Summary: Researchers explore the neuroscience behind why many people enjoy being frightened.
Source: The Conversation.
Fear is as ancient as life itself. As a basic, deeply wired reaction, it evolved to protect organisms from threats to their existence. Fear can be as simple as a snail retracting an antenna when touched or as complex as a human’s existential anxiety.
Whether we love or loathe the feeling, fear is central enough to human culture that we devote holidays and entertainment to it. Understanding why some people seek out fear while others avoid it involves looking at brain circuitry, hormones, context and social factors.
Some of the chemicals that underlie the fight-or-flight response—noradrenaline, adrenaline and cortisol—also participate in states we call excitement and thrill. That overlap helps explain why a sudden scare can feel exhilarating for some people. But why does the same stimulus produce a “rush” for one person and overwhelming terror for another?
As psychiatrists who study fear and its neurobiology, we find context plays a major role. When the brain’s thinking centers can reassure emotional centers that an environment is safe, a high-arousal state can be reinterpreted as excitement or fun rather than pure fear. If the cognitive appraisal agrees the situation is dangerous, the result is panic and escape behavior.
How do we experience fear?
The fear response begins in the brain and spreads through the body to prepare for defense or escape. A key player is the amygdala, an almond-shaped cluster of nuclei that evaluates the emotional significance of stimuli. The amygdala responds strongly to faces showing fear or anger and is triggered by signs of threat—such as the sight of a predator—which then activates motor preparation, stress hormones and the sympathetic nervous system.
These neural signals lead to bodily changes that make us more efficient in danger: increased alertness, dilated pupils, faster breathing, and dilation of the bronchi. Heart rate and blood pressure rise, blood flow and glucose delivery to skeletal muscles increase, and systems not critical for immediate survival—like digestion—slow down.
The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex work closely with the amygdala to interpret context. These higher-level areas assess whether a perceived threat is real and modulate the amygdala’s response. For example, seeing a lion in the wild typically triggers intense fear, while viewing the same lion in a zoo often causes curiosity or admiration because contextual information—barriers, keepers, signs—dampens the threat response. In short, the cognitive brain can reassure the emotional brain that we are safe, allowing us to label high arousal as enjoyment.
The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex help the brain interpret perceived threats and apply contextual information that determines whether the amygdala’s fear response should be amplified or dampened.
How do we learn what to fear and what is safe?
Like other animals, humans learn fear through direct experience—being attacked by an aggressive dog will teach caution around dogs—or through observation, such as watching someone else have a fearful encounter. Uniquely human is our ability to learn fear through language and instruction: a warning sign, a parent’s cautionary tale or written information can make proximity to a stimulus trigger fear.
Safety is learned the same way. Repeated peaceful interactions with a dog, observing others interact calmly, or reading that an animal is harmless will gradually reduce fear and allow curiosity or comfort instead.
Why do some people enjoy being scared?
Several factors explain why some people seek out frightening experiences. Fear can provide a powerful distraction from everyday worries, snapping attention to the present moment. That intense focus can feel cleansing or exhilarating. Shared fearful experiences are also social bonding moments: emotions are contagious, and watching a friend move from screaming to laughing can shift your own emotional state in a positive direction.
Central to these effects is the sense of control. When people can recognize that a threat is not real, relabel the experience, and choose to remain in the situation, the perception of control transforms fear into a controlled thrill. After the initial surge of fight-or-flight, many feel relief, reassurance about their safety, and increased confidence in facing future challenges.
Halloween and other cultural rituals dedicated to fear let people experience fright in structured, socially supported ways that make the feeling safer and often enjoyable.
Why do others dislike being scared?
Disliking fear often comes down to an imbalance between the emotional system that produces arousal and the cognitive system that provides context and control. If the emotional response is too intense and the cognitive system cannot down-regulate it, the experience will feel overwhelming and unsafe. Conversely, if the emotional response is too weak or the cognitive brain constantly analyzes and dismisses the scene as unrealistic, the experience can feel boring.
Even fans of horror have limits. A person might enjoy conventional slasher films but find supernatural or visceral depictions unbearably real. Others, like scientifically minded viewers who focus on improbable details, may be unable to suspend disbelief and therefore fail to feel the intended fear or excitement.
When fear becomes a disorder
Beyond entertainment, excessive or chronic fear and anxiety can cause real suffering. Anxiety disorders are common—affecting nearly one in four people during their lives—and conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affect a significant portion of the population as well. Disorders related to fear include specific phobias, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety, PTSD and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
These conditions often begin early and, without appropriate treatment, can be long-lasting and disabling. The encouraging news is that effective treatments exist, including psychotherapies and medications, which can substantially reduce symptoms and restore functioning for many people in a relatively short time.
Funding: The Conversation’s Department of Urology supported the work.
Source: Arash Javanbakht and Linda Saab – The Conversation
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: Images are reported as being in the public domain.
The Conversation. “The Science of Fright: Why We Love to be Scared.” NeuroscienceNews, 30 October 2017.