Every day in the news we are bombarded with gruesome images and tales of evil goings on from all over the world. From wars and terrorism to murders, suicides and abuse. In fact, horrifying news is so common it seems to some degree to be almost inescapable, even if you choose not to watch the news or read the paper, magazines print terrifying real life stories and with the ever growing popularity of social networking sites it is ever more difficult to not hear about some atrocity or another by some form or another. But what exactly is it that makes nasty news spread like wild fire? The answer to this is a psychological one. Fear is a natural survival response to real or perceived danger, therefore if we hear or see something that we feel may endanger us especially if particularly brutal inciting a feeling of anxiety or alarm within ourselves, we will more than likely feel the need to talk about it with others, either for a sense of comfort, or because as much as we like to deny the fact that we in some way enjoy telling spreading the word about events that horrify us. After all what shocks us is most likely going to have a similar effect on another person. In terms of deviant acts by other human beings such as terrorist groups or violent gangs in city areas, the style of news reporting which is frequently used is partly to blame for the spread of fear and disgust. In sociological terms this is referred to as moral panic, where deviant acts are over exaggerated or defined as a threat to societal values. Increasingly everyday it seems we read about terror groups,gangs,violent individuals or corruption from above which maybe perceived as a threat throughout our society and thus turned into big bucks by the media, and whilst the threat may be real you can always count on newspapers to print negative and shocking stories because it is a well known fact that humans WANT to be in the know. Fear can be almost addictive in this case, you may pick up a newspaper and read a horrifying headline which creates and overwhelming feeling of despair within yourself, however instead of putting the paper down, most of us will succumb to the curiosity and not be able to resist reading on, even though we know from the few words used in the tile of the article that the gory details ahead will cause us to experience negative emotions from what we are about to read.
Horror movies work on a similar basis. although with films of this genre there is another element to the attraction of fear. As w all know, whatever be observe in movies is not real. Therefore watching someone getting murdered but knowing reassuringly in the back of our minds that it is fake, when we are able to say to ourselves "its just actors doing there jobs" this allows us to feel the fear but at the same time not to take what we have witnessed at such a serious level as hearing about some grim massacre on the 10,clock news. in Addition to this, it appears that the fear we experience during the viewing of a horror movie might actually be enjoyable to some. This is down to the release of a hormone called Dopamine in our brains which happens as a response to a real or perceived threat, which throughout our evolution would have aided our ability to protect ourselves through the fight or flight response. It appears that some people get a feeling of enjoyment or a kick from this sudden surge of Dopamine, however as we are all unique even down to the individual chemical balance of our brains, others may not experience such a thrill and may dislike watching scary movies.
Another theory regarding horror and the human interest surrounding it is the curiosity of what makes people tick,.. with so many unanswered questions... for example; Why are the majority us unable to carry out heinous acts against others and are naturally repulsed/terrified by those who seen to inflict pain so easily and willingly? also the question of nature and nurture, Are some people just born evil or is it the experiences and situations they are dealt in life that cause them to become bad people? for example brainwashing or suffering abuse as a child. Not only this but where and what is the the thin line between mental illness and evil? How do you define if someone can be held responsible for their actions? How do you rule out behavior caused by an underlying illness or condition which hinders someones ability to act in a normal manor, and how do you establish whether or not someone is sane but purely cruel? It is this curiosity and fascination with the unknown, lack of understanding and the need or desire to understand which fuels our interest in subjects such as murder and other vicious crimes. The fear of the unknown however does not purely relate to human behavior but also the world of the supernatural and/or paranormal. Those stories, eyewitness accounts or first hand experiences to which no one is able to assign a logical explanation, which evoke great terror in many. Children love telling ghost tales to scare the pants off of each other as they experience thrill from matters of the unexplained but this is not only relevant to childhood. Many adults will dabble in activities such as playing the Oui Ja board or holding seances to contact the other side, Some because they have a genuine thirst for knowledge of what lies ahead for us all after parting from this world, whilst others purely participate in such activities as a form of entertainment or to scare themselves witless. In fact there is a growing number of documentary style television shows in which "paranormal investigators" will visit well known allegedly haunted sites such as old mental asylums, houses and prisons armed with cameras and recording equipment in the hope of catching evidence of life after death or "supernatural" anomalies of some sort or another. Again the supernatural makes for great entertainment, with a huge number of extremely successful televisions series popping up on different channels all over the world, with plots of flesh eating Zombie attacks, Ghosts, Vampires and Witches, not only providing viewers with their fix of adrenaline induced by sheer terror, but creating a world of fantasy and escapism from the humdrum of everyday life. Finally another vitally important point to consider is the role religion plays in peoples perception of good Vs evil and regarding fear. What terrifies one person may have little to no effect at all on another, so the obvious question that arises is why? Why are some people scared of ghosts and some not? of course the answer to this phenomenon is individual perception. This perception of threat or danger may be rooted in our subconscious for example in the case of phobias, which may have been sparked by an unpleasant or shocking experience, a dream or stress, which is unexplained but usually surrounds a creature inanimate object or situation which has no real logical explanation to cause such an extreme response. Other fears however may have been passed on to one person from another, such is the case of religion. Whatever a person chooses to believe then becomes their reality, whilst some need hard evidence and scientific proof to fear or acknowledge something, for others it is merely enough to hear a theory once which can be interpreted within their mind to make sense, and they will start to truly and whole heartedly believe it. Therefore when confronted with stories of Satan and sinning against God a religious believer may feel fear but and atheist would just shrug it off as a silly notion which they consider to be ridiculous. Atheists often believe organised religion to be a from of control for the masses by which the religious organization can to great extent dictate to people how they should behave, for example with threats of going to hell if they miss behave. However to a religious follower this perceived danger is something they want to avoid because they truly fear it, and in their world it is very real.
Bibliography
Cherry, K. (no date) ‘The Age Old Debate of Nature Versus Nurture’. About.com Education. Available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/nindex/g/nature-nurture.htm (Accessed: 17 March 2015).
Choices, N. (2014) Phobias - Causes - NHS Choices. Department of Health. Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Phobias/Pages/Causes.aspx (Accessed: 17 March 2015).
Moral Panic (no date). Available at: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/moral_panic.htm (Accessed: 17 March 2015).
Ringo, A., Friedersdorf, C., Glaser, G., Kornhaber, S., Lichfield, G., Khazan, O., Romm, C., Swartz, A., Berman, R., Fassler, J. and Lam, B. (2013) ‘Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear? — The Atlantic’. The Atlantic. Available at: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/why-do-some-brains-enjoy-fear/280938/ (Accessed: 17 March 2015).
Citation
(Choices, 2014)
(Ringo et al., 2013)
(Cherry, no date)
(Moral Panic, no date)
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