With Halloween approaching fast, I’m sure many of you are planning on being scared over the spooky season. Whether that’s watching scary movies, visiting a Halloween maze or a haunted house, for many people, being scared comes with a certain thrill. But what is it that happens in our brain to make us feel that rush from experiencing a fright?
First, we have to think about what happens in the body when we encounter something scary.
Fear comes from the brain. The amygdala interprets everything we see and hear, so when we’re scared, it sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is the part of the brain that then communicates with the rest of the body.
It sends signals to the sympathetic nervous system to release ‘stress hormones’ like adrenaline, making the body tense and alert. Signals are also sent to the adrenal glands, which secretes adrenaline to other parts of the body, causing changes such as heart rate and blood pressure increasing, pupils dilating, and nonessential systems (like the immune system) shutting down to put more energy into emergency function.
In evolution, fear is an important component of survival – animals who use fear to keep out of dangerous situations have a higher chance of surviving them and passing on these useful genes. So, if fear is primarily a vital part of our survival, then why do so many people find enjoyment in being scared?
It’s important to remember that everybody’s brains react differently to the fear fight-or-flight response, so not everyone feels that thrill from Halloween frights. Dopamine (the ‘feel-good’ hormone) is released in scary situations, and for those people whose bodies react strongly to this, the fear is made to feel good and so, becomes a thrill.
A second important factor affecting the body’s response to fear is the context of the scare – specifically, people often enjoy being frightened when they know they’re actually safe.
This is why, at Halloween, lots of people enjoy walking through ‘haunted houses’ or watching scary movies in the comfort of their homes. The scare itself tricks the brain into triggering the fight-or-flight bodily responses, so we experience the adrenaline and dopamine whilst knowing no harm will come to us.
Another way of considering this is that our ‘thinking’ brain tells our ‘emotional’ brain that we’re not in danger, which quickly shifts that state of heightened and alert senses from fear towards excitement.
We can’t always control when we experience fear, but Halloween is the perfect opportunity to choose it and feel that heart-pounding, hair-raising rush, all whilst knowing we can go home safe at the end of the night.