Halloween haunted houses, true-crime television, roller coasters, horror movies—these hair-raisers aren’t everyone’s idea of a great time. But such fear-inducing thrills have become compelling attractions for many Americans.
Perhaps it seems counterintuitive that anyone would want to experience fear. Though it has served a crucial evolutionary purpose in keeping humans safe from harm, it’s generally considered a negative emotion.
Yet kids and adults alike enjoy subjecting themselves to the scares that accompany events like Halloween or extreme sports like rock climbing. Some say being afraid even makes them feel more alive.
What does fear actually do to our brains and bodies—and why do we intentionally seek out frightening experiences? Let’s take a look at some of the psychological, physiological, and emotional effects of fear, including their benefits and potential drawbacks.
WHAT’S BEHIND THE THRILL OF FEAR?
In a 2020 study called “Playing With Fear: A Field Study in Recreational Horror,” authors examined enjoyable fear—the kind that people seek out through stimuli like haunted houses. They listed previous research findings that help explain the appeal of these activities, such as:
- Confronting repressed desires
- An opportunity to act out expected gender roles
- The enjoyment of unpleasant experiences while feeling safe, known as hedonic reversal
While these explanations may resonate with fear-seekers, there are more reasons why being exposed to a sense of danger might create feelings of pleasure. Here are a few of the most notable.
Physiological changes
When you’re afraid, your brain and body go through a variety of changes, including:
- Increased dopamine release in the brain
- Activation of the amygdala, an almond-shaped structure within the brain’s temporal lobes that senses fear
- Release of stress hormones, including cortisol and adrenaline
- Increased breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure
- Increased blood flow to muscles and increased muscle strength (affecting the muscles needed for a fight response)
At the same time, peripheral vision narrows in order to more fully focus on the threat, an effect known as tunnel vision. You might start sweating or break out in goosebumps. All of these changes are part of the fight-or-flight response and have helped human beings survive throughout evolution.
But the rush of feel-good chemicals triggered in this response—dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin—leads to improved feelings of well-being after the threat has passed. This explains why you may feel euphoria or start laughing in the wake of a scary event.
Strengthened ability to confront fears
When fear is produced in a controlled environment, it can be beneficial to those who endure it and emerge safely afterward. The ability to successfully confront and then overcome fear can serve to boost inner strength and resilience, equipping people for subsequent real-life situations that are threatening.
Scholars have suggested that feeling fear, “when tolerable and in a safe and controlled environment, such as through viewing horror movies, could benefit individuals by preparing and practicing specific skills like emotion regulation and distress tolerance.”
Indeed, a 2019 study published in the medical journal Emotion examined the aftereffects of voluntary arousing negative experiences—in this case, haunted house visits. The results found that participants reported that their affect improved, especially those who felt tired, bored, or stressed before having the scary experience.
After the event, these subjects showed less neural reactivity in the face of stress. These results suggest that controlled fear experiences could help them better cope with later stressors.
Building interpersonal bonds
Fear and hardship are powerful bonding agents among humans. This drives the lifelong camaraderie built among soldiers who have faced war together, or in communities that have endured a natural disaster.
We can also witness this phenomenon in a theater full of horror movie goers (or even between a couple who visits such a movie on a date). This is a side effect of the oxytocin release mentioned above as part of the fight-or-flight response.
When people face and overcome a threat together, it tends to bring them closer. As researchers have noted, “the same biological systems that supported social bonds and reproduction enhanced the capacity to overcome fear, stress, and disease” throughout our evolution.
In other words, fear and love are inextricably linked. Our desire for safety from threats has made humans more likely to seek out each other. And our relationships have increased our perceived feelings of safety in the face of danger.
Escapism and catharsis
When the demands of real life feel overwhelming, many people seek out the escapism of pastimes like movies and television. And, for some, scary tales help them more effectively forget about their own troubles.
When people watch characters on a screen face real or imaginary dangers, like in a horror movie or through dangerous sports events, they can transfer their own feelings of anxiety to an outside party. They feel comforted as a result.
In addition, people can experience catharsis through scary experiences, whether watching them on a screen or personally participating in them, such as by riding a roller coaster. Fear can elicit responses like screaming, shaking, or tingling, which can work to release unpleasant emotions.
Not surprisingly, studies have found that those with a penchant for sensation seeking are most likely to enjoy entertainment options that include fright and violence. Other factors, such as empathy, tendency toward aggression, and gender, can also affect subjects’ enjoyment levels.
WHEN FEAR GOES TOO FAR
Although watching a horror movie, entering a haunted house, or riding a roller coaster can be fun and safe ways to generate fear, there can be negative effects, too.
For example, young children may not yet have the capacity to distinguish imaginary threats from real ones. They can experience stress, nightmares, and even panic attacks after partaking in fearful experiences like watching scary movies. Lasting negative effects can happen to adults, too, like increased anxiety after the controlled-fear event concludes.
Adults who have experienced severe traumas or who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may prefer to avoid consuming frightening content. When something in a film recreates the viewer’s traumatic event, such as sexual assault or war, it can trigger unwanted consequences like flashbacks.
However, for reasons explained in #2 above, others believe that facing the things that scare us most can be helpful and therapeutic, if done properly. This is the rationale behind exposure therapy, used to treat phobias.
There is also a common effect among those who may be labeled “adrenaline junkies,” wherein—just like with drug users—they may need to create more intense adrenaline rushes over time. Loving an adrenaline rush is commonly seen in people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), also called attention deficit disorder (ADD).
In some cases, they can develop a tolerance to lower-grade thrills and seek out increasingly scarier experiences to get the same effect, which can eventually put them in real danger.
Ultimately, deciding whether to partake in scary events, hobbies, or entertainment is a personal decision that should be made carefully. Each person will have a different capacity to process their fears. But for those who love a frightful thrill, subjecting themselves to scares can be a fundamental human experience that offers surprising psychological benefits.
