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In this podcast, the host explores the psychological effects of horror movies on humans. She discusses how horror movies are negatively perceived but still popular, and the biological, cognitive, and physical effects they have on us. The host explains the fight or flight response triggered by fear, the role of different brain regions in fear responses, and why people are drawn back to horror movies. She talks about the correlation between empathy and enjoyment of horror movies, sensation relief provided by horror films, and the sense of control that makes them appealing. While it's unclear if the effects are positive or negative, as long as individuals are satisfied, there shouldn't be an issue. Hello and welcome to today's podcast. My name is Kaitlyn Tuttle and I'm a freshman at the University of Tennessee studying psychology. In today's episode, we will be talking about horror movies and their psychological effects on humans. Now personally, I love watching horror movies, but I know it's not the same for everyone. And in fact, among all the movie industries, horror is actually the most negatively looked upon and is rated below all other cinemas. I find these so interesting because among commercial viewers, it's so popular and successful. So before I dive into the biological effects of horror, let's define horror. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, horror is a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay. And see, the thing I question from this definition the most is how come a feeling that is so undesirable in real life is so drawn to in watching a horror movie. Now to look from a psychological standpoint, there are so many different biological, cognitive, and physical effects horror movies have on us, but we don't really know if they're positive or negative. And yet, we're still drawn back to them for a couple of reasons, including our level of empathy, and the fact that it relieves sensations, and the situational control that we have. So before we explore the reasons we're drawn back to horror movies, let's look at the biological effects fear has on our bodies. So fear is an emotion that is felt without our minds even comprehending it, right? And the stimuli triggers a reaction that elicits a fight or flight response in our bodies. So a good example of this is when you're watching a horror movie and a jump scare happens out of nowhere and it makes us jerk or yell. And that jump scare is the stimuli, and then the jerk or yell is the reaction, and this is because it's our body's natural response. And so the many cognitive responses involved with fear include the thalamus, sensory cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus. And this might not be something you know about or even know what they are, but they make up our every action, which is pretty important. And so when watching something that elicits this fear reaction, it begins in the thalamus and then ends in the hypothalamus. And so from a broader standpoint, this fight or flight response is obviously not usually desired in our day-to-day lives, but when it comes to watching horror movies, this is the response that drives people to actually seek horror out. So now that we understand what actually happens in the brain, let's dive into the reasons we are drawn back to horror films. The first reason deals with the amount of empathy an individual has. Empathy is something that's developed over time through experiences, but still everyone has a different amount. Now you may be asking how this relates to horror movies at all. Well, researchers have found that there is a correlation between empathy and the amount of enjoyment of these horror movies. One example I really like is from an educational article written by Neil Martin, who is a licensed clinical psychologist, and his article is called, Do You Like Scary Movies? I Reviewed the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films. So in this article, they did a study on empathy. One quote that resonated with me from this article is, people high on enduring negative effects have been found to experience more distress and less enjoyment of suffering. Those who have had prior exposure to frightening films enjoyed danger more and enjoyed happy endings less. So when analyzing these ideas, the people that are seeking out horror movies are proven to be less empathetic, which makes sense because, I mean, watching people getting murdered isn't the most pleasant sight. I don't think this is a negative thing, however, I think it just shows that people with higher levels of empathy are not as intrigued by the gruesome bits of horror movies. And so another quote from this same article that stood out to me states, individuals high in empathy will express more negative effects regardless of a successful resolution to the threat in the film. And so when looking at the effects and if they're positive or negative, I mean, this just proves that no matter the ending, horror movies still have an effect on those with all levels of empathy. But it's definitely more negative for those with higher levels. With all that being said, this leads me to my next reason, which is people are still drawn to horror because of the sensation relief it provides, especially within those that already lack it. To start off, you may be wondering, but what is sensation seeking? And so according to the author we talked about above, it's the seeking of varied novel, complex and intense sensations and experiences and the willingness to take physical, social, legal and financial risks for the sake of such experiences. So what I take away from this is that horror films differ from other movie genres, obviously, but it's because they actually alter their perception of our bodies and allow us to feel what's going on in the plot differently than in other movie genres like romance or comedy. And this arousal is a thrill that cannot be obtained from any other movie type. Katerina Bantanaki, she is an assistant professor at the University of Crete and she talks about fear and its effects in her article, which is called The Paradox of Horror, Fear as a Positive Emotion. One thing she wrote that really stands out to me is a quote that states, the excitement that we feel in fear and excitement produced by physiological changes such as an increased alertness and mental tension and increased heartbeat and so on is what makes fear potentially enjoyable. Now I find this so interesting because the feelings of sensation actually kind of overpower the feelings of distress within them. And so although these jump scares and creatures are not pleasurable to view, the sensations that they provide are actually what makes us drawn back towards them. So even if someone feels scared after watching a horror movie, you give it some time and most likely they'll be attracted back because of that arousal. When looking at this sensation relief, if it's positive or negative, I mean these examples directly show fear as positive and allow us to overall say that horror movies do have benefits. This leads me to my last and the most convincing reason, which is that we are still drawn back to horror movies because of our ability to control the situation. Obviously this includes many different types of control. Ben Tanaki explains the control when watching or reading horror movies with this quote, we have control over our experience, that is, we decide to shut our eyes or walk away when the narrative gets too disturbing, which allows us to enjoy the negative emotions that the fiction elicits in ways we would not be able to enjoy them in response in real life situations. And I find this quote so powerful because it proves that as humans, we're able to understand our surrounding environment, which is why horror does not negatively affect us to the point of withdrawal. And she also talks about how we have the ability to choose the amount of horror tolerance for ourselves, which in turn makes it more enjoyable. There's a certain degree of safety that is present when in a room watching a movie than in a real life situation, which helps our tolerance threshold maintain stability. Having control of our surrounding situation when watching horror movies allows us to enjoy them, which makes us drawn back time and time again. To sum it all up, horror films and the industry overall have proven to make many people satisfied through their entertainment. As I discussed, there's plenty of credible evidence showing the effects horror movies have on us humans. So the main reasons I talked about were their levels of empathy, sensation relief from temporary arousal, and situational control. And I think it's really difficult to say whether these effects cognitively are negative or positive, but I think as long as the individual is satisfied with the results, there should be no issue. So for now, enjoy all the horror movies you want. That's all I have to say today. I'm Caitlin Puddle. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening.