TELLING someone they鈥檙e blushing really does make their cheeks burn even hotter. But a bit of reassurance can go a long way to removing their chagrin.
Peter Drummond and his colleagues at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, investigated the effect of pointing out someone鈥檚 blushes. The researchers asked 56 female undergraduates to sing 鈥渄isco-diva style鈥� to Gloria Gaynor鈥檚 seventies classic I Will Survive鈥攁n embarrassing enough task after six pints in a karaoke bar, let alone sober in a lab. Then they told half the volunteers that they were blushing (whether or not they were), and the other half that they didn鈥檛. After being told they were blushing, the first group blushed even more, the researchers will report in a future issue of Behaviour Research and Therapy.
Blushing can become a 鈥渟elf-fulfilling prophecy鈥�, says Drummond.
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