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We all find certain people creepy, even when it might be completely unjustified (and sometimes when it is):

A paper in the journal New Ideas in Psychology has set out to explore what the triggering behaviours and factors are that makes us react to someone as "creepy", including things like standing too closely and smiling inappropriately.

The authors say that feeling creeped out is when we react to someone we perceive might be a threat, but we're not sure. It's the ambiguity and the feeling we can't predict their behaviour that puts us on edge, they found.

The researchers surveyed 1,341 people on 44 different verbal and nonverbal behaviour patterns, occupations, hobbies and appearance characteristics to find that some things were just rated consistently creepy.

The creepiest people were overwhelmingly found to be men, and the creepiest professions were clown, taxidermist, sex shop owner and funeral director. Photography also ranked highly as a creepy hobby.

You might not think these findings apply to you - but the paper also found that most people believed creepy people don't even realise that's how they're perceived.

So, to be sure, why not take our test?

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