Over the past 20 years, Google search-trend data for the term horror movie have looked like heartbeat pulses on a cardiac monitor. Each October, searches spike as people seek out a good fright.
Morbid entertainment is a massive industry. Scary movies are box-office winners, and true-crime podcasts consistently rank at the top of the charts. A nice scare can be a thrill, but why are so many of us compelled to seek out fear and anxiety when we’re already living in such stressful times?
I’ve spent years exploring why people are so intrigued by the macabre, including in horror films and haunted houses, conspiracy theories and true crime. I call this phenomenon, and the personality trait that predicts it, morbid curiosity. My research at the Recreational Fear Lab in Denmark suggests not only that frightening stories and scary activities can temporarily distract us from the terrors of the real world, but that they might actually make us more resilient to the stressors that we f
Continue Reading on The Atlantic
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.