The Science of Recreational Fear
WHETHER IT’S A HAUNTED HOUSE OR A HORROR FLICK, SOME OF US CAN’T RESIST A GOOD SCARE. EMERGING RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT RECREATIONAL FEAR MAY ALSO BENEFIT OUR MENTAL HEALTH.
MAYBE YOU’RE sprawled on the sofa, clutching the armrest in terror — yet still unable to tear your eyes away — as Freddy Krueger slices his way across the screen in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Or perhaps you’re tiptoeing through a haunted house at a local amusement park, bubbling with nervous anticipation as you walk around every corner.
You might even be sitting in the dark of a movie theater, gasping and shrieking at the latest horror flick in unison with dozens of strangers.
Most people tend to avoid things that scare or frighten them. So why, exactly, do some of us shell out money to watch movies and visit attractions designed to trigger feelings of terror?
“What has historically been called the ‘paradox of horror’ is that, on the one hand, people feel a negative, aversive emotion — fear — and on the other hand, a positive, enjoyable emotion at the same time,” says Marc Malmdorf Andersen, co-director of the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Researchers like Andersen have sought to unravel that paradox through rigorous scientific study of what they call recreational fear, or any mixed emotional experience that blends fear and enjoyment.
Their early findings suggest that frightening experiences might help us practice how to safely deal with scary situations and unpleasant emotions — and that, sometimes, cozying up for a spooky movie can actually be good for us.
NOT EVERYONE loves horror movies and haunted houses, of course. But the pleasures of a good scare may, in part, be rooted in our basic biology. A 2016 study in Nature Neuroscience found that the central amygdala, the region of the brain that scientists have long linked to fear, primarily harbors neurons that fuel pleasure-inducing behavior.
“Recreational fear seems to be something that emerges very early in childhood,” says Andersen. “It seems to be something that humans, from a very early age, become interested in. Think of peek-a-boo, which by some has been called the first jump scare that children are exposed to. It’s a phenomenon that appears all over the world.”
There are other possibilities to explain why we like getting spooked. One emerging theory among horror scholars is that recreational fear can be likened to a type of play, allowing individuals to simulate threats (like living through a zombie apocalypse) and feel negative emotions (such as fear, anxiety, dread, and disgust) without actually being in danger.
As such, people who manage to make it to the end of a horror movie without hiding under the covers might feel a sense of mastery and accomplishment over the threat they’ve simulated, and seek out similar experiences in the future.
INDEED, tuning into a horror flick can bring more than just simple thrills. In a 2023 study on three different types of horror fans, horror scholar Mathias Clasen — the other co-director of the Recreational Fear Lab — and colleagues found that all of the groups reported distinct benefits, from instant gratification to personal growth.
Beyond that, toying with recreational fear may leave you better equipped when real threats do emerge.
In a study conducted during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Clasen and his teammates found that horror fans were more psychologically resilient.
“That study suggested that horror fans were less stressed out about the whole situation, when many humans were freaking out about what was going to happen,” says Andersen. “And one possible reason is that they were simply more practiced in terms of thinking about these worst-case scenarios.”
Despite potential benefits like better coping skills, if you don’t enjoy horror, you shouldn’t force yourself to experience it. “It has to do with what an individual is ready to encounter,” says Andersen. “It’s probably not a good idea to just power through horror movies.”
If you are ready to take the plunge, though, there are still ways that you can modulate your horror-viewing to be more enjoyable: Inviting friends over for social support, turning down the volume, and flicking on a few lights, says Andersen, can all help temper the experience.
“It’s kind of like eating chili,” he adds. “You build a tolerance to it.”
Early findings suggest that frightening experiences might help us practice how to deal with scary situations and unpleasant emotions in a safe environment.