Fear and Thrill
Maggie explores the intriguing psychology behind why people willingly seek out fear through haunted houses and horror films. Despite the disorienting and creepy environment, studies show that participants often leave with improved moods and altered emotional processing. This phenomenon suggests that for thrill-seekers, confronting fear can serve as a unique form of emotional release and even relaxation.In this clip
From this podcast
Hidden Brain
Episode 6: The Science of Fear
Related Questions
If the goal is to diminish the physiological response, then if a person works to change their physiological response immediately after being triggered, would that over time also diminish the physiological response and therefore break the conditioning?
For example, if a person had a traumatic experience with a spider, but every time the person sees the spider or gets activated through some trigger and immediately uses breathwork to calm the body, would that work like retelling a narrative to extinguish the fear?
Why is it that people pay money to show up at these haunted houses? They pay money to go and see horror movies?