blushing

Turns out blushing is a spontaneous emotional reaction, instead of a result of cognitive self-reflection, new research published on Wednesday suggests.

The findings published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal show that blushing was more intense when participants watched themselves singing compared with watching others sing.

Milica Nikolić, a developmental psychologist from the university’s Institute for Child Development and Education and lead author on the study, had already investigated blushing as a physiological measure of young children’s emotions in social settings.

“I got interested in what exactly triggers blushing - is it thinking about what other people think of us, or is it more an automatic and spontaneous reaction to social exposure?” she asked.

This question posits the two main theories on what causes blushing.