Why Do Some People Like Horror Movies?

Where does the pleasure of fear in people come from? We can analyze the words of the famous researcher and psychologist Arthur Westermayr, “since the beginning of human thought, fear has been regarded with contempt”. If this statement is correct, why do so many people like to watch horror movies and feel scared?

Perhaps there is no genuine and totally right answer to understanding the pleasure that so many people find in this kind of feeling. However, let’s try to find the root of this singular emotion, which is often the enemy but is occasionally requested. Let’s get started!

Horror movies: the pleasure of controlled fear

Let’s start by referring to the testimony of sociologist Margee Kerr, who also works permanently at an attraction called The  House of Terror  in Pittsburgh, United States. For her, the secret is in control.

What does Kerr mean with control? The answer is simple. Whenever the human brain lives in fear in an environment that is really free from danger, the physiological reaction can be fun, hence the pleasure one feels in that kind of situation.

To this statement, Kerr adds that overcoming a situation of apparent high stress creates a well of self-confidence and an enviable positive feeling in our brain. A cocktail that allows our brain to take advantage of facts that a priori should be negative.

What is fear actually?

Do we know what fear is? A commonly accepted psychological current explains it as a series of emotions related to a psychological process that signals possible dangers, stress or singularly negative situations.

In reality fear is  a series of systems that activate physiologically and behaviorally in a concrete sense after going through a unique and threatening situation very quickly. After a first glance, our brain is already aware of the kind of fear that aroused in us.

Obviously, if our brain interprets the kind of fear we face as a controlled situation, it can be pleasant. In other words, horror movies, an event attraction, a Halloween party…

Now, if our brain feels a fear related to an uncontrolled situation, such as the possible death of a loved one, a robbery, etc., rest assured that there won’t be any real pleasure and real, uncontrolled terror can take over. our mind and our body.

Conditioning yourself to be afraid

Is it possible for a person to be conditioned to be afraid? If we analyze the “Conditioned Emotional Reactions” experiment that Rosalie Raynery and John Watson carried out in 1920, we can conclude that yes.

In the example cited, the researchers created a phobia in a child approximately nine months old. They published the study in which they described step by step the entire process through which they conditioned fear. It is an experiment that currently would not be accepted because no one has the right to condition this emotion in another person, and even less in a minor.

This means that our brains can be perfectly conditioned to experience fear in the face of a stimulus that they perceive as anticipating a threatening situation. This fear, we repeat, when experienced within a framework of control, is extraordinarily gratifying for many people. That’s why there are so many who like horror movies.

Psychological reactions to fear

The positive or negative reactions to fear can be understood from the psychological reactions that take place in our brain. According to the stimuli received, we are able to interpret and understand this emotion.

Within our limbic system, deep in our temporal lobe, we find the amygdala. This subcortical structure is responsible for delimiting whether it is a “fear-pleasure” or a “fear-real”.

Faced with a situation in which this emotion is produced, we can react in different ways. Maybe we’ll run, we’ll attack, we’ll run away… in any case, our bodies will react by releasing adrenaline and raising the level of cortisol and blood sugar.

Is this huge discharge from our organism positive? In fact, if you are in a controlled environment and your mind is sure that there is no danger, it will be a great pleasure for the whole body, which will take the opportunity to consume the substances it has released without interference from any real threat.

So, you already know: if everything is under control, the pleasure of fear can be one more tool to improve your mood. A way to allow your brain to feast on substances without anything or anyone irritating you. Of course, until the next moment the monster appears.