Many people suffer from true coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. Even without a full-blown phobia, everyone seems to agree that clowns are just a little bit scary. But have you ever wondered why? Logically, a clown is simply a person wearing makeup and silly clothes, and yet they still tend to give just about everyone the creeps.
许多人害怕小丑，被“小丑恐惧症”困扰着，虽然还不至于是严格意义上的恐惧症，但大家似乎都同意小丑是有这么一点点诡异。那你有没有想过为什么呢？照理说，小丑只是一个画着妆穿着傻气衣服的人，但他们还是让大家有些害怕。

10. The Painted Smile
10. 画出来的笑容

There is something unnatural about the fact that clowns are always smiling. We are logically aware that this red, painted smile is fake. Yet it makes it more difficult to tell when the person wearing the makeup is showing actual emotion.
小丑一直都是笑着的，这个样子非常不自然。理论上，我们知道这个红色的，画上去的笑容是假的。但当小丑画着妆时，我们很难辨别出他的真实感受。
Johnny Depp was quoted as saying that when he was a child, he had nightmares about clowns. He claims that painted-on smiles make it impossible to figure out if clowns are happy or hiding the fact that they are about to bite your face off.
据约翰尼·德普所说，当他还是个小孩时，做过有关小丑的噩梦。他认为那个画上去的笑容使得他无法分辨出小丑到底是高兴还是想咬人。
This fake smile makes most people feel uncomfortable. As social creatures, we read each other's emotional cues to interact with one another, to become friends, or even just to make small talk. Imagine trying to talk to a normal person who never stopped smiling, even for a moment.
假笑让大部分人很不自在。作为社会性的生物，在与其他人交流时我们需要明白对方的情绪，交朋友或仅仅只是聊聊天都需要情感上的暗示。想象一下和一个笑个不停的正常人说话的情景，就可以明白这种不自在从何而来了。
In Psychology Today, Dr. Jordan Gaines Lewis wrote that a clown's painted-on smile limits the emotions that we can interpret from its face. Clowns also ask us to smile back, and we might not actually feel like laughing or smiling at that very second. Even in the best scenario, we may feel awkward or annoyed by a clown. If there is a real fear there, however, this pressure can add to the terror.
乔丹·盖恩斯·路易斯博士在《今日心理学》上发表道：小丑画上去的笑容限制了我们交流时从脸上获得的情感信息。而且和小丑互动的时候还需要回以微笑，即使我们并不想这样做。这就使我们感到尴尬或烦躁，更糟的情况是，如果是对小丑感到实实在在的害怕，这种压力还会导致恐惧症。

9. They're Unpredictable And Untrustworthy
9. 他们心思难料并且让人无法信赖

Clowns are zany and crazy, and part of their comedy is that you're never sure what they will do next. They could pile 20 of their friends into one tiny car, spray you with water from a flower on their shirt, or throw a pie in your face. Part of a clown's identity is doing over-the-top things that would not typically be considered normal behavior.
小丑古怪且疯狂，而且他们表演的一部分就是要让你猜不透下一步是什么。他们会在一辆小车里挤下20个小丑伙伴，从衣服上的花里喷你一身水，或向你的脸上扔一个派。小丑的特征之一就是做一些平常根本想不到的夸张的事。
People thrive when they can stick to a daily routine and often suffer mental stress and anxiety when their lives are unpredictable, unstable, or unsafe. So it only makes sense that interacting with a clown can be frightening.
人们喜欢呆在自己的舒适区，当生活变得不可预测、不稳定或缺乏安全感时，就会出现精神紧张和焦虑。所以和小丑互动时会觉得害怕也是有道理的。
According to an article in Scientific American, clowns are "tricksters" whose masks give them the feeling that they can abandon typically acceptable social behavior. We are never sure what they are going to do because, by definition, clowns are trying to push the limits of what other people will tolerate before they snap.
《科学美国》的一篇文章指出，小丑是“骗子”，他们的面具让他们得以摒弃社交习俗。我们永远不确定他们下一步的行动，因为小丑的存在就是要去挑战人们的底线。

8. Fear Of The Unknown
8. 害怕未知

Dr. Penny Curtis from the University of Sheffield noticed that the pediatric hospital had multiple paintings of clowns on the walls. She decided to poll 250 children aged 4 to 16 who were staying in the hospital to find out how they felt about these images of clowns. The results of her study showed that the clowns gave the vast majority of these kids the creeps, even the ones who were too young to have ever seen any horror movies with clowns.
谢菲尔德大学的潘妮·柯蒂斯博士发现，在儿童医院的墙上总是画着许多小丑的图案。于是她决定对医院里的250名儿童进行一个调查，儿童的年纪从4到16岁不等，以得出他们对这些图案的看法。她的研究结果显示，绝大部分孩子对小丑图案感到诡异，就算是那些从来没看过小丑恐怖片的幼儿也是这样的感觉。
The conclusion from this study is that the children simply find them to be "frightening and unknowable." Looking at a painting of a clown is not the same as looking at a picture of a kitten, for example. Children and adults alike can see an image of a kitten, and they automatically have an understanding of what a kitten is. The image of a clown shows an abstract creature that is difficult to categorize, almost like looking at an image of an alien, except we know that clowns are real.
该研究的结论是，孩子们只是单纯地认为那些图案“可怕并且未知”。比如看一幅小丑的图案和小猫图案是不一样的。孩子和成人一样，当他们看见小猫图案时，他们能理解小猫是什么。小丑图案展示的是一种难以分类的抽象的物种，就像看外星人的图片一样，不同之处只在于我们知道小丑是真实存在的。

7. They Are Creepy And Hard To Sympathize With
7. 他们诡异并难以让人产生共情

When clowns have makeup on, they typically stay in character at all times. With regular actors, the public is accustomed to understanding a general idea about their career. We also understand that there is a difference between the person we see on the cover of magazines and the "behind-the-scenes" clips versus the characters they play on TV or in movies. It is easy for us to understand that acting is a job, but it is very difficult to comprehend the motivations behind wanting to perform as a clown as a career choice.
小丑化上妆，就会一直融入在角色里。对于普通的演员，我们很容易理解他们选择职业的动机，也可以明白杂志封面、拍摄花絮里的人和电影、电视剧里的角色是不一样的。我们知道表演是一个工作，但对于小丑，我们却很难理解为什么有人愿意终身扮演这个角色。
In the textbook titled New Ideas in Psychology, researcher Francis McAndrew conducted a study, explaining different stimuli that constitute "creepiness." He defines being "creeped out" as feeling slightly threatened but not enough to run away. So you wallow in a sense of discomfort and unease while being around this person because you are ignoring your natural instincts to run away due to politeness.
在教科书《心理学新发现》中，弗朗西斯·麦克安德鲁开展了一个研究，解释了“诡异”中包含的情感。他将“吓到”定义为有点被威胁但又不至于逃跑的感觉。就比如你在小丑身边时不舒服不自在，但出于礼貌又不得不压制自己的逃跑本能继续待在小丑旁。
When McAndrew polled people on their opinions of every occupation that exists, clowns were considered to be the most creepy—even more than funeral directors and taxidermists.
大概也就是因为这个原因，麦克安德鲁对人们就现存职业的看法开展的投票结果显示小丑这个职业被认为是最诡异的——甚至比丧葬承办人和动物标本制作者还诡异。

6. Mass Hysteria
6. 群体性歇斯底里现象

In 2016, the "killer clown" phenomenon began, with more and more video footage and reports of creepy clowns doing strange and unsettling things in cities around the world. Time called it "clown hysteria."
2016年，出现了“小丑杀手”的现象，世界上许多城市发现越来越多的录像和报导，内容是诡异的小丑在做着奇怪的，令人不安的事。《时代周刊》称之为“小丑歇斯底里现象”。
While the majority of these clowns were simply loitering and trying to play a prank, they were all suspected of criminal intent. Many people were up in arms, trying to protect their loved ones from potential clown attacks.
尽管大多数小丑只是在闲逛和恶作剧，但他们还是被怀疑有犯罪倾向。很多人进行了激烈的抗议，希望防止小丑可能对家人朋友造成伤害。
There were even nine clown-related arrests in Alabama. Juveniles who dressed as creepy clowns as a prank during school hours were accused of making "terroristic threats" because they were interrupting classes and scaring students with coulrophobia.
阿拉巴马州甚至有9起和小丑有关的逮捕。青少年在上课时间打扮成可怕小丑的样子来整恶作剧，然后被指控造成“恐怖主义性质的威胁”，因为他们妨碍了教学并且利用同学的小丑恐惧症来吓他们。
In sociology and psychology, this is an example of mass hysteria—a phenomenon in which an illusion is shared by a group of people who identify something as a threat. No matter how illogical this fear may be, it leads to widespread panic.
从社会学和心理学上看，这就是群体性歇斯底里的表现——一群人一致认为某种错觉是威胁。不管这种想法有多不合理，都会使恐慌迅速扩散。
In an article by Erika Engelhaupt in National Geographic, social media is blamed for the mass clown hysteria. With the ease of sharing information instantly and the way viral videos spread, it gives the appearance of a phenomenon happening more frequently than it actually does.
艾瑞卡·英格霍普在《国家地理》上的文章指出，主流媒体应该为对小丑引发的群体性歇斯底里负责。由于信息即时共享和影片快速传播越来越容易，小丑歇斯底里现象发生的频率被无形夸大了。