New Research On How Horror Movies Affect Different Viewers

Recently, new research has determined that non-horror fans (the people who have to cover their eyes during scary scenes) are actually no more frightened than horror fans when watching horror movies.

The findings challenge the prevailing belief that horror fans do not experience fear at the same depths as the supposedly more sensitive people who would rather watch comedy than killing.

The four-part study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, also concludes that the most terrifying scenes in scary movies are the ones that rouse the most pleasure among horror fans.

This mixed experience of fear and happiness counters the notion that negative and positive emotions can't be triggered simultaneously, while much of the existing research has suggested horror fans simply endure discomfort to enjoy the flood of relief that follows.

In fact, it was only among the horror-averse that significant levels of happiness registered at the end of a chilling scene.

According to study co-author Eduardo Andrade, a marketing professor at the University of California-Berkeley, the capacity to simultaneously experience fear and pleasure is directly linked with having a "protective frame."

That is, knowledge that no real-life danger exists in a given on-screen situation.

Horror fans are more likely to have these dual feelings because they maintain a certain level of detachment that allows them to absorb fear while still enjoying the movie.

Those people who typically avoid scary movies, however, don't approach nail-biting scenes with a like sense of safety and thus experience the same level of fear as horror fans but "virtually zero" enjoyment.

"They just hope it's going to be over soon," says Andrade.

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