call “ the most odd and most human of all expressions ” by Charles Darwin , blushing is an involuntary response that seems to serve no purpose beyond making an embarrassing situation even worse . However , scientist ca n’t seem to definitively explain this phenomenon , which is wholly alone to human being .
AsapSCIENCE explainsblushing as a response of the sympathetic uneasy system and part of our “ fight or flight ” response . When you ’re embarrassed , epinephrine is released , zip up your sum rate and dilate your blood vessels to amend your blood line flow and oxygen rescue . In humans , facial veins react to this adrenaline by blush . But this reaction does n’t happen anywhere else in your body , which is why you do n’t blush all over .
skill may not be able-bodied to estimate out why this reaction is so specific , butrecent studies suggestthat blushing has a operative purpose in societal relationships . A team of Dutch psychologists break that people are more potential to forgive and view favorably someone who has place an embarrassing number if he or she is visibly blushing . A test of 130 undergraduate students at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands ply each subject with the nerve of a blushing or non - blushful char and a corresponding chronicle about her “ embarrassing misadventure ” or “ societal transgression . ” Reliably , the blushing face seduce high in likeability and trustworthiness .
accord to these result , the act of crimson “ serve to signal the histrion ’s genuine rue or self-reproach over a error , ” testify that the somebody recognizes the “ societal or moral infraction ” and will probably endeavour not to repeat it . Blushing can help others predict your future behavior , simulate that you , like many others , do not enjoy being embarrassed and have learned from your mistake . They are appeased by the unvoluntary act of contrition , and while you may never forget your most awkward moment , you may rest soft knowing that your blushing tendency help countervail their impact on your social relations .
If you happen to suffer from erythrophobia — the veneration of blushing — you could take some drastic measures by receive anendoscopic thoracic sympathectomy , which lop the heart that triggers your blushing inborn reflex . It seems , however , that the consistence has ways of showing your plethora even without the ability to blush , though : a vernacular side essence of the surgical procedure is facial sweating .
