Growing up, there were few times when I could walk around my house totally care-free. Those were the times when my older brother wasn’t home, lurking just around a corner or just outside my room, waiting to jump out and yell and watch me scream like the little girl I was and fall to the ground, hyperventilating.
But even through the hyperventilating and chasing him around the house so I could beat him with some inanimate object, there was laughter. There was relief that the scary part was over, and now I could relax again. Now when both of us are home at the same time, that feeling of anticipation and anxiety when I don’t know exactly what room he’s in lingers. And honestly, I kinda enjoy the thrill (but don’t tell him that).
If humans didn’t like the feeling of being scared, there wouldn’t be horror movies, haunted houses, or this endless new trend of torture-obsessed cinema. It’s clear that we love to scare ourselves silly and scream like little girls. But why? What’s so fun about being scared?
Humans have always loved fiction because it elicits an emotional response. There has been research done recently into why we love sad movies. In real life, sadness is usually coupled with anxiety, but a sad movie only induces sadness without the uncomfortable feelings of “what do I do now?”
A similar phenomenon happens with scary movies.
“I could hook you up and know you are seriously scared,” said Marjorie Taylor, a psychologist at the University of Oregon, “But you’re not running from the theater or calling the police.”
When watching a scary movie, the amygdala — your emotional center — is processing fear. Your heart rate increases, all your blood rushes from your skin to your internal organs so you’re ready to react at a moment’s notice, and your fight-or-flight response kicks in. Your hearing, sight and sense of smell get better. But at the same time, your prefrontal cortex is also receiving information — information that clearly says “this isn’t real.” The combination results in a delightful arousal of emotions. It turns out that the neurological systems that are stimulated by fear are also the same ones stimulated by pleasure.
“The spillover is rewarding, and not frightening,” Wired magazine said.
In a study done on a 44-year old woman who had a damaged amygdala, researchers found that the absence of fear was curiosity. The woman was put through experiences that commonly elicit a fearful response, like walking through a haunted house, watching clips of scary movies, and handling snakes and spiders. The woman, named SM in the study, did not experience a feeling of fear when encountering these situations. Instead, she reported a feeling of being strongly curious.
We know that fear is a good thing. A healthy dose of fear is what separates the rats who smell a cat and run like hell with the rat who is infected with a mind-controlling bacteria, smells a cat, and sticks around to see what’s on the DL. However, being afraid in a safe environment, such as in a theater or a haunted house where the ghosts and monsters are only actors, is a fun experience because deep down, we know we’re safe.