Many people willingly seek out horror - but why? (Tama66)
Fight or Flight
To understand the attraction of fear, we have to go far back into evolutionary history. Found in pretty much every complex animal, the fight-or-flight response occurs when we detect a threat.
Detection activates the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. This releases a wave of hormones that optimize the body for physical action. Blood flow is diverted to the muscles, giving us a short-term boost of physical prowess and pain tolerance - a state psychologists call arousal. This rush can be tapped into by horror media to "hook" a viewer.
Adrenaline Addiction
You are probably familiar with the term "adrenaline junky." It's typically used to refer to people who take risks for the thrill of it - rock climbers, skydivers and shark-swimmers are all obvious examples. However, things like fairground rides, running or even being frightened can give us the same effect - a surge of adrenaline.
When adrenaline is released into our bodies, it has a number of effects. Blood is redirected away from other organs to the muscles, heart and lungs, boosting our short term speed and strength. Our airways dilate, letting us take in more oxygen to help sustain strenuous activity. At the same time, the response sharpens mental focus and decreases pain sensitivity. It can take as long as an hour for the effects (which can feel euphoric) to wear off.
While it is not currently considered possible to become addicted to risk, one study looking at rock climbers found similarities between them and drug addicts when prevented from indulging their hobby. Climbers prevented from climbing displayed craving, anhedonia and negative affect - they wanted to climb, found little pleasure in anything else and were generally distressed. Interestingly the cravings and negative affect were worse in skilled climbers.
Avid mountaineers may go into withdrawal if prevented from climbing! (Simon)
Context MattersSo you might be wondering how the brain chooses between fight and flight - after all, the chemicals being released are identical but there's a big difference between being furious and terrified. The simple answer is our brains use context to determine the appropriate response to a situation - and those responses can cover way more than fight or flight.
Back in 1974, psychologists Dutton & Aron conducted an ethically dubious study that used a wobbly suspension bridge as a laboratory. They had a female interviewer ask males crossing the bridge to fill in a questionnaire, designed to allow sexually-themed answers. Crucially, the interviewer would give participants her number in case they had questions about the study. A second iteration of the experiment was run on a safe bridge, to provide a control condition.
Participants in the wobbly condition gave significantly more sexualized answers, and were vastly more likely to phone the interviewer afterwards. Another run of the experiment using a male interviewer elicited almost no contact attempts from the participants on the wobbly or safe bridge. The researchers conclude that participants were misinterpreting their adrenaline response from crossing the bridge as sexual attraction to the interviewer.
Perhaps a similar thing could be happening with horror movies. Adrenaline from watching scary content could be misinterpreted as simple excitement if the viewer is in a known "safe" environment such as their home or amongst friends.
Fear or Fun
While many people enjoy horror movies, rollercoasters and ghost stories, few people would want to be in a plane crash or be hunted down by a serial killer... so when does fear become fun?
One study used unobtrusive heart monitors to record the heart rate of participants at three set points in a "haunted house" attraction. These points were fairly dramatic - in one, a mad scientist distracts the viewer before a zombie leaps out of hiding. In another, a chainsaw-wielding pig-man chases the thrill-seekers. Finally, zombies spring out of a staircase at close proximity to grab at the visitors.
Video footage of the points was coded (researchers assessed expressions and body-language using set criteria) to identify how much fear, entertainment and surprise were being displayed by participants before and after the scares. Fluctuations in heart rate were recorded as a measure of arousal, while questionnaires were taken regarding how much fear and enjoyment participants experienced.
When the data was compared, the researchers found an inverted U-shaped relationship between reported enjoyment and small-scale heart-rate fluctuations - or in other words, enjoyment peaked at moderate increases in heart rate. This suggests levels of fear that are "just right" can become enjoyment, a finding supported by the questionnaires.
The post-apocalyptic genre of entertainment has plenty of adherents... (Estellina)
Coping with Horror
There may be a side benefit to watching horror, as some psychologists suggest that horror films may help people deal with traumatic situations in real life. A study carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic found that horror aficionados exhibited significantly less psychological distress than other groups. This may have been thanks to coping strategies developed while watching horror films - these might help regulate negative emotions.
People who were "morbidly curious" (i.e. were interested in learning about dangerous phenomena) displayed better than average psychological resilience. While they experienced much more distress than the horror group, they also had a lot more "positive" experiences during the pandemic.
The same study found that people interested in "prepper" films (i.e. post-apocalyptic survival and similar) tended to be better at making do with the restrictions and limitations of the pandemic. Presumably amateur virologists who watch post-apocalyptic zombie-horror films would check all of the above categories!
