Why Do People Like Horror Movies? What Is the Psychology Behind It?

Yearning to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up with the latest thriller? Why do you enjoy watching movies that cause you to feel fear and have adrenaline rushes? You may think that you enjoy horror movies simply for the feeling of a good jump scare or the sensation of the hair standing up on the back of your neck. But there may be more to it than that! According to science findings, people may seek out horror movies for all sorts of reasons, such as triggering chemicals in their brains, to help them plan for worst case scenarios, or to practice coping strategies and control. Which reason or reasons below best fits your love of horror films?

Jump Scares: Instilling Feelings of Accomplishment and Confidence
According to Greco, shocking events in films that pop out at you and cause you to jump in fright, known as jump scares, can trigger “fight or flight,” which releases dopamine and endorphins. For those who don’t know, the autonomic nervous system is an evolutionary feat that helps humans to react properly to dangerous situations and to safe situations. There are two parts to this system: the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous systems. The parasympathetic nervous system controls your body’s ability to “rest and digest,” to relax in safe situations so your body is better able to prepare for the dangerous situations, which the sympathetic nervous system controls. The sympathetic nervous system controls what is known as “fight or flight.” This kicks into action and enables the body to either run from or prepare to fight whatever danger it may be facing. As mentioned previously, during “fight or flight,” dopamine and endorphins are released. When it comes to these hormones being released due to your body facing a dangerous situation, your body can also react in this way to situations that may appear dangerous, but truly are not, such as in horror movies. The flooding of these hormones gives your brain and body a false high while watching these scary scenes. I say false because this experience also brings on a sense of accomplishment for you. By watching a scary movie, your brain feels it has accomplished surviving a scary situation, even though it knows you were never in any real danger to begin with. Going through a scary situation in a controlled, safe environment can help to establish confidence in yourself.

Control and Planning in Advance
One benefit of watching scary movies is that it allows your brain to plan for these events if they ever were to happen. You may feel empowered to watch a true crime documentary or horror movie because you are in a safe environment where you can plan what you would do if you were ever in a similar situation. Although you probably will never face a zombie apocalypse or a demon nun, watching these movies allows you to practice, or at least identify, coping strategies in the face of uncertainty, suspense, and distress. Furthermore—you are able to do so in a safe place, with control over the situation to think about what you would do to survive if you were in a character’s position.

Rest and Digest and Connection Through Trauma
Fellizar adds to the allure of horror movies by not only reiterating the draw of experiencing fight or flight, but also the calming feeling following this biological process. Also known as “rest and digest,” which is mentioned above, this dopamine response can aid in flooding your brain with this addictively calming hormone, while also helping you to feel better after this scary experience. Sitting through a scary experience just for the after effect may seem strange, but many people could benefit from it, especially those with anxiety. Many individuals suffering from anxiety or PTSD may constantly feel on edge or in a state of panic, which is why that feeling of rest and digest following panic is so captivating. Not to mention that individuals who watch scary movies together tend to feel an increase in attraction and connection with others who are watching the movie with them. You all bond over surviving this traumatic experience.

Research has been done to look into attraction and bonding in fear-induced situations and shown some interesting results. Kenrick and Johnson showed an increase in attraction among individuals placed in fearful situations, due to a negative reinforcement model. As classical conditioning tells us, individuals can be trained through practice and triggers, which means that the repeated administration of something harmful, such as shocks, can lead to fear. However, by repeatedly introducing something else, such as a person, when the shocks are not administered, the participant is very likely to want that person around as much as possible, in order to divert the shocks. This exact idea was shown by Riordan and Tedeschi; Dutton and Aron also saw attraction in participants toward their interviewer when placed in scary situations with them. This all provides support to the same idea that attraction blossoms in scary situations.

In theory, this attraction is actually due to the misattribution of arousal. According to Schachter’s two-factor theory of emotion, for people to experience and understand their emotions, they must feel the physiological symptoms associated with their emotions and then label that emotion. Along these lines, the misattribution of arousal refers to feeling the physiological attributes, but being confused as to what to label the emotion. Through this, someone may feel their heart racing and their palms sweating while watching Linda Blair’s head spin in The Exorcist, but believe what is happening to their body is due to the person next to them, rather than the effect the movie is having on them. This is why the person watching the movie may believe they are attracted to the person they are watching the movie with, rather than feeling fear from the movie they are watching.

Freudian Logic
Greco also points out the Freudian aspect of horror or violent movies people may enjoy. Similar to how people are given a free pass to do anything and everything illegal in any of The Purge movies, thrillers give you a chance to feed the taboo part of yourself that you may otherwise deny for whatever moral reason. For instance, you may identify with the character beating up another character because it fulfills a base instinct in yourself or even because you agree with the reasoning behind that. You wouldn’t go around hitting others in real life because it would be immoral, harmful, and illegal, but in the fantasy of a movie, you get to live out what you otherwise cannot do in the real world.

The Cons of Watching Thrillers
Unfortunately, there is a downside to watching horrors and thrillers. Too much exposure to movies like these can lead to an increase in anxiety, PTSD, and heart rate, which can put those with heart problems further at risk of an attack. Not to mention, the continued release of dopamine and adrenaline from viewing these scenes can put people with panic and anxiety disorders at risk for panic attacks or even fainting. Continued viewing of such violent scenes, as the killings in any of the Saw movies, Hostel, Texas Chain Saw Massacre, etc., can lead to a desensitization effect where the individual thinks such violence is normal to see or less shocking than it is expected to be. Obviously, believing violence is normal is not a healthy way of viewing life and can lead to more aggressive behavior.