Fear for fun: why do we love scary stories?
UQ experts explain the art and science behind our fascination with fear.
By Rachel Westbury
Our love of fear is stronger (and scarier) than ever. Box-office data shows the horror genre holds 9.5 per cent of the market share, growing from 2.7 per cent in 2014.
And while plenty of research exists around the human experience of fear, we're only just starting to explore the concept of seeking out fear for fun.
This is known as recreational fear – a term used to define how we find pleasure from playful engagement in scary situations. For example, touring a haunted attraction, or consuming books and movies from the horror genre.
It’s a confounding concept that academia is working to make sense of. Is recreational fear helpful or harmful? And why do we seek out fear in the first place?
Contact spoke with UQ experts in writing and psychology to explain our appetite for the macabre.
Unmasking the horror phenomenon
Our love of horror isn’t a new phenomenon. As Dr Helen Marshall, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the School of Communication and Arts at UQ, explains, the earliest examples of the horror genre can be found in medieval times.
“During the 14th century, England and Europe were suffering through waves of outbreak of the Black Death. One of the texts from that period is called The Prick of Conscience, a real fire and brimstone treatise on how we ought to live our lives and how we ought to prepare for death,” Dr Marshall said.
“This is a kind of early horror literature. This is a way of thinking through what are the supernatural elements that might be affecting our lives, but also some of that work around what does it mean to be living in an uncertain time? And how do we prepare for our own death?”
Against the backdrop of the pandemic, Dr Marshall saw a compelling paradox in how we consume stories – where even in times of uncertainty, we continue to turn to horror.
“This was interesting coming into the pandemic more recently, because despite things feeling quite horrific around us, people were drawn to horror stories.
“People either turned away from horror entirely, or they were drawn to watching movies, like Contagion, which I think is really, really interesting.”
Just as life imitates art, Dr Marshall said that contemporary anxieties are often reflected in horror stories during specific eras. And more so, these scary tales serve society in more ways than one.
“Horror stories do different things to different people. In some cases, they act as cautionary tales; in others, they allow us to explore things that feel transgressive and gives us a safe space to do that,” Dr Marshall said.
“It’s also an experience that you have some control of – you can turn off the TV or close the book when you don’t want to engage anymore. But you can also share that experience with other people, and that gives you a better way of processing it.”
The brain on fear
While stress, tension, and fear of the unknown are usually things we try to avoid, you might be surprised to learn that scary stories can help your psyche.
According to Dr Will Harrison, UQ Amplify Lecturer and Research Fellow from the School of Psychology, horror cinema can be seen as an accessible and entertaining form of therapy.
“What we understand about the psychology of dealing with stress is that sometimes to process feelings of negativity, we have to understand where those feelings are coming from.
“Typically, stress comes from all kinds of factors that can be hard to describe. But when you watch a horror film, you know that the movie is the direct cause of the tension,” Dr Harrison said.
“Research by Coltan Scrivner from the Recreational Fear Lab tells us that when the movie ends, you have a lessening of the pent-up stress, because you’ve had an outlet to direct that somewhere.”
While it’s natural to avoid being afraid, Dr Harrison posits that the occasional rush of recreational fear can help you explore your emotions.
“Intuitively, we think that we want to avoid scenarios that will make us scared. But I would suggest that it’s healthy to experience a bit of recreational fear every now and then."
“There is something for everyone in horror cinema. If you don’t avoid it, you might find a certain sub-genre of horror that raises your fear levels above what it would normally be – but not so much that you don’t enjoy it,” Dr Harrison said.
“And so, then you can start enjoying an entire genre of cinema, you can let your psychology have the full range of emotions, and you can experience things in a psychologically safe way.”
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