Friday night rolls around and you are at the local movie theater with a friend watching the latest horror movie. On screen is the image of a slaughtered victim lying on the ground, brains oozing from her head in a pool of blood. Glancing over at your friend, you see her nervously bouncing her knee up and down. Her palms are sweaty. Her mouth gapes open. She sits on the edge of her seat, eyes wide open.\nShrugging, you turn back to the movie, casually eating your popcorn. Unlike your friend, you sit through the film without jumping or being startled out of your seat -- completely content.\nThis scenario exemplifies the polarity that exists between the two categories of people who view horror movies. The first group finds the movies to be thrilling and exciting; the other feels the films are too scary or bloodcurdling. Regardless, both types of people spend their money to see these movies -- no matter how frightening.\nEven on Valentine's Day weekend, a time personified with sappy cards and even sappier romance movies, the horror film "Boogeyman" held the No. two spot in the North American Box Office. So what is it about these gory flicks that attract million of people to the theaters week after week?\nBrian O'Donnell, an assistant professor of psychology at IU, said the answer to this phenomenon lies in a personality trait called "sensation-seeking." \n"People who score high on this trait seek out thrills and adventure and intense social and sensory stimulation," O'Donnell said. "They get bored easily." \nHowever, he said low sensation-seeking movie-goers tend to display contrary qualities.\n"Those people who are low on the trait show the opposite characteristics," O'Donnell said. "(They have) a quieter lifestyle, avoiding risky or intense experiences; they don't get bored easily."
"Arousing" interest\nIn addition to a difference in the biological personality trait, the two types of horror-movie viewers also differ in something called a "baseline arousal level," explained Edward Hirt, an associate professor of psychology at IU. Baseline arousal is the normal arousal level of a person without a stimulus, such as fear. When a stimulus raises the arousal level above where it normally is, the result is emotions such as fear, excitement or anger.\nA look at a person's baseline arousal level will reveal whether or not they are an extrovert or an introvert, or sensation-seekers or non-sensation seekers. \nHirt said a person who cannot watch a horror movie without sitting on the edge of the seat most likely has a high-baseline arousal level. Even without extra stimulation, their baseline arousal level is high enough that they do not need the extra stimulation from horror movies to reach physiological equilibrium in the brain. These people find horror movies too overwhelming due to overstimulation occurring in the brain. \nOn the other hand, a person with a low-baseline arousal level thrives on horror movies and thrilling situations. These people need additional stimulation from external stimuli, such as horror movies, in order to reach equilibrium. Without equilibrium in the brain, the extrovert will become bored, Hirt said.
It's all in the brain\nWhile watching a horror movie, the brain experiences a sensory stimulation in the temporal lobe in a group of cells called the amygdala. This almond-shaped part of the brain is responsible for encoding emotional content of memories. However, it is also responsible for processing situations perceived as frightening or fearful, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. \nAccording to the April 2003 issue of Science, visual stimuli, such as the images depicted in a horror film, are perceived in the brain in the sensory thalamus, a collection of nerve cells in the brain. The thalamus then sends the information to the visual cortex, which processes visual information. It is in the visual cortex where we actually see the images before our eyes.\nAfter the images are "created," the visual cortex sends the information to the amygdala. Now, it is the job of the amygdala to perceive the external stimuli. It releases the hormones such as epinephrine, better known as adrenaline, into the brain and bloodstream. Once chemicals are released in the brain, O'Donnell said, the body is better prepared to deal with potential threats. He said the hormones cause increase in heart rate, blood flow to the muscles and perspiration.\nFor example, during a horror movie, the amygdala stimulates the brain-stem circuits. As a result, the body responds with various indications of fright such as panting, gaping open the mouth, freezing in place, increasing reflexes and tensing muscles of the shoulder and neck. This not only produces various frightened facial expressions but also is the reason people jolt during certain moments of a film. \n"If a person is afraid, he or she is much more easily startled," O'Donnell explained. "Small noises or movements make him or her jump."\nBeyond this biological effect, Hirt said fear may play a large role in satisfying the psychological need to experience even the most gruesome situations. \nHirt explained horror movie-induced fear allows people to experiment with the things in life that are petrifying -- threat, crisis and death. This allows people to deal with their worst fears in a fictionalized manner from the safety of the movie theater without actually experiencing them in reality.\nHirt said, "A person is able to play with scary themes in a way that we can control."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Fatimah Scott at fascott@indiana.edu.
