Fans of the Hollywood flick The Houses October Built (AKA The Houses Of Halloween) will appreciate that there is a line between a thrilling and enjoyable haunted house and one that leaves its visitors traumatized (or dead). New research accepted for publication in the journal Psychological Science aimed to investigate where this “Goldilocks Zone” – neither too frightening or too tame – of enjoyable terror sat within the context of a haunted house, by sending in 110 participants and observing how they reacted. Their findings revealed that haunted houses are most effective when they trigger a specific physiological response, which can be measured by changes in heart rate. The fun however can turn to flat-out fear if we’re overwhelmed by the experience and treading this fine line can be perilous as we all have have different tolerances for frightening experiences.
Haunted houses have been spoken about for centuries but their popularity as an orchestrated Halloween attraction has grown in recent years, with “haunted” houses and experiences across the globe competing to become bigger, bolder, and scarier. There have been real and false stories about times when haunted houses have gone too far, from an unfortunate school principal who accidentally died in a display designed to spook his students, to fake tales of chainsaw massacres inside Halloween attractions.
According to a report from the Washington Post, a “survival horror challenge” called McKamey Manor in the US requires all participants to undergo a physical exam, a background check, a drug screen, and sign a 40-page waiver before they’ll even be considered to be let in. So, how can these establishments ascertain what the upper limit for fear-based-fun is and recognize when they’ve gone too far?
Lead author on this new research, Marc Malmdorf Andersen from the Interacting Minds Center at Aarhus University, Denmark, wanted to investigate the relationship between fear and pleasure to see if there was a “sweet spot” where enjoyment was maximized that could be scientifically identified. They released a group of 110 participants into a commercial haunted house in Vejle, Denmark, and studied how they responded to the exhibits and actors with a real-time heart rate monitor. The haunted house had almost 50 rooms containing spooky scenes and jump-scare actors that saw the participants charged at by zombies and monsters.
“Our study provides some of the first empirical evidence on the relationship between fear, enjoyment, and physical arousal in recreational forms of fear,” Anderson said in a statement.
The participants were watched through close-circuit monitors so the researchers could obtain qualitative data on how they responded to the most frightening stimuli, and this footage was later reviewed by an independent party to further analyze their reactions. After surviving the ordeal, the participants gave a self-assessment of their experience of the haunted houses.
The researchers then compared the participant’s self-assessment against the heart rate monitors and surveillance cameras, and were able to identify which experiences inside the haunted house were enjoyable and which were just downright terrifying. They could then model the behavioral and physiological responses associated with fun and fear and recognized an inverted U-shape trend that denoted the Goldilocks Zone inside which the participants were scared but still enjoying it.
“By investigating how humans derive pleasure from fear, we find that there seems to be a ‘sweet spot’ where enjoyment is maximized,” said Andersen. “This is strikingly similar to what scientists have found to characterize human play. We know, for instance, that curiosity is often aroused when individuals have their expectations violated to a just-right degree, and several accounts of play stress the importance of just-right doses of uncertainty and surprise for explaining why play feels enjoyable."
It appears science can recognize when we're enjoying fear, so can it identify the best stimuli for getting us into this fear-fun sweet spot? We took a deep dive into the science behind horror movies to find out.
mashabiki wa filamu ya Hollywood Nyumba zilizojengwa Oktoba (AKA Nyumba za Halloween) watathamini kwamba kuna mstari kati ya nyumba ya kuvutia na ya kufurahisha na ile ambayo inaacha wageni wake wenye majeraha (au wafu). Utafiti mpya uliokubaliwa kwa kuchapishwa katika jarida la Sayansi ya Saikolojia ulilenga kuchunguza ambapo hii 'Goldilocks Zone' - wala haikuwa ya kuogopesha sana wala ya kupendeza sana - ya hofu ya kufurahisha ilikaa ndani ya muktadha wa nyumba ya kuogopesha, kwa kutuma washiriki 110 na kuchunguza jinsi walivyoitikia. Utafiti huo ulionyesha kwamba nyumba zenye roho huwa na matokeo zaidi zinaposababisha athari fulani ya kisaikolojia, ambayo inaweza kupimwa kwa mabadiliko ya msukumo wa moyo. Furaha hata hivyo inaweza kugeuka kuwa hofu ya wazi ikiwa tunafadhaishwa na uzoefu na kutembea kwenye mstari huu mwembamba inaweza kuwa hatari kwani sote tuna uvumilivu tofauti kwa uzoefu wa kutisha. Nyumba za roho zimezungumziwa kwa karne nyingi lakini umaarufu wao kama kivutio cha Halloween umekua katika miaka ya hivi karibuni, na nyumba na uzoefu wa "roho" ulimwenguni kote unashindana kuwa kubwa, jasiri, na ya kutisha. Kuna hadithi za kweli na za uwongo kuhusu wakati ambapo nyumba zenye roho zimepita mbali sana, kutoka kwa mkuu wa shule mwenye bahati mbaya ambaye alikufa kwa bahati mbaya katika maonyesho yaliyokusudiwa kuwaogopesha wanafunzi wake, hadi hadithi bandia za mauaji ya chainsaw ndani ya vivutio vya Halloween. Kulingana na ripoti ya Washington Post, changamoto ya kutisha ya kuishi inayoitwa McKimey Manor nchini Marekani inahitaji washiriki wote kufanya uchunguzi wa mwili, kuangalia historia, uchunguzi wa dawa za kulevya, na kusaini hati ya kurasa 40 kabla hata hawatazingatiwa kuingizwa. Kwa hiyo, mashirika haya yanawezaje kujua ni nini kikomo cha juu cha furaha ya kutegemea hofu na kutambua wakati wameenda mbali sana? "Mwandishi mkuu wa utafiti huu, Marc Malmdorf Andersen, kutoka Kituo cha Akili ya Maingiliano katika Chuo Kikuu cha Aarhus, Denmark, alitaka kuchunguza uhusiano kati ya hofu na furaha ili kuona kama kuna ""mahali pazuri"" ambapo kufurahia ni maximized ambayo inaweza kuwa kisayansi kutambuliwa." Watafiti waliweka kikundi cha washiriki 110 katika nyumba ya biashara ya Vejle, Denmark, na kuchunguza jinsi walivyoitikia maonyesho na waigizaji kwa kutumia kipima-mpira wa moyo wa wakati halisi. Nyumba hiyo ilikuwa na vyumba 50 na kulikuwa na maonyesho ya kuogopesha, na watu waliotembea huku wakishambuliwa na wanyama-mwitu. "Utafiti wetu hutoa baadhi ya ushahidi wa kwanza wa majaribio juu ya uhusiano kati ya hofu, kufurahia, na msisimko wa kimwili katika aina za burudani za hofu", Anderson alisema katika taarifa. Washiriki walifuatwa kupitia skrini za mzunguko wa karibu ili watafiti waweze kupata data ya ubora juu ya jinsi walivyoitikia vichocheo vya kutisha zaidi, na picha hii baadaye ilichunguzwa na chama huru kuchambua zaidi athari zao. Baada ya kuokoka jaribio hilo, washiriki walijipima wenyewe kuhusu mambo waliyojionea katika nyumba zenye roho waovu. Watafiti walichunguza jinsi washiriki walivyojipima kwa kutumia vifaa vya kupima moyo na kamera za ufuatiliaji, na kugundua ni nini kilichokuwa kinafurahisha na ni nini kilichokuwa kinaogopesha. "Waliweza kuunda mfano wa majibu ya tabia na ya kisaikolojia yanayohusiana na furaha na hofu na kutambua mwelekeo wa umbo la U ulioinuliwa ambao ulionyesha ""Eneo la Goldilocks"" ndani ambayo washiriki waliogopa lakini bado walifurahia." "Kwa kuchunguza jinsi wanadamu wanavyopata furaha kutokana na hofu, tunapata kwamba kuna'mahali pazuri' ambapo furaha huongezeka", alisema Andersen. <unk>Hii ni sawa sana na kile ambacho wanasayansi wamegundua kuwa ni sifa ya kucheza kwa wanadamu. Kwa mfano, tunajua kwamba mara nyingi udadisi huchochewa wakati watu wanapokosa matarajio yao kwa kiwango cha haki, na masimulizi kadhaa ya kucheza yanasisitiza umuhimu wa dozi sahihi za kutokuwa na uhakika na mshangao kwa kuelezea kwa nini kucheza kunahisi kuwa ya kufurahisha. "Kama sayansi inaweza kutambua wakati tunafurahia hofu, inaweza kutambua ""vichocheo bora"" kwa ajili ya kupata sisi katika hofu-fun sweet spot?" Tulichunguza kwa undani sayansi ya filamu za kutisha ili kujua.