-
Asked by mrsrichards to Andrew, Daniel, Hayley, Natalia, Peta on 16 Nov 2011. This question was also asked by kiki97.
-
Hayley Smith answered on 16 Nov 2011:
I think this is to do with adrenaline. When you’re embarrassed your body releases adrenaline and one of the effects of this is it causes your blood vessels to expand or dilate slightly, so more blood and oxygen are avaialble. I guess the blood vessels in the cheeks are very susceptible to this adrenaline so we go nice and red!
-
-
Daniel Scully answered on 16 Nov 2011:
I don’t know myself but Hayley’s answer seems a good one. I like how Charles Darwin described blushing:
“…the most peculiar and most human of all expressions” -
Peta Foster answered on 16 Nov 2011:
It’s part of your body’s fight or flight response i think and a reaction to a stressful situation. So you body senses a danger and tries to get your body ready by getting all systems firing and sometimes this can mean pushing more blood into the capillaries in the skin that make you look flushed.
I have to admit i have been caught out by this on occasion…hehe
-
Andrew Cairns answered on 16 Nov 2011:
It must be to do with ‘fight or flight’ response, as it dilates a lot of other blood vessels so your face must be the same!
A science friend recently said that once you become comfortable with feeling embarrassed in a situation, then you have nothing more to fear. It is a strangely extreme response for something that is really quite a minor life event. It is also seems quite a bad response to be developed in evolutionary terms – why would drawing attention to yourself when you’ve done something stupid be a good thing?
I kind of see it as a massive nature’s ‘awkward turtle’….
Comments