Why do humans have goosebumps? The question was answered by an article titled, “Why Do People Get Goosebumps” at Discovery Magazine. Short answer: Our goosebumps are a vestigial feature. Some humans have vestigial tails and some have vestigial gills. All humans are filled with evidence from our fish ancestors as well as our reptilian ancestors.  Neil Shubin explored many of these features in his book, Your Inner Fish (also made into a documentary).

The goosebumps pop up to lift the fur that no longer covers us. Why would our furry ancestors survive better with fur that lifted up? “Hair-raising goosebumps are also a response to threats, which would have made our ancestors appear larger and scarier. Just imagine a cat or dog when the fur is about to fly. Their puffed up hair is an indication that they’re ticked off and are in fight-or-flight mode.”

That’s why you might get chills from pretty innocuous stuff, like going to a concert. A screaming crowd alone is enough trigger our goosebump reaction.

“Your emotional brain … is like a tiny, scared rabbit in the forest. It expects death around every corner. So a crowd screaming will sound just like that — something that we should be scared of,” Colver said.

And often, it’s the music itself that gives us the chills. According to Colver, certain instruments, tempos and pitches are known to cause these skin orgasms. An unexpected or particularly resonant sound can initiate our fight-or-flight response.

“Loud noises, or piercing noises (like a sustained high note played on a violin) get interpreted as really threatening,” he said.