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People love going to the movies to be scared. The $733 million made in horror movie ticket sales in 2017 proves it.
But did you ever wonder why people like to put themselves through intense fear?
INSIDER spoke with a psychologist to find out what it is that so draws people to scary movies.
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When something scary enters our awareness, whether real or made up, fear induces the fight-or-flight response, according to Dr. John Mayer, a practicing Clinical Psychologist who specializes in families, children, and young adults.
At that point, your body determines if there is a real threat or not, and acts appropriately to allow you to save yourself if the situation calls for it, Dr. Mayer told INSIDER. “If there is no threat, the physiological and psychological mechanisms calm, and there is no more reaction,” he said.
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If your body senses you are not threatened, you will still experience fear, but instead of releasing hormones that make you stronger and faster for defense mode, your body releases hormones that essentially make you feel good under the right circumstances, sociologist Margee Kerr PhD told Healthline.
For instance, if you're on a roller coaster or walking through a haunted house, your brain knows you are safe no matter what may 'threaten your life' during that time. Kerr describes what happens as our body "hijacking the flight response and enjoying it." She compares it to a "high arousal state" our body goes into when we're excited or surprised.
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You'll often hear people laughing after a big scare because the body releases dopamine when we're afraid, a hormone that creates a high state of arousal (not sexual) similar to what we feel when we're excited or happy.
You also may find that you eat more when you're scared. According to Dr. Mayer, when the body is afraid, a hormone called cortisol is released, increasing blood sugar and blood pressure. The allostatic load also increases, which is the wear and tear the body experiences when exposed to chronic stress.
"The increased allostatic load leads to an increase in consuming fats … thus, we tend to crave and eat more popcorn and such at movies and [during] TV watching," Dr Mayer told INSIDER.
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