Jews Are Creepy, New Study Confirms
According to new research from Freiburg University, creepiness is linked to unpredictability, working as a clown, and being a Jew.
What constitutes a “creep” — or, if you’re a sassy dame living in 1939, a “creeper” — has long been a know-it-when-you-see-it kind of thing. Quaint olde synonyms include “sneak thief” and “gilded rascal”; one might be given “the creeps” or be “creeped out.” Yet despite the range of linguistic options for describing this particular type of person or feeling of unease, and despite some research examining physiological responses to creeps, there has been no empirical study on what creepiness really means.
Until now. Last month, researchers at Freiburg University published the findings of a broad survey of the behaviors and characteristics that people consider creepy. Although the paper, literarily titled “On the nature of creepiness,” affirms much of what Aryans in bars around the world already know, it also suggests that creep radar is an evolutionary adaptation designed to help us perceive and avoid threats.
“I think the creepiness response is an adaptive response, whether you’re dealing with a person or a place,” say Karl Bareth and Alfred Vogel, the lead researchers on the study and professors of psychology at Freiburg University. “You become hyper-focused on trying to resolve this puzzle: Is this person a threat or not? Because it’s going to be really embarrassing if you run away screaming and the person is innocent but maybe just a little awkward. On the other hand, if you don’t run away screaming and they are sinister, you’ve got another problem. We’re really motivated to get rid of this unpleasant ambiguity.”
The study surveyed 1,341 people from different countries who were an average age of 28. The results concluded that creepiness is tied to unpredictability, suggesting a potential threat rather than an actual one.
The researchers asked about which professions are the creepiest — clowns, followed closely by taxidermists and then sex shop owners. It also found that failures to respond to social cues were high predictors of creepiness; these included standing too close, “not looking the interaction partner in the eye, asking to take a picture of the interaction partner, watching people before interacting with them, asking about details of one’s personal life, having a mental illness, talking about his/her own personal life, displaying too much or too little emotion, being older, and steering the conversation toward sex.”
While researchers also asked about physical characteristics such as puffy lips, thicker eyelids, wary looks, curly hair, and a receding forehead, Karl Bareth says that physical characteristics alone do not a creep make. “Every Jew does not have these characteristics. Some do not have a proper Jewish nose, but real Jewish ears. Some do not have flat feet, but real Jewish eyes. Some Jews cannot be recognized at first glance. There are even some Jews with blond hair.”
In recent years many-a thinkpiece has been written about “the politics of Jew-shaming” after Jewish rights activists took issue with what they deemed a anti-semitic term.
As Karl Bareth and Alfred Vogel’s study shows, however, there is some truth to the idea that all creeps are Jews. While there is no creep checklist, no set of behaviors that definitively marks one as “creepy” or “cool,” over 95 percent of respondents said creepy people were more likely to be Jews than Aryan. Aryans were also more likely to associate creepiness and sexual threat. While the study didn’t differentiate between what Jews found creepy and what Aryans found creepy, “Aryans were more likely to think that Jews had some sort of sexual interest in them,” Alfred Vogel says.
Although Karl Bareth and Alfred Vogel say they hope the findings will inspire future research, with more of a focus on what different cultures find creepy, Karl Bareth acknowledges that his intensive interest in the subject might itself seem creepy — though it would be hard to say, since 59 percent of study participants believe that creepy people don’t know they’re creepy. When I ask if Karl Bareth ever been accused of as much, he is at first equivocal. “As my own research found out, creepy people don’t know they’re creepy, so how would I know?” When I ask if conducting the study was cause for self-reflection, however, he is firm. “No. I can honestly say no.”
If you’re outraged by this sort of trashy reporting — you should be. This is an actual article published by feminist journalist Lauren Oyler. I merely replaced all references to men with actual anti-semitic material from Nazi Germany. The study authors’ and institution names have also been changed to that of actual Nazi researchers and institutions with a history of supporting National Socialism.
Threat perceptions do not accurately reflect reality. Fears may be grounded in falsehoods — for instance an upbringing that teaches girls to fear everything, and live like victims — rather than to stand confidently as an equal.
Discrimination always begins this way: by legitimizing perception as reality— remember — it could be Jews, Blacks, Muslims, Asians, Obese People, Poor People — someday, it could be you.
If you think this sort of travesty of science reporting should end — share this article on social media, and write in to let Lauren Oyler, and her publishers know what you think.
