deepstash
Beta
Deepstash brings you key ideas from the most inspiring articles like this one:
Read more efficiently
Save what inspires you
Remember anything
3 psychological reasons we enjoy being scared out of our minds
3
Key Ideas
Save all ideas
Feeling rewarded
According to a 2008 study, dopamine is responsible for feelings of accomplishment and rewards, but it's also been linked to averse emotions like fear and dread.
People who enjoy fearful or risky situations tend to get more out of being scared out of their wits because they end up with higher levels of dopamine. Adrenaline, which is also released during dangerous moments, is also perceived as enjoyable by some.
85 SAVES
It can bring people together
We build a special closeness with those we are with when we're in an excited or scared state.
86 SAVES
The right kind of fear
The fun of Halloween is that you can experience the thrill of fear without any real threat.
It's all about triggering the fight-or-flight response to experience the flood of adrenaline, endorphins, and dopamine, but in a completely safe space.
70 SAVES
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
1
Key Idea
Enjoying scary movies
Research has found that willing exposure to that which scares us can provide a counterbalance to life's stresses:
- It may be an effective way to undermine anxiety and even bolst...
1
Key Idea
Reasons for enjoying or hating scary movies
- Sensation seeking individuals may enjoy scary movies because it will elevate the heart rate and make the body feel as though it needs to expend energy.
- Highly sensitive peopl...
4
Key Ideas
The Horror Movie
Horror is a genre that has a reputation of being a low, somewhat trashy, titillating genre that appeals to our basest instincts.
"Its also a wonderful, popular art form through which...
For a work to be classified as horror...
... it has to have a monster, which has to be threatening in some way. The monster is often otherworldly or violates the laws of nature, as in Alien or Jaws—but some argue that a human character can be a monster, as in Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and Halloween.
The monster generally is otherworldly or violates the laws of nature and is designed to elicit disgust as an emotion.
"The beast within"
This is the most popular theory explaining the genre’s popularity and it argues that an unconscious, repressed part of every human is actually savage; that the veneer of civility is very thin, and beneath that is essentially a monster.
Although we consciously disapprove of what the monster is doing, deep down part of us enjoys seeing the murder and mayhem the monster unleashes—because if we could, we would do that.