Why Do Girls Scream Over Small Disturbances?

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The discussion revolves around the phenomenon of girls screaming in various contexts, particularly at concerts. Participants speculate on the reasons behind this behavior, suggesting it may be rooted in sociological or evolutionary factors. One theory posits that girls scream not to attract attention from males but to signal their sexual maturity to other females. The conversation also touches on the idea that screaming may serve as a form of communication or expression of excitement and frustration, with some arguing that it is a learned behavior influenced by social dynamics. Additionally, there are humorous exchanges about gender differences in vocal reactions, with some participants expressing annoyance at the behavior, while others view it as a natural response. Overall, the thread highlights a mix of serious inquiry and lighthearted banter about gender and communication.
  • #51
Mk said:
TheStatutoryApe said:
Vocal reaction meant to alert others to what they have noticed. Men do it too just differently.
Yeah, they retain cognitive function and say "Hey! Look over there!"
Some times men scream. Somtimes they grunt. I think most often we spit out expletives.
 
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  • #52
Mk said:
Yeah, they retain cognitive function and say "Hey! Look over there!"
:smile: :smile: :smile: Thanks, I was having a bad night and needed that. :biggrin:

Anywho, I thought you might have been thinking of those women they put in action or horror movies who just stand around screaming as the men fight or who shriek at every noise or of Friends-like shows, etc. I don't think that would go over very well in real life. But screaming to get attention or express excitement does work in some cases and can be even more effective than using words. :-p
 
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  • #53
cronxeh said:
Ive seen too many of them signal their readiness to the mice :-p
No, that is done through ear-wiggling. :-p Male mice find that irresistable, I hear. ooh la la

Moonie said:
Oh, is that why I can't get a date? I don't scream? Actually, I always thought it was just a "California girl" type thing. I've never met anyone who grew up anywhere other than California who screamed like that. I thought perhaps it was a symptom of sun stroke. When someone starts that screaming (screeching), I just want to smack them and tell them to shut up.

IIRC, from the cultural anthropology standpoint, the concert-screaming phenomenon is not a direct signal from girls to boys, but from girls to other girls. It's a hand-raising reaction to communicate "I am a part of this group because I understand why you are screaming (because you are overcome with sexual arousal), and look! - I am screaming, too (I also feel it)". It's not unlike people laughing out loud at movies, I suppose, not because they are overwhelmed by the humor, but because they want everybody else in the audience to know that they get the joke.

EHI said:
I was thinking something along those lines. It has been said that the oft aggressive, loud, overtly sexual behaviour of groups of alpha-male types (you know the kinds: they start shouting "Oi, darlin, darlin! 'Ow abaht it? You and me! You and me!". If they are cockneys) is to compensate for the homosexual overtones of close male bonding. We shout to demonstrate that we are sexually immature males, despite the fact I just grabbed that guy's crotch.
And that would also fit in with the anthropology hypothesis - since a man is communicating, or reinforcing, his sexual status to the larger group.


Anyway, I have not screamed or even shrieked in a very long time. Suspect drop in estrogen.
 
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  • #54
It must be a socially induced behavior because girls don't seem to scream so much without any other girls around. It's that and giggleing, I've seen some pretty elaborate giggleing performances between women, it goes back and forth a couple of rounds. :smile:
 
  • #55
Well, people don't laugh as much without other people around. Everybody is more susceptible to laughter when in groups. Maybe groups tend to cause more extreme happy feelings?
 
  • #56
Mk said:
Well, people don't laugh as much without other people around. Everybody is more susceptible to laughter when in groups. Maybe groups tend to cause more extreme happy feelings?
Could be. I think we also have to look at why and when we laugh. Reading jokes at home, I might chuckle a little bit. I am only sharing the joke with myself so no need to get demonstrative. The laugh is short-lived. But in a group, laughter becomes infectuous because it's part of a group activity. We laugh harder and longer because we are sharing in an experience. It's a form of communication. The extreme happy feelings are likely to be magnified in a group setting simply because we are social creatures, and the sharing of something with each other brings us happiness in a way that we cannot realize on our own.
 
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  • #57
I just spit.
 
  • #58
Evo said:
I just spit.


And you aren't attracted to psychos?
 
  • #59
Evo said:
Wasn't it Ivan's thread on the silent screams of prairie dogs?
The silent screams of prairie dogs!? I've driven past a prairie dog village every day for past three months and I've never heard one of these silent screams. :rolleyes:
 
  • #60
BobG said:
The silent screams of prairie dogs!? I've driven past a prairie dog village every day for past three months and I've never heard one of these silent screams. :rolleyes:
That would be because, uhm, they're silent. :biggrin:
 
  • #61
Women scream because they are automatons. Nearby magnetic fields induce EMF in their processors and cause malfunction. I have seen Austin Powers. I know these things.

Maybe its just really scary being a woman. They scream at arachnids. Dust mites are arachnids. Dust mites are everywhere. Thus they scream at dust mites.
 
  • #62
So have we all come to the conclusion that girls are of another species?
 
  • #63
Pengwuino said:
So have we all come to the conclusion that girls are of another species?
There's a simple test:
Try and breed with them; if there is any off-spring, then they belong to your own species.

Not that I'm advocating such practices in general, though..
 
  • #64
arildno said:
There's a simple test:
Try and breed with them; if there is any off-spring, then they belong to your own species.
Not that I'm advocating such practices in general, though..
so does that mean that if i do a tigress i won't have any offspring, is it?
no, i m not trying to be argumentive:smile:
 
  • #65
I never scream. Does it mean I'm not a girl?
 
  • #66
Lisa! said:
I never scream. Does it mean I'm not a girl?
You've just never experienced a guy like me :-p
 
  • #67
mattmns said:
You've just never experienced a guy like me :-p
AND I have no wish to experience a guy like you!:-p
 
  • #68
mattmns said:
You've just never experienced a guy like me :-p
Aaah, now I can hear the silent screams of the prairie dogs. :rolleyes:
 
  • #69
___ said:
so does that mean that if i do a tigress i won't have any offspring, is it?

I would have thought you knew the difference between front and behind.

Evidently, I'm not the only disoriented guy around here.
 
  • #70
Math Is Hard said:
IIRC, from the cultural anthropology standpoint, the concert-screaming phenomenon is not a direct signal from girls to boys, but from girls to other girls. It's a hand-raising reaction to communicate "I am a part of this group because I understand why you are screaming (because you are overcome with sexual arousal), and look! - I am screaming, too (I also feel it)".
I don't know, I've always thought it was stupid and annoying when girls scream. I would see footage of Elvis or Beatles concerts and you'd see all the girls in the crowd screaming and fainting and nonsense like that...it always seemed stupid to me, even when I was a teenage girl. I don't even scream when something scares me (if something really scares me, I inhale but can't exhale for a few moments, so screaming isn't even physically possible for me).

Likewise, I don't really know how people manage to cuss when they stub their toe or do something else painful to themselves. I just hop around completely unable to utter a single sound until the initial shock and pain subsides a bit. So, to me, if you can scream, you're not hurt that badly...it tells me I should be annoyed with the theatrics rather than come to your aid. I definitely respond that way in the barns or lab when I hear a loud crash...if it's followed by copious swearing, I know everyone is okay, but if it's followed by silence, I immediately check what happened because it could be serious.

I guess I associate screaming with immaturity rather than maturity. Little children shriek and scream when playing, so teens shrieking and screaming tells me they still have the maturity of a two-year-old rather than having learned to be an adult.
 
  • #71
Pengwuino said:
So have we all come to the conclusion that girls are of another species?
Only the screaming variety. :biggrin:
 
  • #72
Lisa! said:
AND I have no wish to experience a guy like you!:-p
AAAAAAHAHAHAH!

Why do girls scream?
because I'm on their hair.
 
  • #73
tribdog said:
AAAAAAHAHAHAH!
Why do girls scream?
because I'm on their hair.


Mostly its because they're afraid they'll never get that goo out of their hair.
 
  • #74
cronxeh said:
Why, you little!
http://www.thefunlist.com/images/humor/penguin.gif
Plagerist!
This is a blatant theft of a Tsupeg! That will cost you LOTS of chocolate! :biggrin: :biggrin: You notice I did not scream. You will also notice Ivan has not yet returned to this thread. :smile: :smile:
 
  • #75
When I read that I thought the "Plagerist!" seemed a bit like a scream
 
  • #76
We scream because evolution programmed us to scream so the hottie rockstars would look at us first. Girls who screamed the loudest get noticed first and thus get to dance up on stage first. Perhaps there is research that positively correlates someone's tendency to be a groupie with how many decibels and long she can scream...:wink:
 
  • #77
CosminaPrisma said:
We scream because evolution programmed us to scream so the hottie rockstars would look at us first. Girls who screamed the loudest get noticed first and thus get to dance up on stage first. Perhaps there is research that positively correlates someone's tendency to be a groupie with how many decibels and long she can scream...:wink:
Hands Cosmina a welcome fish. :smile: Yep, you may have something there! And after they dance on stage, they get to go backstage and party with the band. :biggrin:
 
  • #78
Evo said:
And after they dance on stage, they get to go backstage and party with the band. :biggrin:
I guess you'd have to want to do that first.
 
  • #79
cronxeh said:
http://www.thefunlist.com/images/humor/penguin.gif
In the above footage the left "leg" of penguin #1 clearly breaks the ice before his companion, penguin #2, slaps him on the back, raising the question of whether penguin #2 had good or bad intentions.
 
  • #80
arildno said:
There's a simple test:
Try and breed with them; if there is any off-spring, then they belong to your own species.
This implies that all women are of a different species.
 
  • #81
TheStatutoryApe said:
StatutoryApe said:
Vocal reaction meant to alert others to what they have noticed. Men do it too just differently
Somtimes they grunt. I think most often we spit out expletives.
I find it hard to believe you can communicate by spitting.
 
  • #82
franznietzsche said:
Hasn't the theory of therapy by catharsis been discarded? I could've sworn that several studies showed that releasing tension via catharsis results in positive feedback for the behavoir (for example, agression) which increases, rather than decreases its frequency.

I'll get back to your question. Whenever I feel like it
 
  • #83
Mk said:
I find it hard to believe you can communicate by spitting.
Really...?
 
  • #84
tribdog said:
When I read that I thought the "Plagerist!" seemed a bit like a scream

Get a grip, trib. Note the punctuation. It was merely an exclamation. There were no CAPS to indicate my voice was being raised. Sheesh... :rolleyes:

Ya know, some little puppies who get jobs listening to books (not actually having to READ them :biggrin:) just think they have everything all figured out... :rolleyes: :smile:

Welcome, Cosima! How'd you like that welcome fish? That Evo - such a kind-hearted PF sister. She sure knows how to slap them fish around. :approve:

*pull up your support hose, Evo. They're bagging up around your ankle again.* :biggrin:
 
  • #85
Tsu said:
Get a grip, trib. Note the punctuation. It was merely an exclamation. There were no CAPS to indicate my voice was being raised. Sheesh... :rolleyes:
It was still definitely a scream.

She sure knows how to slap them fish around. :approve:
Wow. Wow. Just interchange "fish" with the vice president's name.

*pull up your support hose, Evo. They're bagging up around your ankle again.*
tribdog's fault.
 
  • #86
arildno said:
Try and breed with them; if there is any off-spring, then they belong to your own species.
Aren't there any... I dunno, biologists maybe... around here who might want to respond? :rolleyes:

Or grammarians...
 
  • #87
If vegetarians eat vegetables... what do grammarians eat? Or humanitarians?? Or Summerians?
 
  • #88
Tsu said:
*pull up your support hose, Evo. They're bagging up around your ankle again.* :biggrin:
What are support hose anyway? I thought you meant panty hose, but after a look on Google they are stiff socks? I heard the term on tv today. Why do I know logorrhea, but not support hose?
 
  • #89
Mk said:
Wow. Wow. Just interchange "fish" with the vice president's name.
tribdog's fault.

To slap someone with a richard in the face??
 
  • #90
arildno said:
To slap someone with a richard in the face??
Maybe he meant a Cheney. Like a street fight with a chain... er something.. maybe not...
 
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