Are you one of the many people who are afraid of clowns? Researchers dove deep into the fear and found some interesting things about its origins.

你也害怕小丑吗？研究人员深入研究了这种恐惧，发现了一些关于它其起源的有趣事情。

The team behind the study, which was published in Frontiers in Psychology, had a closer look at the fear of clowns, known as coulrophobia, and even created a questionnaire to assess it. The idea was to have a better understanding of the causes of coulrophobia.

这项研究发表在《心理学前沿》杂志上，研究团队仔细研究了对小丑的恐惧，即小丑恐惧症，进行了深入研究 ，甚至设计了一份问卷。他们的目的是更好地了解小丑恐惧症的原因。

Although the fear of clowns is prevalent in the general population, it has still been poorly understood and there hasn't been a study that looked deeper into its causes. Furthermore, its prevalence across studies has been quite inconsistent, they noted.

虽然对小丑的恐惧在普通人中很普遍，但人们对此仍然知之甚少，也没有一项研究更深入地探究其原因。此外，他们指出，不同研究中的恐惧程度相当不一致。

"In contemporary Western societies, clowns are typically depicted as friendly figures of fun and comedy, perhaps best embodied in those you would find in a circus or at a children's party. Yet, the seemingly pleasant circus clown can just as easily upset as entertain," the researchers wrote, citing some of the simple examples, like a shy child feeling embarrassed by a clown's tricky antics. "Uncertainty thus exists as to the potential of a clown to harm as well as charm."

“在当代西方社会，小丑通常被描绘成有趣和喜剧的友好形象，也许最好的体现是在马戏团或儿童聚会上看到的小丑。然而，看起来令人愉快的马戏团小丑很容易让人心烦意乱，”研究人员写道，并引用了一些简单的例子，比如一个害羞的孩子对小丑狡猾的滑稽动作感到尴尬。“因此，小丑的潜在伤害和魅力，是不确定的。“

To shed light on this fear, the researchers assessed its prevalence and, through their "The Origins of Fear of Clowns" questionnaire, looked at the possible causes behind it.

为了解开这种恐惧的面纱，研究人员评估了它的普遍性，并通过他们的“对小丑恐惧的起源”的问卷调查，寻找背后的可能原因。

Out of the 987 participants, 528 （53.5%） said they had "some degree" of a fear of clowns. Five percent even noted that they were actually "extremely afraid" of clowns.

在987名参与者中，528人（53. 5%）表示他们对小丑有“某种程度”的恐惧。5%的人甚至指出，他们实际上“非常害怕”小丑。

The prevalence of extreme fear is actually a little higher than that of other phobias like fear of closed spaces （2.2%） and fear of animals （3.8%）， the team from the University of South Wales wrote in an article in The Conversation.

来自南威尔士大学的研究小组在《对话》杂志的一篇文章中写道，对小丑极端恐惧的比例实际上略高于其他恐惧症，如对封闭空间的恐惧（2.2%）和对动物的恐惧（3.8%）。

Women were more afraid of clowns, even though the reasons behind this are unclear. Researchers have also found that the fear actually wanes with age. Both these cases are said to be consistent with previous research on other phobias.

女性更害怕小丑，尽管这背后的原因尚不清楚。研究人员还发现，这种恐惧感实际上会随着年龄的增长而减弱。据说这两种情况都与之前对其他恐惧症的研究一致 。

The strongest factor was "hidden emotional signals" as their make-up tends to hide their emotions, thus creating some sense of uncertainty, the researchers noted.

研究人员指出，最大的恐惧因素是 "隐藏的情绪信号"，因为小丑的化妆往往会隐藏他们的情绪，从而产生一些不确定感。

"We cannot see their 'true' faces and therefore cannot understand their emotional intent," the authors wrote. "Not being able to detect what a clown is thinking or what they might do next makes some of us on edge when we are around them."

"我们无法看到他们的'真实'面孔，因此无法理解他们的情感意图，"作者写道。 "无法察觉小丑在想什么，或者他们下一步可能会做什么，这使得我们中的一些人在小丑身边时感到很紧张。"

Negative portrayals of clowns in media, for instance, Pennywise in the Stephen King novel "It," was also a strong contributing factor, and so were the clowns' unpredictable behavior and their "not-quite-human" appearance.

媒体对小丑的负面描述，例如斯蒂芬·金小说《它》中的彭尼怀斯，也是一个重要的因素，小丑不可预测的行为和他们“不太像人”的外表也是一个重要的因素。

Interestingly, having a scary experience with a clown was the least picked factor. This shows life experience alone isn't enough to explain the fear. And although women appear to be more afraid of clowns, the researchers didn't find "statistically significant sex differences," suggesting common factors were behind the fear in both males and females.

有趣的是，与小丑有过可怕的经历选中者寥寥。这说明单凭生活经验不足以解释恐惧。尽管女性似乎更害怕小丑，但研究人员没有发现“统计学上的显著性别差异”，这表明男性和女性的恐惧背后有共同的因素。

Overall, it appears that the fear of clowns has "multi-factorial" origins. But further research could dive deeper into it.

总的来说，对小丑的恐惧似乎有“多因素”的起源。但进一步的研究可能会更深入。

"For instance, if makeup which masks emotions causes fear, do people who have their faces painted as animals also create the same kind of effect?" the authors said. "Or is there something more particular about the makeup of clowns that drives this fear?"

作者说：“例如，如果因为化妆掩盖情绪会引起恐惧，那么把脸涂成动物的人，是否也会产生同样的效果呢？”“还是说，小丑的构成有更特殊的原因导致了这种恐惧？”