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Every Halloween, people line up to see horror movies and haunted houses, but why is fear so attractive?
According to Steve Joordens, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, it comes from a mix of bodily reactions.
“When something suddenly occurs that could be a threat to our life… that kicks in our fight-or-flight system,” he told Brent Loucks.
However, there’s a major difference between real life fear about danger and excitement from horror movies.
“Nobody likes fear, nobody likes real fear… but in a theatre, you get a little taste of that happening,” Joordens said.
“But you’re getting it in a context where you know, ultimately, that the source of the fear is not real, the danger is not real.”
He said many different positive feelings can come from this sensation, such as humour.
“(It can be) enjoyable afterwards. Everybody looking at each other and going, ‘wow, that really got you, didn’t it?'”
Another example is a physical response that comes from knowing you’re safe.
“There’s the original rush of the fear response, then there’s that second wave of ‘no, no, everything’s cool,’ and that can be almost euphoric,” he explained.
Joordens himself isn’t a fan of scary movies, but he understands why many people are.
“That feeling of fear… it is a powerful feeling.”