Our research shows that coulrophobia, or fear of clowns, is mainly triggered by being unable to understand their facial expressions.
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Articles on Clowns
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An expert in the circus in literature and culture explains the root of its resonance as a political metaphor – and why circus performers object to it.
Clowns and jesters have positively contributed to society for centuries.
Today’s creepy clowns are not a divergence from tradition, but a return to it.
Amid the uncertainty and pain in the world magnified by COVID-19, puppeteers and jesters get away with telling hard truths and inciting cathartic laughter.
In ‘Joker’ and ‘Marriage Story,’ sometimes the absence of sound can pack as much of a punch as dramatic music.
The Rocky Horror Show and its star, Frank-N-Furter, debuted in 1973. His character owes much to older performance traditions.
These professional entertainers are trained and paid to go round hospitals cheer up children with music and laughter.
It’s all in the faces they pull.
The wider truth behind all those ‘scary’ clowns.
Random clown sightings don’t make everyone laugh. A psychologist who has studied creepiness explains why clowns are especially adept at making us squirm.
When Australian singer and TV personality Mark Holden appeared as a clown recently on Channel 7’s Dancing with the Stars, his supposedly “bizarre” behaviour sparked furious debate and complaints to the…
Top contributors
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Postdoctoral researcher, The Open University
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Lecturer, Centre for Theatre and Performance, Monash University
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Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology, Knox College
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Senior Lecturer in performance, Edge Hill University
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Lecturer in Developmental Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London
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Associate Professor in Education, Northumbria University, Newcastle
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Assistant Professor in Popular Entertainment Studies, Australian National University
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Assistant Professor of Film Studies, Wesleyan University
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Assistant Professor, School of Dramatic Art, University of Windsor
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Associate Professor of Psychology, University of South Wales
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Postdoctoral Fellow of History, University of South Carolina
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Lecturer in Psychology, University of South Wales
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Senior Lecturer in Literature, University of Liverpool
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PhD Researcher, University of South Wales
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Lecturer in Clinical Psychology and Mental Health, University of South Wales
