Science of Fear
Fear invokes a fascination that isn’t limited to Halloween.
Drawn to movie theatres and car crashes, fear can is alluring some
on a daily basis.
“I think there is a brush with death, morbid fascination in all
of us,” said Dr. Steve Ross, a clinical psychologist for the CSU
Counseling Center. “It’s the reason why people slow down at
accident sites. It’s not necessarily the accident that is slowing
the traffic down.”
From a psychological standpoint there may be much more behind
being scared than simply a desire for the unexpected.
Ross said the desire for feeling scared, and the rush of
adrenaline that accompanies it, may be so increasingly desirable
because of society’s inability to deal properly with death and
dying.
“As a society we don’t deal effectively with death and dying,”
Ross said. “Halloween exhibits a way for us to deal with some of
those morbid fascinations, stuff that isn’t really talked
about.”
This fascination with fear has recently become more
recognizable, even in the T.V. programs people watch, Ross
said.
“It’s the reason why we have more reality TV shows, people
jumping out of airplanes,” Ross said. “Some people are more
adrenaline junkies. It’s about the existential awareness that we’re
all going to die.”
However for Adam Ping, a 21-year-old Aurora resident, his
fascination with horror flicks isn’t anything more than a
hobby.
“I act in independent horror movies, such as ‘The Crying
Child,'” Ping said. “Everybody needs to be scared. They need the
thrill of fear.”
Ping, who has been watching scary movies since he was 12, can’t
put a finger on the source of his horror interest.
“They just appeal to me,” Ping said.
Although not necessarily representative of anything substantial,
most doctors seem to agree there are certain personalities that are
more prone to extreme sensations than others.
“There does seem to be some personalities more prone to
sensations than others,” said Carol Seger, an assistant professor
in the CSU psychology department.
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