Imagine you’re covered in hair. Hair keeps you warm because it traps a layer of air between you and the outside world which acts as an insulator. Heat takes a while to cross that layer. If the layer is thin, the insulation isn’t so good. If it’s thick, the insulation is better and you’re warmer.
So the theory is that if you’re covered in hair and you’re cold then if your hair stands up you can make the layer thicker, which keeps you warmer.
Sadly we’re not covered in hair. Well, most of us aren’t. So this doesn’t really help much, but we’ve kind of stuck with it. Of course now it doesn’t really help us much because we invented clothes and stuff that’s much more effective. If goosebumps made us hairless humans colder, and if that made us less likely to survive, we’d probably have lost the ability to make goosebumps ages ago and we wouldn’t do it. But there’s no real problem making goosebumps, so we keep doing it.
Goose bumps happen when small muscles at the base of each hair contract causing the hair to stand up and a little bump to form on the skin.
This can be in response to the cold and would be much more useful if we were hairy because hairs standing up would be able to trap a layer of air to keep us warm. So since we’re not at all hairy anymore, it’s a good idea to wear a jumper.
Another thing that can trigger goose bumps is a response to anger or fear. Hairs standing on end can make an animal look bigger. If you’ve ever come across and angry or frightened cat, you’ll know what I mean because they suddenly fluff up and look almost double their size. When it comes to humans though, it’s pretty useless because of our lack of hair.
And another thing that can cause goose bumps in humans is when something good happens like listening to AWESOME piece of music or doing really well in something.
So there’s a few reasons why goose bumps occur but there seems to be no advantage to us for having them. Well, no reason that anyone has found so far.
Mags has really covered what’s going on when you get goosebumps so I thought I’d try to find why we call them goosebumps. Because hey don’t much resemble a goose to me. Wikipedia informs that it is because the bits of skin from which goose feathers grow are similar to our hair follicles (the part which surrounds each hair. The follicle has oil secreting glands and tiny muscles attached). When you pluck the feathers from a goose (if you are inclined to do such a thing) then the skin is covered in tiny bumps which look like our goosebumps.
Another fun fact is that the reflex of producing goosebumps is called horripilation or piloerection.
Imagine you’re covered in hair. Hair keeps you warm because it traps a layer of air between you and the outside world which acts as an insulator. Heat takes a while to cross that layer. If the layer is thin, the insulation isn’t so good. If it’s thick, the insulation is better and you’re warmer.
So the theory is that if you’re covered in hair and you’re cold then if your hair stands up you can make the layer thicker, which keeps you warmer.
Sadly we’re not covered in hair. Well, most of us aren’t. So this doesn’t really help much, but we’ve kind of stuck with it. Of course now it doesn’t really help us much because we invented clothes and stuff that’s much more effective. If goosebumps made us hairless humans colder, and if that made us less likely to survive, we’d probably have lost the ability to make goosebumps ages ago and we wouldn’t do it. But there’s no real problem making goosebumps, so we keep doing it.
0
Goose bumps happen when small muscles at the base of each hair contract causing the hair to stand up and a little bump to form on the skin.
This can be in response to the cold and would be much more useful if we were hairy because hairs standing up would be able to trap a layer of air to keep us warm. So since we’re not at all hairy anymore, it’s a good idea to wear a jumper.
Another thing that can trigger goose bumps is a response to anger or fear. Hairs standing on end can make an animal look bigger. If you’ve ever come across and angry or frightened cat, you’ll know what I mean because they suddenly fluff up and look almost double their size. When it comes to humans though, it’s pretty useless because of our lack of hair.
And another thing that can cause goose bumps in humans is when something good happens like listening to AWESOME piece of music or doing really well in something.
So there’s a few reasons why goose bumps occur but there seems to be no advantage to us for having them. Well, no reason that anyone has found so far.
0
Nothing significant to add to Matt’s and Mag’s responses.
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Mags has really covered what’s going on when you get goosebumps so I thought I’d try to find why we call them goosebumps. Because hey don’t much resemble a goose to me. Wikipedia informs that it is because the bits of skin from which goose feathers grow are similar to our hair follicles (the part which surrounds each hair. The follicle has oil secreting glands and tiny muscles attached). When you pluck the feathers from a goose (if you are inclined to do such a thing) then the skin is covered in tiny bumps which look like our goosebumps.
Another fun fact is that the reflex of producing goosebumps is called horripilation or piloerection.
1