Why Does It Feel So Good To Be Scared?

of us love being scared. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bam Here on the menu of what's scary these days, there are many threats to choose, from mass shootings and uncertain political and economic future, nuclear war, spiders, so it begs the question why would anyone want more? Why do people, in fact pay money to be scared when there's already enough frightening stuff served up daily. But that's exactly what tons of people do. We Horror fans seek out horror movies,

scary books, and haunted houses. We pay to consume year, and selling fear is an increasingly profitable pursuit. For instance, the number of horror movies released in nineteen six only seven sixty two. The top twenty five horror films of twenty seventeen, including Stephen King's It Sold, combined a hundred and forty million tickets and grossed more than nine hundred

and twenty million dollars. But this is nothing new. Since nineteen sixty, horror movies have taken more than twenty four billion dollars of our hard earned money at the box office, adjusting for inflation. It's a big business antony haunted house industry, and yes we can call it an industry now is also capitalizing. It grossed more than three hundred million dollars in amusement parks another place to find heart racing attractions that scare so many annually serve three hundred and seventy

five million people in North America alone. Of course, this brand of fear served up by horror flicks, thrill rides, and even haunted houses is a specific and in fact different form of fear than what someone feels or deals with if they're mugged or chased by wild boars. And that is where we can find the answer to today's question, why do we do this to ourselves? First, it's important to know that there is a competing overload of various

definitions and associated nuances of fear. Lots of people study it, lots of people have opinions We'll break it down into two simple types, capital A anxiety and capital f fear.

Anxiety is what keeps us up at night. It's often experienced as dread, worry, uncertainty, nervousness, apprehension, and specifically, it focuses the mind on possible future events that might happen but have not happened yet, anything from nuclear war or the end of democracy, to the injury or death of loved ones, a terrible break up, the loss of finances, ETCETERA. Fear that is fright, horror, terror, or panic is the

much more straightforward frenemy. It derives from what is right in front of us, right now, an immediate threat to our safety. This could be standing in front of a crowd for a speech, an unfriendly dog running straight for us, or that moment when we accidentally walk through a spider web. Not anxiety about that possibly happening, but that actually happening. It causes significant near instantaneous fight or flight biological changes

in us. But further, in attempting to understand why someone would want to experience something like fear, we also need to acknowledge that it contains a subcategory which brings about similar symptoms but with mostly enjoyable outcomes. Margie Key is a sociologist who studies fear and the author of the

books Scream. She and her colleague Greg Seagal, PhD, the director for the Cognitive Neuroscience Program at the University of Pittsburgh, have come up with an academic description for this subcategory, voluntary engagement with negative high arousal stimuli, or in other words, going to a scary movie or haunted house and while allowing ourselves to feel the biological thrills of being scared. As part of this, the overall experience can lead to deeper meaning in our lives. In some cases, it can

even provide some therapeutic value for those experiencing anxiety. Care says that experiencing fun scary can give us a sense of mastery over it that can feel very gratifying. Here's a chance to feel like we've got it all within our control. Here's how it works. Step one, we choose to experience a scary activity. This step perhaps the most important, frames our entire experience. By exhibiting agency to face something scary,

we're acknowledging that we are in control of it. We also realize the safety inherent in this that if we walk into a haunted house, we're not going to be murdered,

not really right. Step two, something unexpected startles or unsettles us, like in The Blair Witch Project when someone is standing in a very dark corner, or The Shining when ghostly twins demand that we come play with them forever end ever, or in any number of slasher flicks when the protagonist realizes that the killer's calls are coming from inside the house. The original reference to that maybe when a stranger calls by the way, good trivia. At any rate, we're on edge,

which brings us two. Step three, we experience fight or flight. Danger stimuli is received by our brain and our sympathetic nervous system kicks into gear. This is what kept the Cave people away from sabertoothed lions. Our bodies are flooded with adrenaline, dopamine, oxytacin, and endorphins. Our heart rate, blood pressure in breathing increase, We sweat, we get goose bumps. In some cases, we may scream, involuntarily, jump or run

for the hills. Don't worry, it's all completely natural. Care says. This is the pedal to the metal and all systems go, but in a safe environment, one in which we choose to experience. It's important to note that this is much different than facing real danger, and that's what makes it fun. Care said, even deciding to do scary, this is the protective frame we've created for ourselves. In our mind. We are being open to engage with this material and suspend

our disbelief. It creates a different experience than if we were, say, mugged at random. Our framing of the situation is then going to be with that. In the context, screams mean fun and not fear, which leads us to step four. We experience satisfaction on a biological level. Our parasympathetic nervous system kicks in and it brings everything back down to normal heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, sweating, and that urge to run far, far away. Care said, this can feel

very relaxing. It's the rest and digest period. We're safe. We can sit with that and reap the benefits. So step five. Those benefits we share in the experience and build relationships. Care said of hunted house, horror movie and roller coaster excursions. These experiences are often linked with friends and family. We attend with them, were building strong bonds and a shared camaraderie that in itself can be really gratifying. It's the stuff that nostalgia is built from. So why

do we choose to experience certain scary things? The rush, sure, but also to make our lives feel more meaningful, to make memories. Care also notes that a common therapy for those who experience anxiety, that other brand of fear that consumes many of us these days, is to do something scary enough but ultimately safe, to activate your sympathetic nervous system. She said, It's a physical sensation that feels good. It

gives you a mental pause. You become grounded in your body, fully distracted by something in your environment, and ultimately you realize that you survived something. You set a challenge and you survived, which brings gratification. These days will take all the help we can get, So what's your favorite scary movie? Today's episode is based on the article why is so Good to Be Scared? On houst works dot com written

by Jamie Allen. Brainstuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com, and it's produced by Tyler Clang For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.