness:

  1. They make us fearful/anxious (composite fearfulness variable).
  2. Creepiness resides in the individual more than his/her behavior (Basically, ugly or gross-looking people are more likely to be perceived as creepy than an attractive person when saying or doing the exact same things).
  3. We think they may have a sexual interest in us ("If the attraction is mutual, then there's no problem. It only becomes a problem when the attraction is not mutual").
  4. They are creepy when they exhibit multiple "symptoms" of creepiness rather than just one.
  5. The expected intimacy and frequency of interaction with the person moderates the perceptions of creepiness (meaning that if the time and frequency of someone wanting to speak to another is unknown, they're more likely to perceive that person as creepy).
  6. Creepy people are unable to change, but they do not necessarily have bad intentions (meaning that people can unintentionally do creepy things without intending to creep others out. Socially awkward people are more likely to be perceived as creepy even though their intentions are good).
  7. People who follow social rules of behavior are not perceived as creepy.

Rather interesting, I'd say. For anyone interested in the link to the study, here it is. More interesting info there as well.