Playing With Fear: A Field Study in Recreational Horror

Abstract

Haunted attractions are illustrative examples of recreational fear in which people voluntarily seek out frightening experiences in pursuit of enjoyment. We present findings from a field study at a haunted-house attraction where visitors between the ages of 12 and 57 years ( N = 110) were equipped with heart rate monitors, video-recorded at peak scare points during the attraction, and asked to report on their experience. Our results show that enjoyment has an inverted-U-shaped relationship with fear across repeated self-reported measures. Moreover, results from physiological data demonstrate that the experience of being frightened is a linear function of large-scale heart rate fluctuations, whereas there is an inverted-U-shaped relationship between participant enjoyment and small-scale heart rate fluctuations. These results suggest that enjoyment is related to forms of arousal dynamics that are “just right.” These findings shed light on how fear and enjoyment can coexist in recreational horror.

The psychology of morbid curiosity: Development and initial validation of the morbid curiosity scale

“…Importantly, a complete lack of arousal in stressful situations would be unmotivating. Indeed, enjoyment of fearful situations occurs not when there is a lack of arousal, but rather an optimal amount of arousal (Clasen et al, 2019;Andersen et al, 2020). Corroborating this, PPI Stress Immunity was not correlated with thrill-seeking in this study (r = -.03, p = .587).…”

“…This is surprising given that individual differences in morbid curiosity likely exist. Moreover, research on morbid curiosity and related topics has become increasingly more common (e.g., Andersen et al, 2020;Clasen, 2012;Clasen, 2017;Clasen et al, 2019;Harrison & Frederick, 2020;Kerr, 2015;Kerr et al, 2019;Martin, 2019;Niehoff & Oosterwijk, 2020;Oosterwijk, 2017;Oosterwijk et al, 2020;Robinson et al, 2014;Scrivner 202;Scrivner & Christensen, 2021;Scrivner et al, 2020;Stone & Sharpley, 2008;Vicary & Fraley, 2010;Wabnegger et al, 2021). This boom in research -largely in the field of psychology -on morbid curiosity and related psychological and behavioral phenomena implies that the construct is interesting, relevant, and in need of theoretical clarification and an appropriate assessment tool.…”

The psychological benefits of scary play in three types of horror fans

“…In support of this idea, one study found that horror fans appeared to have greater psychological resilience during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic than non-horror fans (Scrivner et al, 2021). Thus, engaging with horror can be understood as a form of scary play that serves an important function of threat simulation (Andersen et al, 2020;Clasen, 2017;Kerr et al, 2019;Marks & Nesse, 1994).…”

“…While previous studies have documented some of the reasons why certain horror fans get enjoyment from frightening entertainment (e.g., Andersen et al, 2020;Andrade & Cohen, 2007;Tamborini & Weaver, 1996), the benefits from horror in terms of learning something about oneself and attaining personal growth are still underspecified. It is possible that White Knucklers and Dark Copers differ in terms of what they learn about themselves and what they gain in personal growth.…”

“…Historically, scholars have speculated that horror offers an opportunity for confronting one's repressed desires (Dumas, 2014), for engaging in social displays of normative behavior (Zillman & Weaver, 1996), for engaging in benign masochism (Rozin et al, 2013), or for satisfying a curiosity about category-violating monsters and suspenseful plots (Carroll, 1990). However, more recent research suggests that horror may be a form of play (Andersen et al, 2020).…”