Charles Darwin described a blush as “the most peculiar and most human of all expressions” and noted that it is a reaction we have no control over.

A recent study has suggested that besides the redness of your cheeks, blushing can have some unexpected benefits.

MSNBC.Com purports that a study claims that blushing after making a public mistake make others think that you more trustworthy than someone who showed no emotion towards their public faux pas.

The study’s findings , published in the journal Emotion stated that participants, in a prisoners dilemma game, judged the defector (of the research game) less harshly when she blushed and thought she was less likely to defect again.  They even gave the blushing, neutral faced opponent more money during this trust task.

Corine Dijk, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and the study’s lead author, says, “After you do something wrong, people like you more when you blush.”  Dijk goes on to state, “[blushing] signals that you care about others opinions.”

What do you think about the study’s findings?  Do you think blushing should be a free pass for a mistake, or that it makes a person more likable?