Immersion in fictional worlds allows us to own our dark side | Psyche Ideas

We strive to see ourselves as 'good' and feel, deep down, that we are fundamentally honest and moral. We tend to dismiss the idea that darkness could lie within us.

Research shows that we avoid others who seem similar to us but 'bad' in some way, such as learning about a serial killer who happens to like the same movie or food as us.

People feel comfortable exploring perspectives in fiction that would be too disturbing in real life.

Studies show that people who possess a specific trait seem more drawn to fictional villains who show the same trait. For example, intelligent participants were drawn to intelligent villains, hot-headed people to hot-headed villains, etc. However, participants were uncomfortable identifying with real-life villains.