Why do we get goosebumps and where do they come from?

What do these little bumps that flare up on your skin actually do

Sometimes they pop-up due to fright, sometimes when it’s chilly, but they remain practically unhelpful and even useless.

The answer lies within our ancestors, and we’re not talking about your nan.

When we used to be covered in hair from head to toe, the mechanism actually served some kind of purpose in our survival.

Goosebumps are an automatic, involuntary response when triggering the Sympathetic Nervous System, in other words, fight-or-flight.

These pop-up automatically as a psychological and neurological response to our environment, such as sudden fear or shock, intimacy or arousal, and other modern stimuli like ASMR. 

What is the actual purpose of goosebumps?

When submitted to these conditions, tiny muscles between our hair follicles tense up, creating the little bumps. 

This was a practical response for our hairy ancestors, thickening their fur and preserving heat.

The same can be seen in modern, city dwelling pigeons, who puff up in the colder seasons.

Another use for the hair came when coming face-to-face with predators, raising our hair and creating a larger and more intimidating appearance. 

This can be seen in other animals too, such as cats whose hair particularly thickens when feeling threatened. 

Now you might think that both of these are pretty much useless in the modern age.

However, study finds that even our tiny modern hair helps insulate heat when subjected to cold temperatures, as goosebumps aides in temperature control throughout the body.