October 2, 2006
Fear-Seekers: Psychologist Explains Why Humans Enjoy Scary Stories, Movies
People like being scared because they enjoy the adrenaline rush.Why do we like to scare ourselves? A Texas Tech researcher gives us the psychology behind the scary movies we watch.
Written by John W. Davis
Some people love to watch spine-tingling tales of horror and suspense.
Others hate feeling the fear induced by a scary story.
But one thing is certain, says Dr. David Rudd, chairman of the Department of Psychology at Texas Tech University – only humans seek out this kind of excitement.
“We’re about the only living animals that enjoy this kind of an experience,” Rudd says. “It takes advanced cognitive processing. People like being scared because they enjoy the autonomic arousal and the associated safety of, say, a scary movie, because it gives them the rush without the risk.”
The Rush Without the Risk
People don’t enjoy fear, Rudd says, but find the excitement of a good scare tantalizing. If a person walks into traffic and nearly gets hit by a car, that person wouldn’t classify the fearful experience as enjoyable.
However, that person may enjoy the excitement from a scary movie because that induces the same autonomic arousal that the near-miss with the car created. He or she will have the same adrenaline rush and increase in breathing and heart rate that the car experience created, but without the risk to his or her life.
“Most people don’t think about it in that refined of a way, but that’s the distinction that goes on,” Rudd says. “It’s all about how you label the experience in your head.”
The film industry knows this, he says, and tries to play off human autonomic response. The best scary movies never show the full picture, only give bits and pieces of information and induce excitement through music and tell-tale camera angles.
This conditioning keeps viewers on the edge of their seats anticipating something bad will happen when the music and camera angles change, capitalizing on their imagination.
Not For Everyone
Not everyone likes to be scared, Rudd says.
That’s because some people have a lower threshold to induce the fear/excitement responses. People with lower thresholds for excitement get scared more easily, and may jump and scream if a door slams behind them. Others may not bat an eye.
“The whole autonomic arousal response is a form of protection and survival,” he says. “People with lower thresholds are more fearful, and probably wouldn’t enjoy watching a scary movie. Others with a higher threshold need much more excitement to get the same response.”
Featured Expert
Dr. David Rudd, chairman of the Department of Psychology, Texas Tech University, (806) 742-0818 or David.Rudd@ttu.edu.
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Photography by Artie Limmer
Web editing by Julie Box
Web layout and illustration by Lisa Low