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Why Do We Get Goosebumps? · So That's Why

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  Jen: Welcome to the So That's Why podcast, where we unpack the
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  science behind everyday questions.
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  I'm Jen.
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  Chris: I'm Chris.
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  Jamie: And I'm Jamie.
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  Jen: Okay.
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  So here's something to introduce today's topic.
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  You step into a cold shower, or you get a fright walking into a dark room, or
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  you sit in the car and, while a song's playing, and it hits that one big
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  moment, and your body does the exact same thing in all three of those situations.
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  Tiny bumps come up on your arms, the hairs stand on end.
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  Three completely unrelated situations, one identical reaction.
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  So today we are talking about why do we get goosebumps?
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  Jamie: I do love that a freezing shower and the intro to your
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  favorite song get filed by your body under the exact same heading.
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  One of those is horrible, one is lovely, and your arms
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  genuinely cannot tell them apart.
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  Chris: And an, an interesting and maybe surprising bit from the research is that
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  the shivery feeling we get and a physical goosebump don't always go together.
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  You can have one without the other.
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  So I don't know about you, people used to say when they'd shiver that
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  someone's walked over their grave.
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  Did… I don't…
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  Do people still say that?
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  Is that still a saying?
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  No.
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  Jen: It is, yeah.
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  My parents do.
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  I, I don't know where that came from either.
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  Yeah.
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  But yeah, it is definitely a thing that's said.
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  There you go.
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  Okay.
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  So we'll get into the shiver versus the goosebumps in a bit because, well,
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  for you and I, Chris, it's interesting.
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  But some, some others might not find it that interesting, but hey.
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  But we'll start with how common this is, 'cause I suspect people
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  possibly assume goosebumps are more rare and just a more dramatic thing.
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  Chris: They, they do, I think you're right, but they're actually
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  m- far more routine than that.
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  So surveys suggest that about a third of adults have at least one notable,
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  let's call it a goosebump episode-
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  every single week, with a lot of people reporting goosebumps every day.
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  Jamie: So for a chunk of people, this is a daily event.
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  I'd assumed it was a less frequent thing than that, more like a standing
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  at a wedding sort of a thing- Mm … not a Tuesday standing in
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  the supermarket queue kind of thing.
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  Jen: Yeah.
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  No.
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  But, you know, on average, people get around six really significant
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  goosebump moments a year, like the proper full body ones.
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  But here's the bit I liked.
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  Roughly 95% of those big moments happen in real life, not from films or telly.
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  Jamie: So not a, not a great statistic for the entire entertainment industry.
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  All that effort, and the thing most likely to raise your hair, hairs on your
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  arms is just your own life happening.
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  Jen: Yeah.
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  Chris: So it's a decent argument against a box set, which, uh,
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  I know Matt would absolutely hate it when I say that, the Mr-
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  Jen: Yeah, he's our big-
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  king of the box sets … box
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  set fan.
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  Chris: And, um, there's a difference to point out here between males
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  and females in the data, too.
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  So women report monthly goosebump moments or events more than men.
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  So roughly, uh, 70% of women against just under 60% for men.
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  Although, as ever, there's a lot of individual variation in those averages.
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  Jen: I'm firmly in the gets them easily camp.
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  So the music I walked down the aisle to when I got married gets me every single
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  time, even though I've heard it 100 times, and I know precisely when the
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  moment I walk down the aisle's coming.
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  Chris: Go on, what is it?
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  What's the song?
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  Jen: It's Pachelbel's Canon.
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  Chris: Can you break into song for us now?
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  Jen: No, no, it's just a musical piece.
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  You would not want me singing anyway.
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  But yeah, so it's about a minute or so in gets me every time.
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  So how do, um… how does the actual goosebump reaction work?
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  Chris: Right.
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  So if
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  we look at the bump itself, almost every hair on your body has a tiny muscle
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  at the base of the follicle, and it's called the arrector pili muscle, and
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  it sits at a slight angle to the hair.
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  Jamie: So there's a dedicated little muscle for every single hair.
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  That's a level of complexity going on under my skin I was not aware of.
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  Yeah.
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  Chris: Yeah, and what happens, um, when that muscle contracts, it tugs
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  the hair upright, and it pulls the skin around it into, like, a little dome.
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  But if you do that across a, a, a whole patch of skin, and you get…
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  you end up getting that kind of pebbled look, which is affectionately
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  described as a goosebump.
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  Jamie: Goosebumps are named after the resemblance to a goose's skin.
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  Not exactly the most glamorous animal to human comparison, but there we are.
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  Jen: Yeah, that's… it's more or less it.
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  But the thing that is pulling those tiny triggers at once is your sympathetic
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  nervous system, and that's the side of you that runs that fight or
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  flight response that we talk about.
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  Jamie: And that's the thing I want to get straight because I've always thought of
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  fight or flight as the big heart-racing, something has gone wrong feeling.
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  How does a nice song end up causing the same reaction?
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  Chris: Yeah, I think in this case, if we picture it maybe less of,
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  um, like, an alarm and more like an orchestra following the same conductor.
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  So what happens is your, your heart speeds up, your, um, your pupils
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  widen, and the tiny muscles around your hair follicles tighten, and this
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  is all in response to the same signal.
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  Jen: So whether the cue is cold air, a sudden fright, or a powerful, powerful
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  piece of music, the whole section comes in together, that section of the orchestra,
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  and I guess goosebumps are simply the part of the performance that you actually see.
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  Jamie: Right.
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  So the hairs standing on end aren't about the hairs They're just a visible
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  note in a much bigger piece that's being played throughout the body.
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  Jen: Mm.
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  Chris: Yeah, that's
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  right, and the messenger doing all of this is noradrenaline.
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  So it's released from the nerve endings right at the muscle, and
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  for almost everyone, the whole thing is completely involuntary.
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  So your conscious brain isn't invited to the party here.
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  Jen: So the clearest place to, to see what this reflex is actually for
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  is in animals with a proper coat.
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  So in a cat or a fox, that same reflex raises the fur and traps a
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  layer of warm air against the skin.
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  So it works like pulling on an extra layer of insulation.
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  Jamie: And it's the same trick when a cat puffs up to twice its normal
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  size in front of next door's dog.
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  It isn't actually bigger, it's just stood all its fur on end to look bigger.
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  Jen: It's quite clever,
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  isn't it?
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  Chris: Yeah, I'm, I'm thinking of this, like, scary cat now.
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  Jen: Yeah.
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  Chris: Um, and l- let's look at it.
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  Honestly, we're responding
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  in exactly the same way as that kind of wily fox or pesky cat, but
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  of course, we've got, well, most of us have got very fine and sparse
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  hair rather than a big coat- Mm-hmm
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  unless something else is going on.
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  Uh, so we get the goosebumps without the extra warmth or looking particularly
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  scary to next door's dog, let's be honest.
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  Jamie: So we've got the same biological system, just with a different output.
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  Jen: Yeah.
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  Yeah, that's right.
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  Um, but it's… Sorry, Chris, it's my turn to give the fact fans
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  something that's normally your part.
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  What?
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  So there was a study in 2020 that showed that the very nerves that
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  set goosebumps sit right next to stem cells in your hair follicle.
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  So under a brief period of cold, you get the goosebumps, but under prolonged
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  cold, those same nerves can actually nudge the hair follicle into growing
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  new hair, which is always a good thing.
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  Chris: It is, and let's be honest, it's a surprising second job, isn't it?
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  Jen: Mm-hmm.
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  Chris: Um, and it's worth saying that it's still fairly fresh research, this
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  whole area, but it does suggest that the
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  reflex is doing a bit more kind of quiet maintenance than people had assumed.
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  Jen: Yeah.
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  Jamie: Before we move on, you said
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  earlier, for almost everybody, the whole goosebump process
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  is completely involuntary.
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  Yeah, I thought I'd got away with that.
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  Are you saying there are people who can voluntarily bring on goosebumps?
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  Jen: There actually are people who can voluntarily- Oh … bring
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  on goosebumps, but it is rare.
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  So there was a small study that looked at people who can bring on goosebumps
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  at will, and actually, only a handful could genuinely do it on demand.
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  I don't know how they discovered it.
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  But anyway, most people describe, like, the feeling starting at the
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  back of their neck and then spreading down their arms, and they talked
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  about it being more like flexing a muscle, rather than a sad thought.
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  Jamie: So somewhere out there is a person who can simply decide to have goosebumps.
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  That's a deeply pointless superpower- … which I'd actually quite like to have.
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  Jen: Me too.
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  Be
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  a good party trick, that.
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  Chris: Yeah, definitely.
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  Off we go.
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  Yeah.
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  Um, so the far more common version of goosebumps that many
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  of us experience is the, uh, the musical one, and it's actually got
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  its own name, which is frisson.
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  And that's the chill that you get when there's a key change or a
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  voice cracking or a choir coming in when you didn't expect it.
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  Jen: It sounds so much more sophisticated than goosebumps, frisson, doesn't it?
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  Chris: It's the pronunciation, isn't it?
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  Jen: Yeah.
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  Frisson.
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  But the mechanism, um, there, it's actually really clever.
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  So your emotional brain hears that sudden swell, and for a split second flags
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  it as a big change that might need a response, so the control panel fires.
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  But then the rest of your brain catches up, confirms you're simply
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  sitting to music, safe, you know, you're safe and well, and rewards you
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  with like a little hit of dopamine.
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  Jamie: So it's basically a jump scare with a happy ending.
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  Your brain goes, "What was that?" Realizes it was just a brilliant chord of music-
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  Jen: Yeah
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  … Jamie: and then quietly slips you a treat for your troubles.
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  Chris: That's the one, but not everyone is fortunate enough
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  to actually experience this.
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  So estimates for, sorry, estimates for how many people get musical chills range
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  from anywhere from about 45% to 85%, which is quite a wide spread, isn't it?
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  Mm. So the honest answer is it varies a lot from person to person.
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  Jen: So what's interesting is what it predicts, I guess.
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  It's less about being a sensitive, emotional person, and more
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  about how actively your mind engages with what you're hearing.
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  So people who le- really like lean in, who are anticipating the
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  next note, picturing things, get more, get chills more reliably.
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  Um, and musicians tend to get them more than non-musicians.
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  Jamie: So it's the people leaning forward predicting the song, not the
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  people quietly welling up in the corner.
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  The chills are more of a thinking thing than a feeling thing.
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  Jen: Mm.
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  Chris: And that's actually a really good bridge to the surprise I flagged
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  at the start about the shivery feeling.
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  And you'll wanna think we planned this and actually structured-
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  these podcasts, wouldn't you?
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  Um, so when researchers actually strap people to skin sensors,
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  which sounds a bit harsh-
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  Jen: It sounds a bit barbaric, to be
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  honest
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  Chris: Yeah.
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  I'm pretty sure it's voluntary.
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  You know, they- … they did sign up to this, this kind of test.
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  Um, anyway, it picks up the real muscle response when they do this, and only
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  about a third of the goosebumps that people report feeling show up as an
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  actual physical reaction on the skin.
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  Jamie: Hang on.
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  So most of the time that I think I've got goosebumps, I
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  haven't actually got goosebumps.
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  It's my brain telling me I've got goosebumps.
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  Jen: Mm. Yeah, for a good chunk of time, yes.
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  So the shivery chill you feel and the literal muscle contraction seem to be
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  two separate events that often travel together, but they don't have to.
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  So you can clearly feel one- Mm … without measurably having the other.
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  Chris: Absolutely.
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  And there's another myth worth busting here.
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  We haven't bust many myths
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  today, have we?
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  Jen: No, you haven't.
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  So, yeah.
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  Chris: Um, so people assume that the chills you get, the kind of the,
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  the shivery chills, needed novelty-
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  Mm
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  … and that a song would kind of stop giving you them once it got familiar.
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  But the, there was a study in 2024 that tested that head on, and it found
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  that familiar music kept triggering the response, and it held up over repeated
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  listens, so it kinda didn't fade off.
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  Jen: Which matches Jamie's point about leading in, and honestly
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  matches my own experience, like the wedding song I talked about earlier.
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  Chris: And they still need to sing it for us- Yeah
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  … it's only fair.
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  Jen: Google it.
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  It's I'm Father of the
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  Bride.
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  Chris: Where, where's Matt?
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  Where's Matt?
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  Well, he, he'd definitely get involved and sing, wouldn't he?
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  Jen: Yeah, he would.
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  He'd play a, a violin, I'm sure.
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  Um, but we need to be straight here, uh, that the science isn't all settled.
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  So the popular idea that goosebumps are a clean readout of being deeply moved has
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  been complicated by recent work because the measured response doesn't reliably
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  track how moved people say they feel.
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  Jamie: I find that weird- weirdly freeing, actually.
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  Mm. There's nothing to fix here.
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  It's not a glitch you have to train out of your body.
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  Jen: No- True … not at all.
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  It's, it's really just like a readout of your nervous system doing
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  its thing, and there's, there's a gentle feelgood footnote to it.
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  And survey data that finds that, it's found that people who get goosebump
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  moments at least monthly are a little more likely to say they find life worth
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  living than people who rarely get them If you don't get them, though, don't panic.
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  Chris: Yeah,
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  definitely.
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  And the, the large caveat other than that one being that this is a
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  correlation, so it's not cause and effect.
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  So the more likely reading is that people with kind of rich, engaged,
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  emotional lives simply stumble into more kind of goosebump-worthy
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  episodes rather than the bumps themselves topping up your wellbeing.
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  Jen: Mm.
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  Jamie: Fair enough.
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  So is there ever a version of this that's worth actually paying attention to?
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  Chris: I'd say mostly no.
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  So goosebumps by and large are harmless in the v- majority of cases, but
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  I will do my Captain Sensible bit-
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  Jen: As always
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  … Chris: and say that, absolutely, someone has to do it- Mm-hmm … um,
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  that if goosebumps keep turning up persistently for no particular reason,
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  or they're down one side of the body or along with other symptoms that
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  don't feel quite right, that is worth a quick mention to the doctor, isn't it?
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  Um, because the reflex can occasionally tag along with other things
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  going on with the nervous system.
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  So it is a check, though, not a cause for panic.
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  Jen: Yeah.
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  Thank you, Captain Sensible.
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  So this brings us right back around to where we started.
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  Jamie: So go on then, cold shower, dark room, and the best bit of a song.
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  Why do we get goosebumps?
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  Jen: So we get goosebumps because your fight or flight system runs a
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  whole row of responses in one circuit, and tiny muscles tug each hair
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  upright whenever that circuit fires.
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  So whether the trigger is cold, fear, or a beautiful piece of music.
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  Um, and in a furry animal that traps warmth, puffs them up to be bigger.
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  In us, it's the visible edge of a much larger reaction.
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  Chris: And it's not the do-nothing reflex that people often assume.
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  It's wired in right next to the cells that grow your hair, and the chill
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  you feel and the bumps themselves are quietly separate events.
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  Jamie: So the next time a song sends the wave down your arms,
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  that isn't you being soft-
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  Jen: Mm-hmm
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  … Jamie: that's your brain leaning into what it's hearing, which turns out to
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  be the very thing that predicts who gets the chills in the first place.
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  Jen: Which is a rather nice thing to know about yourself
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  Chris: It is
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  Jen: So that's why we get goosebumps.
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  That's it for this week.
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  Thanks so much for geeking out with us.
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  That's it from me.
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  And that's it from me.
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  Bye for now