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A Halloween riddle for you: Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?
Have you ever thought of the health effects of being scared? This time of year is full of creepy decorations, horror movie marathons, and haunted hay rides. Behavioral researchers have been observing people's reactions to and obsessions with horror movies, leading to the term the "horror paradox."
According to Joanna Cantor, Ph.D and director of the Center for Communication Research at University of Wisconsin, Madison, most people like to experience pleasant emotions. But this leads to a need to understand the impact of horror movies on adults and children.
When people watch horrific images, such as someone being chased with an axe, they have a physical reaction similar to if they were being chased. They experience an increase in their heart rate by as much as 15 beats per minute, their palms sweat, their skin temperature drops several degrees, their muscles tense, and their blood pressure spikes. Our brains haven't adapted to watching movies so our brain, and therefore our bodies, react as if the images on the screen are real.
Professor Glen Sparks from Purdue University studied the physical effects of violent movies on young men. He found that they more fear they felt, the more they claimed to enjoy the movie. Sparks believes that this goes back to our tribal ancestors where males have a motivation to master threatening situations and overcome hardship as a tribal rite of passage.
There are other theories of why people seek out violent entertainment, such as a morbid curiosity, or as a way of coping with actual fears or violence. Stephen King claims that they act as a "safety net for our cruel or aggressive impulses." But media researchers have shown that this isn't the case after experiments showing college men violent movies made them more hostile.
Still, there is such thing as a "type T" personality. These thrill seekers thrive on the uncertainty and intensity associated with activities most people don't enjoy. Males, from late adolescence to their early 20s, make up a larger percentage of these type T personalities. A typical explanation for why thrill seekers and regular folks can watch these movies is because they are willing to endure the terror in order to enjoy a euphoric sense of relief at the end. When you're scared your body goes into "fight or flight" mode. This causes an increase in adrenaline throughout the body. When there isn't any real danger your body feels the adrenaline as euphoria. There is also the possibility that as people become more desensitized to violence in the media, they'll become more desensitized to violence in real life.
Children especially should stay about from horror films. According to one study 60% of students had sleep or waking disturbances caused by something they had watched before age 14. The fears manifested themselves in nightmares, anxious feelings, and aggressive behavior. And these fears don't always dissipate- more than a quarter of the students said they were still fearful. Researchers think this link is because film memories produce similar reactions to those produced by actual trauma and therefore may be just as hard to erase.
I haven't used a baby picture in a while and I'm pretty sure this is what I would look like if I ever watched a scary movie. Image Credit: Colleen Blake Miller
About one-third of the population would prefer to avoid scary movies, and one thing I know for sure is that I won't be watching any scary movies this Halloween season.
Answer: He didn't have the guts!
Resources
Why We Love Scary Movies
Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared
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Re: All You Need Is a Good Scare
