Physiologically,
For Darwin, blushing was "the most peculiar and human of all expressions." Even the boldest of us will be familiar with the experience of blushing while feeling embarrassed, shy, shameful, or even proud.
Blushing from embarrassment is governed by the same system that activates your fight-or-flight response: the sympathetic nervous system. This system is involuntary, meaning you don't actually have to think to carry out the processes.
It tells them something about us. It shows that we are ashamed or embarrassed, that we recognise that something is out of place. It shows that we are sorry about this. It shows that we want to put things right.
Blushing can be a physiological response to various emotions, including embarrassment, shyness, or attraction. While it's not a definitive sign of attraction on its own, someone blushing in specific situations, like compliments or prolonged eye contact, might suggest a heightened emotional state.
Intense feelings like stress, anger, or embarrassment can cause the blood vessels in your face to widen. This is a normal reaction of your nervous system but can be severe if you have anxiety. If your emotions make you feel flushed, you could also notice: Sweating.
For instance, prolonged eye contact, blushing, leaning in, and mirroring another person's behavior can indicate attraction. However, explicit verbal consent is generally the best way to confirm whether someone is attracted to you.
Physiologically, blushing occurs when an emotional trigger causes your glands to release the hormone adrenaline in your body. Adrenaline's effect on your nervous system causes the capillaries that carry blood to your skin to widen. Since blood is then brought closer to the surface of the skin, it causes you to blush.
“They may blush as they feel exposed and believe they lost esteem from others. “Together, these findings suggest that when narcissistic children don't get the praise they think they deserve, they feel depreciated — a feeling that is revealed only by a blush.”
In praise of blushing
Historical evidence shows that redness of the cheeks has long been regarded as a sign of facial beauty and youth, and transitory changes such as ... [Show full abstract] the blush have also been seen in a positive light as an indication of modesty and charm.
About blushing and flushing
Wet blushing (flushing associated with increased perspiration) is thought to be caused by an overactive sympathetic nervous system. This system helps to regulate glands and organs without our conscious effort, and controls the diameter of blood vessels to the face.
If you notice that a guy blushes around you, this is one of the most obvious signs he is trying to flirt with you. However, not only do shy guys blush, any guy can actually blush when he sees a beautiful girl. Blushing is a bodily function that we can't control and if he blushes around you, he certainly likes you.
Blushing Is Genetic
"And what's more, since their skin is paler, it's all the more visible, too," she continues. In other words, it's a double whammy: Those with fair skin are more prone to blushing and it's more noticeable on them.
Remember earlier about the first time “blush” is used in the scripture? Ezra was a good man in his day, but like all of us, he wasn't perfect. He blushed and told of how his iniquities and the iniquities of all the people, were over their heads and if stacked, would reach unto the heavens (Ezra 9:6).
Physiologically speaking, blushing occurs when the adrenal glands are triggered to release adrenaline, which dilates the blood vessels in the face and neck. Even for a nonscientist like me, that's pretty straightforward.
What purpose does blushing serve? While the utility of blushing continues to remain elusive, it may have some social upsides. Blushing likely evolved as a social signal to communicate our emotional state to others – for example by helping to acknowledge a mistake, defusing the tension in a situation.
We use facial expressions to show our emotions, but we can hide our emotions or we can fake them. The blush, however, is automatic—it happens entirely outside of your control and you can't fake it or stop it."
The idea of narcissists using kissing to control, micromanipulate, and foster false intimacy makes sense. They don't care if it makes another person feel good — that's not what narcissists are about. Everything they do is for their own agenda, and if an action doesn't help it, they have no use for it.
By contrast, social or emotional stressors can trigger thermogenesis in conjunction with vasodilation, meaning that surges in body temperature are coupled to increases in blood flow to the skin, resulting in the reddening of affected areas that characterizes blushing.
Blushing is a reaction that is triggered by our potential embarrassment and humiliation, and involves social anxiety feelings, such as self-consciousness and fear of being the center of attention.
Blushing is often associated with flirtation, which might be linked to awareness of being the object of another's attention. Red cheeks in themselves are not the same as a blush, but they seem to be connected in this case.
Contrary to reddening of the face caused by conditions such as heat, alcohol or specific dermatological diseases such as rosacea, which should be called flushing as it is devoid of a psychological component, blushing is accompanied by feelings of embarrassment and disruption of mental function.
This means that even when someone isn't ready to admit their feelings, their body language can give them away. So if you notice someone always orienting their body towards you, maintaining prolonged eye contact, or mimicking your gestures, these could be subtle signs of attraction.
Although changes in blood flow may precede conscious emotions, blushing in humans strongly correlates with emotional arousal.