What is the purpose of the muscle that make hair stand up?

Answer 1

One theory states that long ago, when men were covered by much more hair than they are today, the erector pili muscles caused the hair to stand up when the body became chilled. The hairs would bunch together and protect the skin from cold, harsh weather.

Answer 2

It is a hangover from the time when we had thicker hair on our bodies.

The muscles contract to make your hair stand up when you are could. This makes the hair layer thicker and thus traps more air and keeps you warm.

The muscles contract to make you hair stand up when you are frightened. This makes the hair layer thicker and makes you look larger (and therefore more formidable as an opponent).

Answer 3

The muscle that makes hair stand up is a relic from when humans were covered with fur. Standing up the fur/ hair has two effects. It makes the animal look bigger and it makes the hair stand up so that it can trap more air, the air is an insulator and more air allows the animal to warm up from the insulating effect of trapped air. the 'being bigger' makes the animal more menacing for prey, they are more likely to be left alone.

Answer 4

in prehistoric days, we'd have muscles that make our hair stand up, this would make us seem bigger, and therfore, more intimidating

Answer 5

They are called erector muscles, as they 'erect' the hairs on your skin so that they stand on end, trapping an insulating layer of air to keep us warm

Answer 6

the function is that jesus cries over the dead bodies of 200 deaf jewish boys while Chuck Norris drops the bass and does a madd dance solo while blindfolded naked upsidedown to a tree on fire

Answer 7

erector pili muscle