Why do we like to be scared?

Margee Kerr, Ph.D., a sociologist and the author of Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear, explains what we get out of haunted houses, spooky movies, and things that go bump in the night.

- Yolanda Wikiel

So what’s your general theory?

Scaring ourselves is a way of hijacking our threat response and experiencing heightened emotion. Think of a child popping out from behind a door to frighten her mom. Tapping into the startle response is an easy way to feel a thrill. Whenever we mess with our body’s equilibrium (like on a roller coaster), it brings that same sort of excitement.

But it’s not fun for everyone, right?

No. Research has found that there are big influences in childhood development and exposure that may affect some people’s experience of stress and joy. If, for example, your first experience watching a horror flick was traumatic, you may not enjoy it later on in life. But the studies also found that there are genetic differences. People with certain dopamine genetic expressions tend to be more thrill-seeking.

Is there a difference between fear of real danger and the fear we experience in, say, a theme-park haunted house?