Summary: With Halloween approaching, researchers examine why many people seek out fear and find enjoyment in being scared.
Source: The Conversation.
John Carpenter’s landmark horror film Halloween marks its 40th anniversary this year. Few horror films have achieved the same cultural impact, and many credit it with launching the wave of slasher movies that followed.
Audiences were drawn to the film to witness the sudden violence brought by a masked figure descending on a quiet suburban community, a reminder that neat lawns and picket fences do not shield us from randomness, injustice or the unknown. The story offers no clear moral resolution for its victims and leaves viewers with an unsettling sense that good and evil do not always balance out.
Given that, why would people willingly spend time and money watching such bleak, disturbing scenes that highlight how unfair and frightening the world can be?
Over the past decade I have investigated this question. The usual answer—“Because it’s fun; I like it!”—felt incomplete. It’s true that fear triggers the body’s arousal systems: the startle response ramps up adrenaline and other chemicals that prepare us to act. The classic “fight or flight” response helped humans survive for millennia. But that physiological surge alone didn’t fully explain why people deliberately seek out fear.
As a sociologist, I continued to ask, “Why?” To get at the experience directly, my colleague Greg Siegle, a cognitive neuroscientist, and I collected data inside an extreme haunted attraction near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to see what happens to people who willingly step into intense fear in a controlled setting.
Studying fear inside a terrifying attraction
To observe in-the-moment reactions and motivations, we set up a mobile lab in the basement of an adults-only extreme haunted attraction. This attraction went far beyond jump-scares, using unsettling characters, tactile contact, restraints and even simulated electric shocks over a roughly 35-minute walkthrough. It was intentionally intense and designed for mature audiences.
We recruited 262 guests who had already bought tickets. Participants completed a survey about their expectations and mood before entering and answered the same questions afterward. For a subset of 100 volunteers we also used mobile EEG equipment to record brain activity as they completed cognitive and emotional tasks before and after the attraction.
Participants reported significantly higher mood after completing the attraction and said they felt less anxious and less tired. Importantly, the more intense and frightening the experience was rated, the happier people tended to feel afterward. Many reported a sense of personal challenge and new self-knowledge gained from facing their fears.
EEG recordings showed widespread decreases in brain reactivity from before to after the attraction among those whose mood improved. In other words, taking part in highly intense but controlled scary activities appeared to dampen certain neural responses, a pattern that has also been observed in studies of mindfulness meditation. That reduction in reactivity was associated with the positive mood shift.
Coming out stronger on the other side
These findings suggest that intense haunted attractions can provide benefits similar to other deliberate challenges, such as running a 5K or tackling a difficult climbing route. There is uncertainty, a physical and emotional surge, a personal challenge to overcome and then a satisfying sense of achievement when it’s over.
Experiences that mix fear and fun may recalibrate what we perceive as stressful and offer a confidence boost. After a scary movie or a haunted house, everyday worries can feel smaller by comparison. While participants intellectually understand that actors and props are not real threats, suspending disbelief allows fear to feel genuine and, upon surviving the experience, produces a strong sense of accomplishment. Many report feeling invincible or more capable after confronting staged threats.
Fictional or framed fear—such as that delivered by horror films—lets people engage with big existential anxieties, like why bad things occasionally happen without reason, while still remaining within a protective entertainment frame. Choosing to engage with fear in this way can be a form of practice: it builds self-knowledge, emotional regulation and resilience in a context where real harm is unlikely. You can observe your bodily and emotional reactions without being preoccupied by survival, which creates an opportunity to learn about yourself.
What it takes to be safely scared
Although haunted attractions, horror films and other scary entertainments vary widely in content and intensity, they share a few critical elements that make fear enjoyable for many people.
First, participation must be voluntary. Never drag someone along if they do not want to experience frightening content. Participating with friends, however, tends to heighten the emotional experience: sharing fear and relief can intensify enjoyment and strengthen social bonds. Emotions are contagious, so when friends scream and laugh together, individuals often mirror those reactions and feel more connected.
Not everyone is suited to seek out fear, and that’s fine. Differences in personality, genetic predispositions, life experiences and current circumstances influence whether someone enjoys thrills or finds them aversive. For those who do enjoy thrills, a curious and adventurous mindset can offer benefits—echoing our ancestors’ willingness to explore novel situations while still responding quickly to danger.
This Halloween, consider trying one fun scare—if it appeals to you. Approached safely and with consent, a controlled scary experience can provide a memorable rush, a sense of accomplishment and perhaps a little extra confidence when you step back into everyday life.
Source: Margee Kerr – The Conversation
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com
Image Source: Image adapted from The Conversation news release.
MLA: The Conversation. “Why It’s Fun to Be Frightened.” NeuroscienceNews. October 13, 2018.
APA: The Conversation (2018). Why It’s Fun to Be Frightened. NeuroscienceNews. (Retrieved October 13, 2018.)
