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Halloween Why we like horror movies even if they scare us
When watching scary movies, a defense mechanism is activated within us, which makes us feel terror, but also be able to control it
In groups of friends, there are always those who insist on watching horror movies, and those who flee in terror at the proposal. There are also those who have a very bad time watching them, and they do not stop doing it, or those who produce laughter. The taste for terror It is never the same: there are those who adore it, and those who hate it.
But beyond this, a question arises, how is it possible that, watching a movie, we really fear? The psychologist Laura Merino, from Centro Tap, explains that the fear response “is innate, protective and adaptive and is experienced as consequence of an activating stimulus that generates the intense emotion; is not a rational response to an approach
logical and thoughtful. But it is not only that, because a curious phenomenon occurs: the further from reality the approach to a horror film is, the more scary it can produce. This, says the psychologist, occurs because our brain enters a great contradiction and activates the state of alarm. “The irrational, the unknown puts us on guard,” he points out.
For this reason, explains the professional, stimuli that we normally interpret as something good, such as the dark, children or funny clowns, “in the movies they are presented to us in a terrifying way.” «Unusual sounds in the stillness of the dark, murderous children, a puckered mouth behind the smile … in our brain there is a contradiction so great that it raises our level of alertness and fear is reactively experienced, “he adds.
Another phenomenon that occurs is that there are people who, although they feel fear watching them, feel a certain «pleasure with it». The psychologist comments that in general, «the brain feels pleasure and predilection for strong experiencesIt is not simply that they are positive or negative, although they can be controlled ». For this reason, many times we opt for these types of films, and they even generate great passions, as can be seen with the number of festivals dedicated to them. There are two factors involved in that we like horror stories even if they make us have a bad time. The first, which “positively reinforces fear,” is feeling of great relief that we experience when it ends. “Relief is what makes the previous feeling of fear turn into something pleasant,” explains Laura Merino. On the other hand, the sense of personal triumph that we can feel before the control we have exercised over our sensations. “Horror films give us an opportunity to test our limits and surpass ourselves, they could be seen as ‘training spaces’ in which to improve our mental strengths in the face of adversity”, says the psychologist.
Do we feel the same when we watch scary movies as when we enter a “horror house”?
If when we watch a horror movie, we feel that terror, the same thing happens to us when we enter a “house of terror”, typical in amusement parks and fairs. “It is evident that the experiential factor is much greater in an attraction, but the mechanisms used to activate fear are the same, there is fiction and familiarity, there is intense emotion, there is control …”, says psychologist Laura Merino. “Either of the two scenarios, if they handle these mechanisms that activate our alarms well, will be guaranteed success; It is not so relevant to be sitting in an armchair or walking through a passage to scream and cover our eyes, “he adds.
It is interesting to note that, although many of these films show elements that we know are not real (such as ghosts or zombies) they generate the same fear reaction. This happens, says Laura Merino, because our organism when faced with a stimulus “first reacts (a” fright “leads to fear) and then reasons”. So, we see that a movie is full of activating stimuli, «so first we will feel the fear of the shock, (by the threatening close-up, by the chilling scream …), and then, when we are aware that it is a fiction, that is, that we have it under control, we start to enjoy the sensation ». On the other hand, he explains that a factor that contributes to how we experience these feelings of fear is if we identify with the character who is suffering. “Their breathing, their surprise, their disappointment at what is happening to them, we run with them and we feel with them the fear that they are showing us,” he ends.