WEBVTT - Why Does It Feel So Good To Be Scared? 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:06.760 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:10.080 brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here with another classic episode from 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.280 our archives. I wanted to air this one because we 0:00:13.360 --> 0:00:16.360 are dead in the midst of spooky season, though I 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.680 personally believe every season should be at least a little spooky, 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.319 and so that got me thinking again about why lots 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:28.840 of us love being scared. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogel 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:32.240 Bam Here on the menu of what's scary these days, 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:35.800 there are many threats to choose, from mass shootings and 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:41.639 uncertain political and economic future, nuclear war, spiders, so it 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:46.200 begs the question why would anyone want more? Why do people, 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:48.879 in fact pay money to be scared when there's already 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.720 enough frightening stuff served up daily. But that's exactly what 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:56.480 tons of people do. We Horror fans seek out horror movies, 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:00.240 scary books, and haunted houses. We pay to consume year, 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:05.240 and selling fear is an increasingly profitable pursuit. For instance, 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.720 the number of horror movies released in nineteen six only 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:14.080 seven sixty two. The top twenty five horror films of 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:18.080 twenty seventeen, including Stephen King's It Sold, combined a hundred 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:21.120 and forty million tickets and grossed more than nine hundred 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:25.119 and twenty million dollars. But this is nothing new. Since 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.080 nineteen sixty, horror movies have taken more than twenty four 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:31.319 billion dollars of our hard earned money at the box office, 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:36.280 adjusting for inflation. It's a big business antony haunted house industry, 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.080 and yes we can call it an industry now is 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:42.560 also capitalizing. It grossed more than three hundred million dollars 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:46.880 in amusement parks another place to find heart racing attractions 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:50.160 that scare so many annually serve three hundred and seventy 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:54.560 five million people in North America alone. Of course, this 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.440 brand of fear served up by horror flicks, thrill rides, 0:01:57.480 --> 0:02:00.559 and even haunted houses is a specific and in fact 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.760 different form of fear than what someone feels or deals 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.320 with if they're mugged or chased by wild boars. And 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.200 that is where we can find the answer to today's question, 0:02:10.720 --> 0:02:14.240 why do we do this to ourselves? First, it's important 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.160 to know that there is a competing overload of various 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:21.840 definitions and associated nuances of fear. Lots of people study it, 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.200 lots of people have opinions We'll break it down into 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:30.359 two simple types, capital A anxiety and capital f fear. 0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.160 Anxiety is what keeps us up at night. It's often 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:40.360 experienced as dread, worry, uncertainty, nervousness, apprehension, and specifically, it 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:44.000 focuses the mind on possible future events that might happen 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:48.079 but have not happened yet, anything from nuclear war or 0:02:48.160 --> 0:02:50.800 the end of democracy, to the injury or death of 0:02:50.840 --> 0:02:54.400 loved ones, a terrible break up, the loss of finances, ETCETERA. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:59.360 Fear that is fright, horror, terror, or panic is the 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:03.680 much more straightforward frenemy. It derives from what is right 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.160 in front of us, right now, an immediate threat to 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:08.480 our safety. This could be standing in front of a 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:12.000 crowd for a speech, an unfriendly dog running straight for us, 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:15.400 or that moment when we accidentally walk through a spider web. 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.919 Not anxiety about that possibly happening, but that actually happening. 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:24.840 It causes significant near instantaneous fight or flight biological changes 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:29.040 in us. But further, in attempting to understand why someone 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:31.960 would want to experience something like fear, we also need 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:35.440 to acknowledge that it contains a subcategory which brings about 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:40.800 similar symptoms but with mostly enjoyable outcomes. Margie Key is 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:43.440 a sociologist who studies fear and the author of the 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:47.440 books Scream. She and her colleague Greg Seagal, PhD, the 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:51.240 director for the Cognitive Neuroscience Program at the University of Pittsburgh, 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:55.280 have come up with an academic description for this subcategory, 0:03:55.560 --> 0:04:00.760 voluntary engagement with negative high arousal stimuli, or in other words, 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:04.360 going to a scary movie or haunted house and while 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:07.560 allowing ourselves to feel the biological thrills of being scared. 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.520 As part of this, the overall experience can lead to 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:13.320 deeper meaning in our lives. In some cases, it can 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:17.920 even provide some therapeutic value for those experiencing anxiety. Care 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.280 says that experiencing fun scary can give us a sense 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.719 of mastery over it that can feel very gratifying. Here's 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:26.560 a chance to feel like we've got it all within 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:31.279 our control. Here's how it works. Step one, we choose 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:35.480 to experience a scary activity. This step perhaps the most important, 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:40.239 frames our entire experience. By exhibiting agency to face something scary, 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:43.080 we're acknowledging that we are in control of it. We 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:46.000 also realize the safety inherent in this that if we 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:49.000 walk into a haunted house, we're not going to be murdered, 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:55.520 not really right. Step two, something unexpected startles or unsettles us, 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.719 like in The Blair Witch Project when someone is standing 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:02.000 in a very dark corner, or The Shining when ghostly 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.000 twins demand that we come play with them forever end ever, 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.599 or in any number of slasher flicks when the protagonist 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:11.720 realizes that the killer's calls are coming from inside the house. 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:14.920 The original reference to that maybe when a stranger calls 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.760 by the way, good trivia. At any rate, we're on edge, 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.560 which brings us two. Step three, we experience fight or flight. 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.200 Danger stimuli is received by our brain and our sympathetic 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.120 nervous system kicks into gear. This is what kept the 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:32.640 Cave people away from sabertoothed lions. Our bodies are flooded 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.679 with adrenaline, dopamine, oxytacin, and endorphins. Our heart rate, blood 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:39.720 pressure in breathing increase, We sweat, we get goose bumps. 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:43.600 In some cases, we may scream, involuntarily, jump or run 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.919 for the hills. Don't worry, it's all completely natural. Care says. 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:50.800 This is the pedal to the metal and all systems go, 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:54.520 but in a safe environment, one in which we choose 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.040 to experience. It's important to note that this is much 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:00.240 different than facing real danger, and that's what makes it fun. 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:04.200 Care said, even deciding to do scary, this is the 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.560 protective frame we've created for ourselves. In our mind. We 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.560 are being open to engage with this material and suspend 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:14.080 our disbelief. It creates a different experience than if we were, say, 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:17.120 mugged at random. Our framing of the situation is then 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:20.040 going to be with that. In the context, screams mean 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:23.679 fun and not fear, which leads us to step four. 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:28.679 We experience satisfaction on a biological level. Our parasympathetic nervous 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.479 system kicks in and it brings everything back down to 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:35.640 normal heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, sweating, and that urge 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:39.280 to run far, far away. Care said, this can feel 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:42.880 very relaxing. It's the rest and digest period. We're safe. 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:45.920 We can sit with that and reap the benefits. So 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:50.039 step five. Those benefits we share in the experience and 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:53.760 build relationships. Care said of hunted house, horror movie and 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.480 roller coaster excursions. These experiences are often linked with friends 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:00.880 and family. We attend with them, were building strong bonds 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:04.160 and a shared camaraderie that in itself can be really gratifying. 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.920 It's the stuff that nostalgia is built from. So why 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:11.440 do we choose to experience certain scary things? The rush, sure, 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.560 but also to make our lives feel more meaningful, to 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:18.320 make memories. Care also notes that a common therapy for 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.360 those who experience anxiety, that other brand of fear that 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:24.320 consumes many of us these days, is to do something 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:29.800 scary enough but ultimately safe, to activate your sympathetic nervous system. 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:33.280 She said, It's a physical sensation that feels good. It 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:36.080 gives you a mental pause. You become grounded in your body, 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:40.040 fully distracted by something in your environment, and ultimately you 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.720 realize that you survived something. You set a challenge and 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:47.080 you survived, which brings gratification. These days will take all 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:51.000 the help we can get, So what's your favorite scary movie? 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.320 Today's episode is based on the article why is so 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:02.880 Good to Be Scared? On houst works dot com written 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:05.880 by Jamie Allen. Brainstuff is production of I Heart Radio 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:08.400 in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com, and it's produced by 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.840 Tyler Clang For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.640 i heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:15.720 to your favorite shows.