Category: Emotion

Why would anyone choose to feel fear? Researchers uncovered an unexpected psychological payoff.

Excitement is the main reason people choose to watch horror movies.

People also like to watch horror movies in a group, so it is also an excuse to socialise.

The scariest types of movies are those that rely on psychological horror.

People find threats that were only imagined, rather than seen, the most frightening.

Professor Lauri Nummenmaa, study co-author, said:

“This latter distinction reflects two types of fear that people experience.

The creeping foreboding dread that occurs when one feels that something isn’t quite right, and the instinctive response we have to the sudden appearance of a monster that make us jump out of our skin.”

Anticipating threat

The conclusions come from a study of 37 people who watched horror movies while their brains were scanned.

Brain scans showed that as anxiety increased, regions involved in sight and hearing became more active while people anticipated a threat.

After the shock, areas of the brain important for processing the emotions were active, along with those that help us evaluate threats and make decisions.

Dr Matthew Hudson, the study’s first author, explained:

“Therefore, our brains are continuously anticipating and preparing us for action in response to threat, and horror movies exploit this expertly to enhance our excitement.”

The scariest movie

To choose the scary movies used in the study, 216 people were asked about the scariest movie they had seen.

Here is the list, with the most scary movie at the top.

1. The Devil’s Backbone
2. The Wailing
3. The Conjuring
4. REC 2
5. Insidious
6. The Exorcist
7. Goodnight Mommy
8. A Chinese Ghost Story
9. The Conjuring 2
10. Under The Shadow

The Conjuring 2 and Insidious were used in the study because relatively few people recruited had seen them.

Conceptual consumption

Excitement is not the only reason people watch scary movies.

Some theorists put it down to the drive for conceptual consumption.

We live in a society that consumes not only products, but also ideas, information and experiences.

We’re always on the lookout for tasty new morsels of information and unusual experiences to add to our ever-expanding mental collections.

Over the years all sorts of explanations have been offered for why people voluntarily expose themselves to scary movies: that there is a certain type of pleasure mixed in with the fear; that they are relieved when it’s over; that they enjoy the ‘rush’ while knowing there is no threat.

But as any horror nut will tell you, there’s more to it than that.

When people choose a scary movie, they are choosing more than just the experience itself.

They know the movie will frighten them, but there is a clear payoff in conceptual consumption.

It’s not just bragging rights, they want to ‘possess’ the experience.

It’s also about self-image.

People want to view themselves, and be viewed by others, as the sort of people who seek out diverse experiences.

The study was published in the journal NeuroImage (Hudson et al., 2020).

Most people are quick to see the good in others and slow to condemn.

Most people are quick to forgive others who have behaved badly in the past. The majority tend to give others the benefit of the doubt, offering forgiveness even in the face of bad behaviour. In other words, most are quick to see the good in others — indeed, want to see it — and are slow to condemn. It might help explain why some people stay in bad relationships. Dr Molly Crockett, study co-author, said:

“The brain forms social impressions in a way that can enable forgiveness. Because people sometimes behave badly by accident, we need to be able to update bad impressions that turn out to be mistaken. Otherwise, we might end relationships prematurely and miss out on the many benefits of social connection.”

The research included over 1,500 people in a series of experiments. They observed strangers who had to make a decision in a moral dilemma. Should they inflict electrical shocks to gain money? ‘Good’ strangers were seen to mostly refuse to shock others, while ‘bad’ strangers were observed often going ahead with it. The observers were asked about the moral character of the strangers. The results revealed that people were relatively quick to forgive bad behaviour and avoided condemning people as ‘truly bad’. However, people were confident that the ‘good’ strangers were ‘truly good’. Dr Crockett said:

“We think our findings reveal a basic predisposition towards giving others, even strangers, the benefit of the doubt. The human mind is built for maintaining social relationships, even when partners sometimes behave badly.”

Ms  Jenifer Siegel, the study’s first author, said:

“The ability to accurately form impressions of others’ character is crucial for the development and maintenance of healthy relationships. We have developed new tools for measuring impression formation, which could help improve our understanding of relational dysfunction.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour (Siegel et al., 2018).