Fear of clowns: An investigation into the aetiology of coulrophobia

Abstract

IntroductionFear of clowns or coulrophobia is a little understood phenomenon despite studies indicating that it has a high prevalence in the general population. There have been no previous investigations into the aetiology of this fear, although several plausible hypotheses from the wider literature can be generated; the fear stems from media portrayals of scary clowns, from the unusual physical appearance or the unpredictable behaviour displayed, or it derives from an unpleasant personal experience.MethodsThe current study reviews the literature in this area and also pilots a new questionnaire (Origin of Fear of Clowns Questionnaire; OFCQ) to explore the causes of the fear of clowns in a sample of 528 participants who reported such a fear.ResultsOur findings suggest that uncertainty of harmful intent, media influences and unpredictability of behaviour play an important role in the origins of coulrophobia. There are also multiple features of clown appearance which produce a negative experiential state and a sense of a direct threat.DiscussionWe conclude that the origins of clown fear are multi-factorial and primarily relate to aspects of their facial appearance, their behaviour, and how they have been portrayed in the media. Surprisingly, fear derived from personal experience was not one of our main findings. Further research is focused on looking at associations between the level of fear and each aetiological category.

The Effect of Media Exposure on Coulrophobia Symptoms

“…Although the words from Tyson et al (2023) that research shows an individual with coulrophobia has a high prevalence in the general population, it is not explicitly identi ed as a speci c phobia within the DSM-V. Coulrophobia is set apart from the four more general categories of particular phobias, which include those involving animals (e.g., spiders), the outdoors (e.g., heights), blood-injection injuries (e.g., needles), and situational phobias (e.g., aeroplanes) (Tyson et al, 2022). According to their result, 35.9% of participants from Asia reported fear of clowns, followed by 28.8% of UK participants, then 27.8% from Australia and Oceania, 22.6% from North and South America, 22.5% in mainland Europe and 17.6% from Africa.…”

“…Coulrophobia refers to fear or disgust elicited by clowns or images of clowns and may be accompanied by signi cant distress (Planting et al, 2022). Coulrophobia, or the fear of clowns, is a syndrome that is poorly understood despite research showing that it has a high prevalence in the general population (Tyson et al, 2023).…”