Why do we like horror films? | TS Digest

Even though horror films trigger negative feelings such as fear and disgust, they are very popular with many viewers. Similar to real threatening stimuli, a horror film activates the sympathetic nervous system, resulting in increased cardiovascular function, alertness, and shallow breathing in the audience.¹ People who find this exciting and desirable may find horror films entertaining.

Neurobiology of fear

Unlike neutral scenes in a horror film, scary scenes strongly activate the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), thalamus, and visual areas of the brain, which are involved in regulating emotional states and fears.²

Activation of the amygdala occurs in response to threat signals that trigger fear, rather than persistent fear. Scientists observed a similar mechanism in people watching horror films. They hypothesized that highly reactive amygdalae could provide thrill and pleasure in horror films. There is a possibility that the amygdala becomes more and more active with greater stimulation, and a person’s intensity of experience correlates with the level of amygdala activation while watching.³

The thrill of watching horror films

The horror genre is a fictional art form that focuses on intentionally evoking fear. The main behavioral, psychophysiological and mental effects of horror films include the following.^4-6

• Behave: Watching a horror film may cause a person to tremble, be frightened, close or shield their eyes, tremble, scream, or choke.
• Psychophysiological: A person watching a horror movie may experience an altered heart rate, which can lead to fainting, a condition called vasovagal syncope. The strength of the fear response determines the changes in heart rate. Typically, the heart rate increases for a short period of time, followed by a decrease.
• Mentally: Horror films can trigger fear, empathy and thoughts of disgust. For some moviegoers, horror films cause sleep disorders and trigger anxiety.

Theories that explain human attraction to fear and excitement

As a survival instinct, fear can motivate people to quickly escape potential threats.⁷ However, people who enjoy horror films consciously and proactively seek out fear rather than escaping it. Scientists have proposed various theories to explain people’s attitudes toward the enjoyment of fear induced by a horror film.

Evolution theory

Scientists suspected that certain objects or conditions that once posed a threat to human ancestors continue to trigger fear responses due to evolutionary predisposition.⁸ Spiders, for example, are a staple of horror films, although only 0.1 to 0.3 percent of spider species cause significant morbidity or mortality in humans.⁹ The fear triggered by the sight of spiders in a scary movie may be linked to evolutionary conditioning that activates the fight-or-flight response for survival, even though the viewer is not exposed to any real danger.¹⁰

Excitation transfer theory

According to this theory, audiences derive pleasure from the evocation of fear and tension.¹¹ When the tension ends and the threat disappears, the negative feeling turns into euphoria. Conversely, if proper resolution does not occur, the remaining negative effect increases to the point of dysphoria.

“If you’re visiting a zoo and you’re standing next to an alligator cage or a tiger cage or whatever and the animal suddenly jumps at you, you get this big, big, strong startle reaction and you probably jump back “Dodge a little bit, because that’s the ultimate automatic reaction,” said Lauri Nummenmaa, a neuroscientist at the University of Turku. “Your brain thinks this could be life-threatening and you had better get away. But after a while you will calm down because you are outside [the cage]. Higher-order cognitive systems can dampen fear.” Likewise, the scary stimuli in a horror film can convert excitement into pleasure by dissolving fear at the end of the film.

Satisfaction theory and personality traits

Some people with sensation-seeking personalities enjoy the horror genre because the jolt of terror is exhilarating and invigorating for them.¹² These individuals seek out horror films because the thrill they feel from the fear created by the films is entertaining and satisfying.

The sensation-seeking personality trait involves an individual’s willingness to take risks to experience different, novel, complex, and intense sensations.¹³ In addition to sensationalism, empathy and curiosity are also important qualities that determine a person’s preference for horror films.

Empathy consists of cognitive and emotional components.⁵ An empathetic person is more imaginative about fictional situations and sensitive to the emotional well-being of others. Sensation seekers and people with low empathy are less likely to be afraid when watching horror films and enjoy these films more. In addition, curiosity drives some people to watch horror films. Morbid curiosity combines interest, excitement, and fear surrounding unpleasant events such as death and is often correlated with both sensation-seeking and enjoyment of horror films.¹ Psychologists have also linked dark personality traits such as sadism, psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism to the enjoyment of watching horror films.⁵

Hypothesis of benign masochism

This hypothesis states that watching horror films is an adaptive behavior because it prepares a person for theoretically possible negative stimuli.¹⁴ When watching these films, people may experience strong feelings that they have not experienced before but may in the future, such as a feeling of fear or despair when relationships fail, a loved one dies, or even encounters a bear in the forest. Consciously or subconsciously, people may be drawn to horror films as a way to practice and prepare for the feelings they might experience in real life. “Whether horror films, dramas or comedies, they give us the opportunity to experience or rehearse these kinds of strong emotions in a safe environment,” explained Nummenmaa.

FAQs

Why do people like horror films?

• Some people enjoy the negative feelings that come from watching a horror film, such as fear and anxiety. Several personality and cognitive traits, such as sensationalism and empathy, determine whether a person finds a horror film entertaining.⁵ Horror films also allow people to enjoy scary stimuli without taking the risk of adverse situations.

What is the psychology of fear?

• Psychological theories posit that fear is a fundamental and universal human emotion.¹⁵ It is a response to an immediate threat that prepares a person to make an appropriate decision about whether to fight or flee. A person feels fear in the mind, which can trigger many physiological reactions such as shaking, screaming, fear, and changes in heart rate.

What is Evolutionary Psychology?

• Evolutionary psychology is a branch of science that studies human behavior.¹⁶ It is based on natural selection, which shapes psychological traits that underlie behavioral adaptations to environmental conditions to increase the chances of survival and reproduction. Both cognitive psychologists and evolutionary psychologists focus on explaining human behavior through internal psychological mechanisms.