Scream Therapy?
February 25, 2008 5:13 AM Subscribe
Why do women (predominantly) scream? Is it a conscious choice? What goes through their minds when they're screaming? I've noticed that young girls do it frequently while playing in the schoolyard I live near too.
Don't mean to sound like Ted Bundy here. I was just listening to the RFK assassination tape (from a recent MeFi thread) and it was punctuated by some very disturbing female screams. I also once heard the most blood-curdling scream outside my hotel window in the middle of the night and was never so scared in my life. I thought somebody had been murdered and the whole street would be crawling with police and shocked bystanders. It turns out it was probably just a drug addict having a bad trip and a routine event. But it continues to spook and perplex me.
Don't mean to sound like Ted Bundy here. I was just listening to the RFK assassination tape (from a recent MeFi thread) and it was punctuated by some very disturbing female screams. I also once heard the most blood-curdling scream outside my hotel window in the middle of the night and was never so scared in my life. I thought somebody had been murdered and the whole street would be crawling with police and shocked bystanders. It turns out it was probably just a drug addict having a bad trip and a routine event. But it continues to spook and perplex me.
Oh and as for the conscious choice bit, I doubt it - most times (at least in the shocking scenarios you seem to allude to), I think its just instinctual response. Same reason dogs bark, et. al., I suppose - alerting others to the danger, calling for help, hoping to scare off the predator, etc..
posted by allkindsoftime at 5:52 AM on February 25, 2008
posted by allkindsoftime at 5:52 AM on February 25, 2008
My guess is it might be a primal thing. You get panicked in a fight or flee moment and you automatically exhale to give you a bit of extra power. Additional screaming might help scaring that saber toothed tiger away and will certainly attract the attention of your buddies.
Boys scream too but there is much more social pressure on them to keep quiet already at a younger age. When scared shitless we all scream like babies
posted by uandt at 5:55 AM on February 25, 2008
Boys scream too but there is much more social pressure on them to keep quiet already at a younger age. When scared shitless we all scream like babies
posted by uandt at 5:55 AM on February 25, 2008
Most men simply can't scream, I know I've entirely lost the ability-- If I try, a sad croak appears. You simply can't reach those soothing highs any more once your voice drops.
So perhaps it's as simple as that? Women scream because they're able. If you're male, cast your memory back to everytime you've shouted 'AUGH!' or whichever is your go-to noise for alarm-- if you were female, a scream would have been an equally natural response.
posted by Static Vagabond at 6:02 AM on February 25, 2008
So perhaps it's as simple as that? Women scream because they're able. If you're male, cast your memory back to everytime you've shouted 'AUGH!' or whichever is your go-to noise for alarm-- if you were female, a scream would have been an equally natural response.
posted by Static Vagabond at 6:02 AM on February 25, 2008
Growing up on a horse farm, my sisters and I were forbidden to scream, "unless you broke all your arms and legs all at the same time". The reason being that it would spook the horses (my mom is a riding instructor), which could cause them to jump and knock off whatever pour soul happened to be on their back, causing real injury and possibly a lawsuit. So now it REALLY bothers me when I hear a scream because I heard it so seldom growing up, and only if somethin was really, really wrong.
posted by lohmannn at 6:10 AM on February 25, 2008
posted by lohmannn at 6:10 AM on February 25, 2008
Most men simply can't scream, I know I've entirely lost the ability-- If I try, a sad croak appears. You simply can't reach those soothing highs any more once your voice drops.
I've heard men scream. The threshold for "scared shitless enough to scream" is higher for men, thanks to societal pressure, but it doesn't mean that its physically impossible.
What goes through their minds when they're screaming?
It depends on why they're screaming? If you're wondering about those ear-piercingly shrill screams that little girls make while playing, it's just that the world is THAT EXCITING and also, look, my voice goes all high!
posted by desuetude at 6:13 AM on February 25, 2008 [4 favorites]
I've heard men scream. The threshold for "scared shitless enough to scream" is higher for men, thanks to societal pressure, but it doesn't mean that its physically impossible.
What goes through their minds when they're screaming?
It depends on why they're screaming? If you're wondering about those ear-piercingly shrill screams that little girls make while playing, it's just that the world is THAT EXCITING and also, look, my voice goes all high!
posted by desuetude at 6:13 AM on February 25, 2008 [4 favorites]
In the tape you are referring to, it may be that men are indeed screaming but since the sound is lower, it does not carry as well as a the higher pitch of a woman's scream. Next time you go to a theme park you can hear something similar at a really big roller coaster. The men are screaming but you can hear the women's screams better/louder because they carry further.
posted by GlowWyrm at 6:24 AM on February 25, 2008
posted by GlowWyrm at 6:24 AM on February 25, 2008
It's because that's what they've grown up seeing in movies and on TV.
posted by hermitosis at 6:37 AM on February 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by hermitosis at 6:37 AM on February 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
I've read enough soldiers' oral histories to know that men can and do scream.
The behavior is socialized. I spent some time teaching kindergarten, an age at which boys whoop and scream and laugh in really high voices. In the early grades this starts to die out - by 3rd grade the gender pressure has been strong enough that most of this dies out. I can remember seeing boys overtly tell each other "you laugh like a girl," effectively stomping those vocalizations out.
Apart from women's voices being pitched a bit higher on average, the suppression of the vocalization is fear is probably just a lot greater in men, and becomes habitual over time.
The girls on the schoolyard are doing something I'd call 'squealing,' and it's another (and very annoying) gendered behavior. Once it takes hold of a population it's incredibly hard to eradicate. You can have a class of girls in which no one ever squeals, and then someone's older sister brings the behavior home, the younger girls learn it, and the squealing thing begins. The younger girls are identifying with the older girls and picking it up.
posted by Miko at 6:50 AM on February 25, 2008 [3 favorites]
The behavior is socialized. I spent some time teaching kindergarten, an age at which boys whoop and scream and laugh in really high voices. In the early grades this starts to die out - by 3rd grade the gender pressure has been strong enough that most of this dies out. I can remember seeing boys overtly tell each other "you laugh like a girl," effectively stomping those vocalizations out.
Apart from women's voices being pitched a bit higher on average, the suppression of the vocalization is fear is probably just a lot greater in men, and becomes habitual over time.
The girls on the schoolyard are doing something I'd call 'squealing,' and it's another (and very annoying) gendered behavior. Once it takes hold of a population it's incredibly hard to eradicate. You can have a class of girls in which no one ever squeals, and then someone's older sister brings the behavior home, the younger girls learn it, and the squealing thing begins. The younger girls are identifying with the older girls and picking it up.
posted by Miko at 6:50 AM on February 25, 2008 [3 favorites]
Evolutionary I imagine. Considering men are stronger than women it served women well to make a loud enough noise to draw in the men from their tribe/group/whatever to fend off a attacker. The loud piercing scream is also evident in infants. That scream just drives us wild, makes it hard for us to ignore them, and makes it more likely a parent will tend to him or her thus increasing its chances of survival.
The male scream probably didnt develop along those lines because men who cant scream well can still fight. Toss in some traditional societal pressure for good measure too.
Somewhere out there there's probably a great book on the evolutionary origin of bioacoustics, but I've never seen it.
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:50 AM on February 25, 2008
The male scream probably didnt develop along those lines because men who cant scream well can still fight. Toss in some traditional societal pressure for good measure too.
Somewhere out there there's probably a great book on the evolutionary origin of bioacoustics, but I've never seen it.
posted by damn dirty ape at 6:50 AM on February 25, 2008
I think it's at least partially cultural (but only based on anecdotal evidence of the first order). I can remember being four years old and all of the other little girls having a contest to see who could scream the loudest/most piercingly. I thought it was dumb and unpleasant and didn't want to join in, but when they taunted me enough I gave it a go. I could only manage a sort of spirited "aaaa!" (like you do if you think you're going to knock over a glass full of something), and was unanimously pronounced the loser of the screaming contest.
My interpretation of this fascinating story is that it's a slightly arbitrary gender norm, which in my experience work like:
Parent impresses gender norm on own kid --> own kid bands together with all other kids in the same age group to enforce against and/or induct stragglers.
So I think this is something kids get the idea is a female skill and then they propagate it to each other.
On the other hand, my spouse used to teach women's self defense and she found it to be useful for the women to consider developing a crazy-ass scream as a psyche-out mechanism against attackers. But, we aren't talking horror movie heroine shrieking here, we're talking about trying to come up with an ear-bleeding noise of doom, a sonic weapon if you will. I've heard it; it's fucking disturbing. So maybe allkindsoftime is on the right track.
posted by Your Time Machine Sucks at 6:57 AM on February 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
My interpretation of this fascinating story is that it's a slightly arbitrary gender norm, which in my experience work like:
Parent impresses gender norm on own kid --> own kid bands together with all other kids in the same age group to enforce against and/or induct stragglers.
So I think this is something kids get the idea is a female skill and then they propagate it to each other.
On the other hand, my spouse used to teach women's self defense and she found it to be useful for the women to consider developing a crazy-ass scream as a psyche-out mechanism against attackers. But, we aren't talking horror movie heroine shrieking here, we're talking about trying to come up with an ear-bleeding noise of doom, a sonic weapon if you will. I've heard it; it's fucking disturbing. So maybe allkindsoftime is on the right track.
posted by Your Time Machine Sucks at 6:57 AM on February 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
it's just that the world is THAT EXCITING and also, look, my voice goes all high!
I think this is definitely the case for small children, and at that point it's nongendered. My grandson (almost four) will emit piercing shrieks from time to time for what is obviously the quoted reason.
posted by languagehat at 7:02 AM on February 25, 2008
I think this is definitely the case for small children, and at that point it's nongendered. My grandson (almost four) will emit piercing shrieks from time to time for what is obviously the quoted reason.
posted by languagehat at 7:02 AM on February 25, 2008
There are women who can't scream. Me, for example. I lost my scream at about age 12 and have the sad little croak mentioned above. I sounded ridiculous at Six Flags. If it's an evolutionary thing, it's certainly a vestigial trait in me.
posted by sian at 7:04 AM on February 25, 2008
posted by sian at 7:04 AM on February 25, 2008
I"m a guy, and I scream. Not nearly as high-pitched as a woman (lower still after a few years of smoking), but if you scare the hell out of me, I *will* bellow.
I used to work a third-first shift swing, where I got into the (seemingly abandoned) industrial park about 5am. In the dead of winter, when it's spooky dark that time of the morning, I got out of my car one day and the friendly neighborhood dog (from the farmer's field, behind the industrial park) bounded up and wanted to play. Now, all I saw in the inky blackness was something even *more* black, and hot shit, did I yell. Scared the hell out of the poor pup, too.
I think yelling/screaming in this way is a kind of octopus-ink-cloud reaction. The noise is so loud and unexpected that it gives the yell-eea bit of time to escape.
posted by notsnot at 7:09 AM on February 25, 2008
I used to work a third-first shift swing, where I got into the (seemingly abandoned) industrial park about 5am. In the dead of winter, when it's spooky dark that time of the morning, I got out of my car one day and the friendly neighborhood dog (from the farmer's field, behind the industrial park) bounded up and wanted to play. Now, all I saw in the inky blackness was something even *more* black, and hot shit, did I yell. Scared the hell out of the poor pup, too.
I think yelling/screaming in this way is a kind of octopus-ink-cloud reaction. The noise is so loud and unexpected that it gives the yell-eea bit of time to escape.
posted by notsnot at 7:09 AM on February 25, 2008
I agree that it's caused by evolution and suppressed by socialization. Good socialization is "don't scream like that unless you mean it, because it's a Big Deal." Bad socialization is letting it go, and then you get someone who shrieks at every step.
I believe that male "screaming" turns into more of a bark or bellow after puberty. Evolutionarily, it makes sense that terrified women need to summon the men to repel the attacker while the women herd the children away, and that men would need to scare away the threat with a mean sounding growl.
(I'm not saying pre-historic gender roles should restrict current society. But we should be aware of our ancient instincts. I'm also not saying that there weren't gender benders back then. I don't doubt for a moment that there were folks who were more comfortable in the role of the opposite gender, and there's nothing wrong with that. If one believes in evolution and natural selection, it would seem that there is a place in society for people with that preference because if there wasn't, it would have been natural-selectioned out of the gene pool.)
posted by gjc at 7:16 AM on February 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
I believe that male "screaming" turns into more of a bark or bellow after puberty. Evolutionarily, it makes sense that terrified women need to summon the men to repel the attacker while the women herd the children away, and that men would need to scare away the threat with a mean sounding growl.
(I'm not saying pre-historic gender roles should restrict current society. But we should be aware of our ancient instincts. I'm also not saying that there weren't gender benders back then. I don't doubt for a moment that there were folks who were more comfortable in the role of the opposite gender, and there's nothing wrong with that. If one believes in evolution and natural selection, it would seem that there is a place in society for people with that preference because if there wasn't, it would have been natural-selectioned out of the gene pool.)
posted by gjc at 7:16 AM on February 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
I think it's socialized. If I had to guess I'd say it's because women are generally taught that it's okay to react vocally to stimuli. As a result women are more likely to cry openly, squeal, talk nonsense at babies and kitties, raise our voices in that annoying "stop it!" whine when someone's teasing us, or sing along at the top of our lungs when there's a Bon Jovi song on the jukebox, even though we know we have terrible voices.
In addition to being a potential self-defense mechanism, strong vocal reactions (though of a different kind) are generally regarded as hot in bed. Couldn't tell you if being a screamer in bed correlates to being a screamer out of bed, but I suspect it might be the case.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:25 AM on February 25, 2008
In addition to being a potential self-defense mechanism, strong vocal reactions (though of a different kind) are generally regarded as hot in bed. Couldn't tell you if being a screamer in bed correlates to being a screamer out of bed, but I suspect it might be the case.
posted by Metroid Baby at 7:25 AM on February 25, 2008
I experienced the bellow mentioned above when walking down a long, pitch dark, overgrown path one night. Some animal or something made a huge crashing sound in the trees inches from my head when up until that moment all I'd been able to hear was the sound of my footsteps and my breath. As soon as it happened I made this unholy noise entirely involuntarily, scaring the living crap out of anything within earshot including me. It felt incredibly primal and took me a while (in minutes) to come back from. Not something you can decide to do consciously at all.
posted by merocet at 7:42 AM on February 25, 2008
posted by merocet at 7:42 AM on February 25, 2008
A slightly different take on some upthread comments: I'd say that instead of "to scream or not to scream" at a given moment is superseded by an overarching 'screamer' vs. 'non-screamer' approach. This probably stems from the childhood, formative-experience type situations, but once that's ingrained, it's pretty well ingrained. I'm female, and I literally cannot remember the last time I screamed (believe it or not, I was actually thinking about this very thing a couple of weeks ago), am generally low-key in all my vocal responses, and find screamers inherently irritating, as I can't see much purpose or point to it.
I know several other people who tend to fall along similar lines, in that if they're a vocally demonstrative person they tend more toward screaming/yelling, or tend to get louder/more shrill in the course of a conversation; those who are more on the quiet side rarely make vocal expressions to that extent, even when badly frightened or really angry.
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 7:48 AM on February 25, 2008
I know several other people who tend to fall along similar lines, in that if they're a vocally demonstrative person they tend more toward screaming/yelling, or tend to get louder/more shrill in the course of a conversation; those who are more on the quiet side rarely make vocal expressions to that extent, even when badly frightened or really angry.
posted by the luke parker fiasco at 7:48 AM on February 25, 2008
I'm male. I got hit from behind once, sitting at a stoplight in my car, many years ago, and heard someone screaming -- I realized a few seconds later that it was me, in pure shock from being slammed into. (Accidents suck.)
After that experience, I have no doubt whatsoever that nearly anyone will scream if given a sufficiently powerful stimulus. I don't startle easily, and I don't think I've ever consciously screamed in my adult life, but I sure as hell did when I got hit.
posted by Malor at 7:51 AM on February 25, 2008
After that experience, I have no doubt whatsoever that nearly anyone will scream if given a sufficiently powerful stimulus. I don't startle easily, and I don't think I've ever consciously screamed in my adult life, but I sure as hell did when I got hit.
posted by Malor at 7:51 AM on February 25, 2008
My girlfriend can't scream. If she ever were trapped under a landslide and had to scream for help she would be unable to. I (male) also can't scream, but then I can't sing either. If I had to scream I would produce Your Time Machine's "aaahhhh" and it would sound like I was at the dentist. That humans can scream and that women generally have higher voices are obviously biological facts, but having a scream in your repertoire of responses to things is culturally conditioned. People who are more introverted or less dramatic don't maintain screaming in their repertoire. I personally consider screaming a character flaw. None of my previous girlfriends have ever screamed, except maybe the ditz I was dating when I was 17, and I would consider screaming grounds for breaking up, honestly, unless we were in trench warfare and she'd just seen someone get their eyeballs shot out -- then I might make an exception.
Also, it might be a more American phenomenon -- I've lived in Europe for the past 5.5 years and I've never seen a woman older than 16 scream as far as I can remember. People here conduct themselves with more dignity, generally.
posted by creasy boy at 7:51 AM on February 25, 2008
Also, it might be a more American phenomenon -- I've lived in Europe for the past 5.5 years and I've never seen a woman older than 16 scream as far as I can remember. People here conduct themselves with more dignity, generally.
posted by creasy boy at 7:51 AM on February 25, 2008
I was just thinking about this over the weekend while watching a movie in which a woman screamed. It made me wonder if the screaming woman was invented for dramatic effect in movies. To this woman, the reflex would be a sharp intake of air (a gasp) rather than letting out a blood curdling scream. That involves an extra step: filling the lungs with air. Too much work when I'm scared sh*tless.
The time when screaming *is* useful is when trying to draw attention, of course. I was in that situation once. After realizing I was losing the struggle I tried to scream to alert people. But it certainly wasn't my reflex to the scary situation.
posted by iguanapolitico at 8:23 AM on February 25, 2008
The time when screaming *is* useful is when trying to draw attention, of course. I was in that situation once. After realizing I was losing the struggle I tried to scream to alert people. But it certainly wasn't my reflex to the scary situation.
posted by iguanapolitico at 8:23 AM on February 25, 2008
Female and can't for the life of me scream. The closest I can get is a very crazed "GAH!" Or yelling at a football game. Probably socialization -- I never was one of those "OMG it's a cicada!" squealers, either. The one time I had to decide whether to scream or not, I used a police whistle instead.
posted by lleachie at 8:52 AM on February 25, 2008
posted by lleachie at 8:52 AM on February 25, 2008
I can't scream. (I'm a girl) I've always wanted to, but I can never muster it up. There would be nothing in the world that I think could actually make me scream, and I've felt some terrible things and been scared sh*tless before. I envy all those girls with fantastic screams. The best I can muster is a gasp or even a forced "Oh my god!"
posted by CAnneDC at 8:55 AM on February 25, 2008
posted by CAnneDC at 8:55 AM on February 25, 2008
Men can scream just fine, although at a lower tone. You usually will only see this when a man is startled. Mostly this higher threshold is due to social conditioning. Screaming, crying behaviors are frowned upon. I imagine you'll see a lot more gay men scream where being effeminate is considered more normal within that social group.
posted by jeblis at 9:06 AM on February 25, 2008
posted by jeblis at 9:06 AM on February 25, 2008
My two-year-old son screams, shrieks, and squeals - absurdly loudly.
When I was 10, my mom walked into the laundry room with a basket of clothes and a minute later she screamed for what seemed like 30 seconds. It was primal, loud, and horrific.
My mind raced to come up with an explanation as I ran toward the room: she found my brother dead in the laundry room? No, he's outside. Oh my god, she found the cat dead in the dryer. But how would he have gotten there?
When I reached her, she was still screaming. "WHAT?" I asked. "ITS . . A . . MOUSE!!" she screamed. A mouse was in the washing machine when she opened it.
Her reaction to it sort of disgusted me. I couldn't work up any sympathy. I couldn't fathom how something so meh could generate a scream so dramatic and emotional that it made me think a family member was dead.
posted by peep at 9:12 AM on February 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
When I was 10, my mom walked into the laundry room with a basket of clothes and a minute later she screamed for what seemed like 30 seconds. It was primal, loud, and horrific.
My mind raced to come up with an explanation as I ran toward the room: she found my brother dead in the laundry room? No, he's outside. Oh my god, she found the cat dead in the dryer. But how would he have gotten there?
When I reached her, she was still screaming. "WHAT?" I asked. "ITS . . A . . MOUSE!!" she screamed. A mouse was in the washing machine when she opened it.
Her reaction to it sort of disgusted me. I couldn't work up any sympathy. I couldn't fathom how something so meh could generate a scream so dramatic and emotional that it made me think a family member was dead.
posted by peep at 9:12 AM on February 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
A simple and economical evolutionary explanation for females screaming more than males-- and perhaps differently-- would be that it helps push the baby out.
posted by jamjam at 9:17 AM on February 25, 2008
posted by jamjam at 9:17 AM on February 25, 2008
What goes through their minds when they're screaming? ... I was just listening to the RFK assassination tape
I think in that case it would probably be something like "RFK's been shot!". What goes through someone's mind when screaming is going to be different in each individual case, this is like asking what goes through someone's mind when they are grunting or adjusting themselves.
posted by yohko at 10:17 AM on February 25, 2008
I think in that case it would probably be something like "RFK's been shot!". What goes through someone's mind when screaming is going to be different in each individual case, this is like asking what goes through someone's mind when they are grunting or adjusting themselves.
posted by yohko at 10:17 AM on February 25, 2008
A simple and economical evolutionary explanation for females screaming more than males-- and perhaps differently-- would be that it helps push the baby out.
I disagree - grunting or moaning, yes, because those involve bearing down on the diaphragm and letting very little air out. But screaming is usually a lungful of air let out rapidly - you'd lose the ability to push while screaming.
posted by Miko at 10:20 AM on February 25, 2008
I disagree - grunting or moaning, yes, because those involve bearing down on the diaphragm and letting very little air out. But screaming is usually a lungful of air let out rapidly - you'd lose the ability to push while screaming.
posted by Miko at 10:20 AM on February 25, 2008
Anecdotal points from a female who is generally pretty quiet. I can think of only two times I've screamed, and both were involuntary.
1) Bungee jumping.
About a second into the freefall, I realized that the high-pitched noise was me. I had every intention of not screaming, but it just happened, involuntarily. I was full of adrenaline and was scared but excited.
2) Car accident.
Last week I was a passenger in two car accidents in one day. I was calm through the first one. Second one came out of nowhere (we were rear-ended by a driver who was beyond drunk) and I was already tense from, well, having already been through an accident that day. It was scary as hell, and I made this weird drawn-out noise that wasn't quite a yell and wasn't really a moan. I've never heard anything like it, and frankly I hope never to hear it again. I sort of knew it was me making the noise, but it was primal, involuntary, pre-conscious. And very disturbing.
posted by bassjump at 10:24 AM on February 25, 2008
1) Bungee jumping.
About a second into the freefall, I realized that the high-pitched noise was me. I had every intention of not screaming, but it just happened, involuntarily. I was full of adrenaline and was scared but excited.
2) Car accident.
Last week I was a passenger in two car accidents in one day. I was calm through the first one. Second one came out of nowhere (we were rear-ended by a driver who was beyond drunk) and I was already tense from, well, having already been through an accident that day. It was scary as hell, and I made this weird drawn-out noise that wasn't quite a yell and wasn't really a moan. I've never heard anything like it, and frankly I hope never to hear it again. I sort of knew it was me making the noise, but it was primal, involuntary, pre-conscious. And very disturbing.
posted by bassjump at 10:24 AM on February 25, 2008
The bungee jumping account interests me because there is a very good reason for screaming when you are falling: if you happen to be holding your breath when you hit after a fall, you are much more likely to pop your lungs.
posted by jamjam at 10:33 AM on February 25, 2008
posted by jamjam at 10:33 AM on February 25, 2008
I never differentiated screaming from yelling. Even after reading this thread, I'm not sure what the difference is. Is it merely pitch? Lack of words?
posted by herbaliser at 10:48 AM on February 25, 2008
posted by herbaliser at 10:48 AM on February 25, 2008
I'm sure it depends on the person and on the situation. I DON'T believe it's a gender-specific biological instinct.
One time I rolled up a guy's finger in the window of my car he let out a good shriek almost concurrently. Immediately after, he was like, "I can't believe I just screamed like that."
I've also heard women give the stereotypical scream after pausing for an unnatural length of time, which made me suspect it was more of an identity thing than a reflex. You know, sort of like:
[surprising event]
".... (ohwaitimachick) AAAAHHHH!"
I bet scream delay, in man or woman, would be an interesting measure of something in a psychological study. As for what it would measure, I haven't the foggiest.
posted by Laugh_track at 10:55 AM on February 25, 2008
One time I rolled up a guy's finger in the window of my car he let out a good shriek almost concurrently. Immediately after, he was like, "I can't believe I just screamed like that."
I've also heard women give the stereotypical scream after pausing for an unnatural length of time, which made me suspect it was more of an identity thing than a reflex. You know, sort of like:
[surprising event]
".... (ohwaitimachick) AAAAHHHH!"
I bet scream delay, in man or woman, would be an interesting measure of something in a psychological study. As for what it would measure, I haven't the foggiest.
posted by Laugh_track at 10:55 AM on February 25, 2008
If I were to try to scream, right this minute, I couldn't do it. But, oh yeah, I'm a screamer.
It's definitely an unconscious act on my part, something I do when I am carried away by emotion, good or bad. I didn't shriek much as a child (and honestly, I find the high-pitched shriek of young girls annoying).
But I just can't help crying out if I'm scared. Or if I'm excited and elated and...umm...never mind...*blush*
posted by misha at 11:04 AM on February 25, 2008
It's definitely an unconscious act on my part, something I do when I am carried away by emotion, good or bad. I didn't shriek much as a child (and honestly, I find the high-pitched shriek of young girls annoying).
But I just can't help crying out if I'm scared. Or if I'm excited and elated and...umm...never mind...*blush*
posted by misha at 11:04 AM on February 25, 2008
Growing up on a horse farm, my sisters and I were forbidden to scream, "unless you broke all your arms and legs all at the same time".
Heh. I had forgotten about this little rule. It's why I hardly ever use the word "whoa" in conversation either. (Though I do type it.) I've screamed once in real life: I was sitting at the beach with a friend, drinking Behrenjaeger for hours in the dark with the waves crashing below us. At one point I thought he had wandered off to go pee or something. Turning away from the crashing waves, there was suddenly a dark, silent figure at my elbow. I screamed. My friend said, "What the fuck?" I was embarrassed.
The times I've been badly hurt I holler and curse. There seems to be some sort of extra shock that goes along with screaming.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:43 AM on February 25, 2008
Heh. I had forgotten about this little rule. It's why I hardly ever use the word "whoa" in conversation either. (Though I do type it.) I've screamed once in real life: I was sitting at the beach with a friend, drinking Behrenjaeger for hours in the dark with the waves crashing below us. At one point I thought he had wandered off to go pee or something. Turning away from the crashing waves, there was suddenly a dark, silent figure at my elbow. I screamed. My friend said, "What the fuck?" I was embarrassed.
The times I've been badly hurt I holler and curse. There seems to be some sort of extra shock that goes along with screaming.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:43 AM on February 25, 2008
I think it's mostly socialization. I grew up a fervent tomboy, and thus rarely scream. I can scream high, though.
In contrast, a male friend of mine is pretty jumpy and will yelp immediately if startled. It's not a high-pitched scream, more like an "AHHH!", but I think that's just because his vocal chords can't get high enough for a girly scream. If you've ever heard little boys playing, you know they can definitely scream.
posted by Anonymous at 12:18 PM on February 25, 2008
In contrast, a male friend of mine is pretty jumpy and will yelp immediately if startled. It's not a high-pitched scream, more like an "AHHH!", but I think that's just because his vocal chords can't get high enough for a girly scream. If you've ever heard little boys playing, you know they can definitely scream.
posted by Anonymous at 12:18 PM on February 25, 2008
God, I wish screaming were voluntary. I'm not a loud person--I can barely even yell consciously, and have wished many times I could control screaming about stupid stuff vs screaming to draw attention to a real threat.
What was going through my head all the times I can remember screaming:
- First rollercoaster: took a second to realize that sound was coming from me. "Aaaah I'm gonna die" (this was also the last rollercoaster).
- Sitting around at college with two or three female friends when one glanced over at the window and saw two male faces on our dark balcony. She screamed and then we all screamed in response. I was the first to collect my wits and realize it was just the guys from down the hall, but man--that was a powerful collective reaction. Absolutely felt like an ingrained female/social response to a physical sexual threat.
- Rage / how DARE you: Once fighting with my mother, when I misunderstood and thought she suggested my father loved my stepmother more than my sister & me. And another time fighting with someone I cared a lot about, when I exploded with a scream signifying "AAAAUugggh how can you doubt that after everything we've been through aren't you ever going to get it AAAAHHHH." I raise my voice so rarely that that ended the fights pretty quickly both times, I'll say that.
- Dismantling a door, when I got my knuckles trapped in the hinge. Hurt like a motherfucker. The screaming was very disembodied--part of my brain was very calm, knowing my partner was doing everything he could to get my hand free without hurting me more, but I could hear as if very far away another part of me screeching at him "STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT."
- First time snowmobiling when my friend decided to show me what the machine could do. I was trying to say "hey friend, could you slow down a little til I get more used to this?" but all that came out was a muffled "eeeeee! eeeeeeeee!" Embarrassing.
So there are some data points.
* female here
posted by hippugeek at 1:23 PM on February 25, 2008
What was going through my head all the times I can remember screaming:
- First rollercoaster: took a second to realize that sound was coming from me. "Aaaah I'm gonna die" (this was also the last rollercoaster).
- Sitting around at college with two or three female friends when one glanced over at the window and saw two male faces on our dark balcony. She screamed and then we all screamed in response. I was the first to collect my wits and realize it was just the guys from down the hall, but man--that was a powerful collective reaction. Absolutely felt like an ingrained female/social response to a physical sexual threat.
- Rage / how DARE you: Once fighting with my mother, when I misunderstood and thought she suggested my father loved my stepmother more than my sister & me. And another time fighting with someone I cared a lot about, when I exploded with a scream signifying "AAAAUugggh how can you doubt that after everything we've been through aren't you ever going to get it AAAAHHHH." I raise my voice so rarely that that ended the fights pretty quickly both times, I'll say that.
- Dismantling a door, when I got my knuckles trapped in the hinge. Hurt like a motherfucker. The screaming was very disembodied--part of my brain was very calm, knowing my partner was doing everything he could to get my hand free without hurting me more, but I could hear as if very far away another part of me screeching at him "STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT."
- First time snowmobiling when my friend decided to show me what the machine could do. I was trying to say "hey friend, could you slow down a little til I get more used to this?" but all that came out was a muffled "eeeeee! eeeeeeeee!" Embarrassing.
So there are some data points.
* female here
posted by hippugeek at 1:23 PM on February 25, 2008
I don't scream, thought I couldn't. Taught my daughter not to shriek in play, she now detests it too.
So one night, at age 30, after sleeping for several weeks in a bad part of town, I was finally sleeping in my own bed when my husband disturbed me coming to bed. I scared the shit out of both of us by screaming (who knew I could? I'd never practiced.) The silliest thing was he'd been in bed with me for hours, had just left for a quick toilet stop, so survival instincts, you suck .
Anyway, so we've identified a least two different behaviours that are not the same:
shrieking in play: cultural and (shudder) voluntary
screaming: instinctual and involuntary
If you've never screamed from fear, perhaps you've just never been scared enough.
posted by b33j at 2:00 PM on February 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
So one night, at age 30, after sleeping for several weeks in a bad part of town, I was finally sleeping in my own bed when my husband disturbed me coming to bed. I scared the shit out of both of us by screaming (who knew I could? I'd never practiced.) The silliest thing was he'd been in bed with me for hours, had just left for a quick toilet stop, so survival instincts, you suck .
Anyway, so we've identified a least two different behaviours that are not the same:
shrieking in play: cultural and (shudder) voluntary
screaming: instinctual and involuntary
If you've never screamed from fear, perhaps you've just never been scared enough.
posted by b33j at 2:00 PM on February 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
I always figured a lot of it was a social queue meaning `help me!' or at least alerting others to a threat.
I stayed in Korea for a week once. One night as I was watching the world from my high vantage point in a hotel, I saw a girl walking alone, confronted by a man in an urban park. From where I was there was very little I could do in any short order.
She stopped, he made a move for her and she screamed, long and loud and you could tell she was terrified.
A group of guys standing down the road outside a bar looked at each other then took off towards the park. From what I could make out (it was dark) the guy had split before the others arrived.
posted by tomble at 3:40 PM on February 25, 2008
I stayed in Korea for a week once. One night as I was watching the world from my high vantage point in a hotel, I saw a girl walking alone, confronted by a man in an urban park. From where I was there was very little I could do in any short order.
She stopped, he made a move for her and she screamed, long and loud and you could tell she was terrified.
A group of guys standing down the road outside a bar looked at each other then took off towards the park. From what I could make out (it was dark) the guy had split before the others arrived.
posted by tomble at 3:40 PM on February 25, 2008
I think it's definitely partly a learned behavior, at least in the frequency of using the scream to attract attention. I was kind of a tomboy too, so screaming was never really in my repertoire, and I am still pretty quiet generally.
These days I don't really scream, even on roller coasters I mostly laugh, unless I'm extremely startled. Roaches bother me on many levels, so I generally give a high pitched "gah!" when I see one suddenly, but my husband does that too.
The two times I can remember ever really screaming as an adult was when my husband played a trick on me in the middle of the night (grabbing at my legs from a dark closet, when I screamed so loudly that I scared him too) and doing the Shotover canyon swing in New Zealand.
posted by gemmy at 4:18 PM on February 25, 2008
These days I don't really scream, even on roller coasters I mostly laugh, unless I'm extremely startled. Roaches bother me on many levels, so I generally give a high pitched "gah!" when I see one suddenly, but my husband does that too.
The two times I can remember ever really screaming as an adult was when my husband played a trick on me in the middle of the night (grabbing at my legs from a dark closet, when I screamed so loudly that I scared him too) and doing the Shotover canyon swing in New Zealand.
posted by gemmy at 4:18 PM on February 25, 2008
Random data point: I am not much of a screamer. Once I was canoe camping and happened to be barefoot, and stepped onto what appeared to be a charcoal black log but which was actually a smoldering burning log. I burned the entire bottom of my foot and you bet it hurt;m it overwhelmed me and I couldn't even think about running for help or anything. So I turned to the people nearest me and calmly but intensely said "My foot is burning. I'm burning. I burned my foot." They stared stupidly at me and it seemed an eternity passed before they got me moving toward water and first aid.
When I was talking to the EMT I mentioned how frustrating it was to be standing there with an painfully burning foot and not have anyone click that anything was really wrong. She said "Next time, don't talk - scream."
The behavior can be utilitarian.
posted by Miko at 7:14 PM on February 25, 2008
When I was talking to the EMT I mentioned how frustrating it was to be standing there with an painfully burning foot and not have anyone click that anything was really wrong. She said "Next time, don't talk - scream."
The behavior can be utilitarian.
posted by Miko at 7:14 PM on February 25, 2008
Mm. Data point.. I'm female, not a screamer. I can't even yell - well, I probably could, but I rarely feel angry enough to bother with raising my voice, and if I'm in a situation where I'd need to raise my voice to be heard, I'm much more likely to shut down and wait for the other person to realize I'm not going to speak until they stop fucking interrupting. I've been told my voice is very calm and almost monotonous - probably not a good thing.
Anyway. Two events. The last time I can remember actually screaming out of fright was when I was 8, and I had just realized that the brown thing I stepped on in our completely leaf-strewn garden was squishy. A slug, not a leaf. Even then it was a quick, high pitched and moderately loud "Ah!" and a quick jump backwards, not really a scream.
I went inner-tube sliding with a few female friends a few years ago who screamed incessantly down all the slopes, and they couldn't understand why I wasn't screaming. All teenagers, by the way. On the last run of the day, and on one of the bigger slopes, four of us held onto each other's tubes to make up a quad, and one of the girls made me promise to scream. I tried, I really did, but I only managed to make a sound about halfway down the slope and even then it was more of a yell - not really high pitched, just "AHHH" very loudly blended into the rest of the squeals.
I tend to gasp and jump more when I'm scared, and in scary situations I've actually noticed that I clam down unconsciously and try not to make a sound. I guess to divert the attention of whatever I'm scared of away from me. I certainly don't make a sound when I'm watching horror movies, and those things terrify me like nothing else.
posted by Phire at 11:14 PM on February 25, 2008
Anyway. Two events. The last time I can remember actually screaming out of fright was when I was 8, and I had just realized that the brown thing I stepped on in our completely leaf-strewn garden was squishy. A slug, not a leaf. Even then it was a quick, high pitched and moderately loud "Ah!" and a quick jump backwards, not really a scream.
I went inner-tube sliding with a few female friends a few years ago who screamed incessantly down all the slopes, and they couldn't understand why I wasn't screaming. All teenagers, by the way. On the last run of the day, and on one of the bigger slopes, four of us held onto each other's tubes to make up a quad, and one of the girls made me promise to scream. I tried, I really did, but I only managed to make a sound about halfway down the slope and even then it was more of a yell - not really high pitched, just "AHHH" very loudly blended into the rest of the squeals.
I tend to gasp and jump more when I'm scared, and in scary situations I've actually noticed that I clam down unconsciously and try not to make a sound. I guess to divert the attention of whatever I'm scared of away from me. I certainly don't make a sound when I'm watching horror movies, and those things terrify me like nothing else.
posted by Phire at 11:14 PM on February 25, 2008
Well if you ask me I think my daughter just likes to occasionally hear herself scream a word. As a 1 year old she is just learning ways to get attention =) I would also imagine the same effect is had on the playground, church, grocery store, five minutes into making love to my wife, just when you think she is drifting off to sleep, just when I am hitting coma mode myself, she loves to scream from inside cars, she loves to scare people close and far, while eating green eggs and ham, why I bet she even likes to scream into cans.....
Sorry it's way early,
posted by Mardigan at 5:51 AM on February 26, 2008
Sorry it's way early,
posted by Mardigan at 5:51 AM on February 26, 2008
What Mardigan said, only substitute my two-year-old male neighbor.
posted by Miko at 7:00 AM on February 26, 2008
posted by Miko at 7:00 AM on February 26, 2008
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Seriously? I think of it as a defense mechanism type thing. As the physically weaker sex (generally smaller, not as strong / fast) it seems natural that they'd develop different defenses then men, who have developed altogether different defenses.
posted by allkindsoftime at 5:49 AM on February 25, 2008 [1 favorite]