Why Do We Like To Be Afraid?
It is natural to be fascinated by anything that makes us feel fearful. The mechanisms that cause this fact have been studied by the scientific community. Understanding them helps us better understand the way our minds work. We will now see, in this article, why this phenomenon occurs.
We like to be afraid because of our brain function
According to researchers, the reason we like to feel scared is related to the way our minds work. When we are faced with a potentially dangerous stimulus, our body prepares to act. During these situations, certain hormones are secreted. They bring us into a state of “fight or flight”.
Thanks to this mechanism, our ancestors maximized their possibilities of survival in the face of all types of harmful situations. Substances like adrenaline or norepinephrine (two of the neurotransmitters involved in fear responses) helped them run away from or cope with what could hurt them.
The problem with this mechanism is that it has changed little over the past 10,000 years. The stimuli we encounter today are quite distinct from those of the cave era, but our bodily response is still much the same.
The biggest difference in how we react is in our rational brain. And it is precisely in this difference that we can find the reason for this “taste” for fear.
Disconnection between body and mind
Today, when we are faced with a stimulus that our body interprets as dangerous, a disconnection occurs between what we think and what we feel. On the one hand, our hormonal system is activated as if we are facing a potentially harmful situation. However, in the case of a horror movie or a haunted house, our brain is keenly aware that we are not in danger.
So, unlike what happened to our ancestors, we can enjoy the sensation produced by hormones without feeling unsafe. In this way, we feel more active, full of energy and do not suffer the consequences of a confrontation with a real threat.
In fact, according to some research, hormones related to fear are very similar to those of happiness. This is why many people say they feel better after a fearful but harmless experience. Looking for stimuli that frighten us can even become addicting.
Relationship between personality and taste for terror
The hormones released in the face of a terrorizing situation are not the only factor to take into account in this phenomenon. According to several studies, not all of us like to be afraid. There would be great individual differences depending on our personality.
We have thus discovered that there are several things that make us feel more attracted to frightening experiences. Here are the most important:
- Openness to experience. People who feel fascinated by new experiences tend to like terrorizing situations more.
- Extroversion. Extroverted people need a greater level of external stimulation to be truly comfortable. Horror movies, haunted houses, and the like are therefore more appealing to them, unlike introverted people.
- Empathy. Oddly enough, particularly empathetic people tend to appreciate situations of terror. This may be because they have a greater ability than the rest of people to process emotions. Therefore, they want to have more experiences of this type.
You have just discovered many of the reasons why we like to be afraid. Of course, many other factors can come into play. Science still has many unanswered questions and hypotheses to be clarified. More research is therefore needed on this topic.
Finally, you should know that curiosity towards anything that can generate an “artificial” feeling of fear is growing stronger every day.
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