The Thrill Of Fear

Think of something that scares you the most.  It might be spiders, monsters, or that really big roller coaster your friends want to go on.  If we are so scared of things like that, why do we actively seek them out if fear is a natural survival instinct?  Here's why.
Research has shown the fear of watching something scary and experiencing something scary is the same.  When seeing a scary scene, the person's heartbeat raises as much as 15 beats per minute, their palms sweat, body temperature drops several degrees, muscles tense, and blood pressure spikes.  Precisely what happens when you are actually in a scene like that, not sitting in the theater eating popcorn and drinking soda.  The brain has a hard time figuring out what's real and what isn't in movies, and even if you tell yourself it's fake, some tiny (or big) part of your brain will still think it's real.  So it's not like you're just experiencing "another kind of fear" that's addictive.

Is it something to do with our individual brain chemistry?  Yes actually, it does.

Dopamine Diagram

Dopamine, a chemical released when we get scared or thrilled, is found to be addictive to some people's brain, making them seek out scary and thrilling things, like the R rated horror movie or the roller-coaster with ten corkscrews.  Some people don't have this though, and that makes them scared easier.  And like any addiction, it requires more and more later on to get the same affect, making that person watch more horror movies and going on even faster coasters.

 It also has to with confidence.  If you're less confident, you might submit yourself to a scary movie to prove to yourself and others that you are brave.  However, if you do something at a young age that was too scary for you at the time, that traumatic experience will prevent you from ever experiencing anything like it again.  For example, my first time going on a roller-coaster at age 6 made me scared of coasters.  To enjoy a scary situation, we need to be in a safe environment.  Haunted houses are good at this, they give you enough time to realize the "threat" isn't real before throwing another one at you.

If you have any questions, please email them to mulberrytimes@gmail.com, the newspaper email.  Thanks for reading!