It’s also the likely reason for the Oddly Terrifying subreddit, which has more than two and a half million followers as of this posting. This side of the internet contains images that may leave you with a few uneasy emotions. It’s also the source of today’s story. Whether you’re looking for that jolt that caffeine can’t give or are simply a fan of everything morbid, scroll away. But do proceed with a little bit of caution. Media psychology expert Cynthia Vinney, PhD, provided a different explanation in an article she wrote for Very Well Mind. She mentioned the excitation transfer theory, which, in a nutshell, suggests that people find enjoyment in the negative effect of a horror film followed by the positive upswing upon the resolution of the threat. The study found that morbidly curious individuals find more enjoyment in horror films with prevalent themes of gore and violence and if they can turn it into a learning experience. This supports the theory Dr. Vinney noted in her article, suggesting that humans live vicariously through these movies. It allows us to “grapple with the darkest parts of humanity in a safe environment.” Behavioral scientist Coltan Scrivner, specializing in horror and morbid curiosity, published an article in 2021 entitled “The Psychology of Morbid Curiosity: Development and Initial Validation of the Morbid Curiosity Scale.” He argues that the fascination for the macabre “drives individuals to learn about aspects of life that are perceived to be dangerous.” “When a dangerous phenomenon is perceived to be near or impending, curiosity may spike in order to gather information about the dangerous phenomenon. By learning about the threatening factors associated with death, one can learn to avoid the negative outcomes associated with those factors,” he wrote. Psychology professors Haiyang Yang and Kuangjie Zhang identified another personality type: someone who lacks empathy. Here’s an excerpt of their piece for Harvard Business Review in 2021. “Those who are not so empathic can enjoy horror more. This is because those with a higher level of empathy tend to feel more negatively about the distress situations others experience, like people being tormented by a devious murderer in a film.” “Low empathy and fearfulness are associated with more enjoyment and desire to watch horror films but … specific dimensions of empathy are better predictors of people’s responses than are others.” “Men and boys prefer to watch, enjoy, and seek our horror more than do women and girls. Women are more prone to disgust sensitivity or anxiety than are men, and this may mediate the sex difference in the enjoyment of horror.” This rings true with eight-year-old Aubriella Lopez and her younger brother, six-year-old Dominic. Both are fans of the Michael Myers character from Halloween. Their mother, Kayla, spoke to CNN, saying, “I don’t really know of anybody that likes horror as much as them, honestly.” “Some children may be more willing to expose themselves to potentially scary things, perhaps because of the gratification they think they will experience from being able to conquer those things." According to Dr. Montgomery, it’s the anxiety that draws attraction. He wrote, “Something about the state of fear or anxiety, in other words, appears to make many of us more likely to experience feelings of sexual attraction towards other people. “Such a tendency may have originally evolved to encourage us to connect with or attach to other people when our survival is at risk.” Follow Bored Panda on Google News! Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda! Please use high-res photos without watermarks Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
