From Nathaniel Scharping here:
The words and body language we use during social interactions belong to a set of mutually understood categories. When people deviate from this set of normative behaviors, we sense that something is off. And if something isn’t right, we don’t feel comfortable. More.
That makes sense. Actual human interactions are much more complex than pop psychology.
This is something to keep in mind:
“I think that none of the behaviors described as creepy in our study were actually tied to danger,” McAndrew wrote. … McAndrew also asked participants whether they thought creepy people knew they were, well, creeps. The response was overwhelmingly “no,” indicating that no one thinks people are willingly trying to be creepy. Instead creepiness is a manifestation of something internal, whether that’s merely social ineptitude or something more sinister.
That sounds right too. Apart from a subset of likely prison inmates (who benefit from the publicity), most creeps do not advertise much at all…
See also: Can we talk? Language as the business end of consciousness
Follow UD News at Twitter!