Halloween brings spooky seasonal activities that fear and thrill seekers flock to. While many may view fear as a largely negative reaction, doctors say it can stimulate the same centers in the brain as happiness and is positively reinforced by social bonding when experienced without the threat of real danger .
Here, two doctors break down the science of fear and explain why fear can be so fun.
The body responds to fear with a primitive fight, flight, or freeze response.
When a person experiences fear, hormones and neurotransmitters are released that allow the body to respond quickly, known as the “fight, flight, or freeze” response. This is considered an evolutionary adaptation for survival when early humans avoided threats, such as predatory animals.
“[Fear] triggers a response of stress hormones and neurotransmitters, namely adrenaline and dopamine, which then follows and goes down through the body and sort of triggers this fight, flight, and freeze response,” Dr. Michele Bedard- Gilligan, Ph.D., a specialist in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UW Medicine who studies fear, said in a UW Medicine blog post.
“In our body, it’s going to look like tremors and a racing heart and sweating, and all these kinds of reactions that we need to react quickly and either escape danger, or fight back, or freeze , if it’s the best thing to do. to keep us safe,” Bédard-Gilligan said.
The same part of the brain that responds to fear also responds to happiness
People who seek out scary experiences for fun are not “wired differently.” In fact, the same part of the brain that responds to fear also responds to pleasant experiences associated with joy or happiness. This can link fear and pleasure when we know that what provokes the fear response is not actually dangerous.
“There’s a real interplay between our stress hormones and our feel-good hormones,” Dr. Leah Croll, MD, a board-certified neurologist and assistant professor at Temple University, told ABC News.
“Once the body or brain recognizes that the immediate stressor is no longer a threat, then adrenaline stops working and, essentially, you are left with this euphoric rush of dopamine and serotonin,” said Croll.
“The kind of fear and surviving that kind of fear makes us feel good. We feel confident, right? It feels like, ‘Look, we did it.'” Bedard-Gilligan said. “For many of us, it’s fun and exciting to have this type of reaction, especially when it happens in a space that we know is actually not objectively dangerous.”
Pleasure in frightening experiences can be enhanced by social connection
“There’s a real social aspect to worry about,” Croll said.
Socialization is known to positively enhance experiences, and doctors say this may remain true even when that experience is frightening, helping people feel closer to each other and bond more quickly.
“Serotonin, when released as part of our reward circuitry with dopamine, will also trigger the release of oxytocin, which is a chemical that makes you feel closer to others,” Croll said. “You kind of stimulate these warm, fuzzy feelings about each other with the stress response.”
Doctors say it’s the same reason people often laugh when leaving a haunted house or getting off a roller coaster, and having a shared, frightening experience can positively reinforce the enjoyment of it.
“I think watching other people’s reactions influences our own reactions, watching other people be afraid of the same things that scare us, or watching them react bigger or smaller than us, it’s often a kind of social construct and connection. and are sort of, I think, key elements in strengthening human interactions,” Bédard-Gilligan said.
Still, doctors say that thrill-seeking won’t be enjoyable for everyone, and among those who enjoy scary nights, there are normal variations in the level of pleasure people will experience.
Dr. Jade A Cobern, MD, MPH, a licensed and practicing physician, is a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
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