0:00:18.898,0:00:20.786
I really don't like to watch horror

0:00:20.786,0:00:23.645
films alone. That stuff is terrifying you

0:00:23.645,0:00:26.183
know? I'm sure many of you recognize this

0:00:26.183,0:00:28.824
situation. You put on a horror film, you

0:00:28.824,0:00:31.648
turn down the lights, turn up the volume,

0:00:31.648,0:00:35.258
and sit back. You’re watching as monsters

0:00:35.258,0:00:37.164
come creeping out of the dark in search

0:00:37.164,0:00:39.636
of prey. Your heart goes out to the four

0:00:39.636,0:00:42.360
characters in the film and you start

0:00:42.360,0:00:44.181
squirming in your seat as the monsters

0:00:44.181,0:00:46.288
get closer.

0:00:46.288,0:00:48.259
Your pulse accelerates, your palms get

0:00:48.259,0:00:52.769
sweaty and your hair stands on end. This

0:00:52.769,0:00:54.708
is when you begin to throw nervous

0:00:54.708,0:00:58.253
glances into the corners of the room.

0:00:58.253,0:01:00.375
What was that sound? Surely it didn't

0:01:00.375,0:01:03.198
come from the television. Was that

0:01:03.198,0:01:07.309
movement in the shadows? The horror that's

0:01:07.309,0:01:09.466
on the screen bleeds into your system

0:01:09.466,0:01:11.689
and into the surroundings. The world

0:01:11.689,0:01:14.680
around you turns threatening and scary.

0:01:14.680,0:01:16.869
You cover your eyes but it doesn't help.

0:01:16.869,0:01:19.109
Pretty soon you'll have to switch off

0:01:19.109,0:01:21.164
but even though you shut off the film,

0:01:21.164,0:01:24.422
your heart keeps hammering and you'll

0:01:24.422,0:01:27.581
probably have nightmares tonight. Still

0:01:27.581,0:01:30.053
maybe you ought to put the film back on.

0:01:30.053,0:01:33.145
You're kind of curious after all. That's

0:01:33.145,0:01:36.487
my Saturday night in a nutshell. Anybody

0:01:36.487,0:01:40.415
else ever been in that situation? Of all

0:01:40.415,0:01:42.587
the strange things that humans do

0:01:42.587,0:01:44.559
watching horror films has got to be one

0:01:44.559,0:01:46.848
of the strangest. It's also a really

0:01:46.848,0:01:48.786
interesting behavior scientifically

0:01:48.786,0:01:50.593
speaking. As a horror researcher

0:01:50.593,0:01:53.082
I've thought about it a lot. Why do we do

0:01:53.082,0:01:55.139
it? Why do we watch horror films and

0:01:55.139,0:01:56.943
read horror novels and play horror

0:01:56.943,0:01:59.951
video games and why are there so many

0:01:59.951,0:02:01.838
spooky creatures in our worlds of

0:02:01.838,0:02:06.318
make-believe? And what is horror? Horror is

0:02:06.318,0:02:08.540
a kind of entertainment that's designed to

0:02:08.540,0:02:10.730
spook people. To make them scream and

0:02:10.730,0:02:12.249
shiver with fear and break out in a cold

0:02:12.249,0:02:13.688
sweat.

0:02:13.688,0:02:15.710
Think Stephen King and Paranormal

0:02:15.710,0:02:17.749
Activity and The Exorcist.

0:02:17.749,0:02:20.322
It's a consistently popular and

0:02:20.322,0:02:23.094
profitable genre. Stephen King has sold

0:02:23.094,0:02:27.507
more than 350 million books worldwide. In

0:02:27.507,0:02:29.531
the last 20 years in the United States,

0:02:29.531,0:02:32.002
horror films grossed close to 8 billion

0:02:32.002,0:02:35.896
dollars. It's weird it's weird because

0:02:35.896,0:02:38.369
horror is by definition designed to make

0:02:38.369,0:02:41.229
its audience feel bad. A good horror film

0:02:41.229,0:02:43.361
inspires negative emotion. It makes us

0:02:43.361,0:02:46.168
feel disgust and dread and terror and

0:02:46.168,0:02:49.843
anxiety and fear. Let me ask you how many

0:02:49.843,0:02:52.860
of you seek out horror films from time to

0:02:52.860,0:02:54.565
time? Show of hands. Please raise your

0:02:54.565,0:02:57.723
hand if you sometimes seek out horror. Okay

0:02:57.723,0:03:00.197
that's about half, that matches my own

0:03:00.197,0:03:02.051
research along with some colleagues. I'm

0:03:02.051,0:03:04.223
looking into the personality profile of

0:03:04.223,0:03:06.746
horror fans and we're finding that more than

0:03:06.746,0:03:09.655
half for about 54% answer in the

0:03:09.655,0:03:12.112
affirmative in response to the statement:

0:03:12.112,0:03:15.823
I tend to enjoy horror media. Only 29%

0:03:15.823,0:03:18.429
say they don't agree with this statement

0:03:18.429,0:03:20.401
and the remaining 17% can't make up

0:03:20.401,0:03:23.176
their mind. You know they're probably the

0:03:23.176,0:03:24.695
ones who would die first in a horror

0:03:24.695,0:03:29.306
film. Next would be the ones who say

0:03:29.306,0:03:34.923
they don't like horror. Anyway people really

0:03:34.923,0:03:36.660
do tend to like the kind of

0:03:36.660,0:03:37.897
entertainment that's designed to make

0:03:37.897,0:03:39.302
them feel bad. Why is that the case and

0:03:39.302,0:03:42.427
how does horror even work? Those are the

0:03:42.427,0:03:44.197
kinds of questions I've been researching

0:03:44.197,0:03:47.690
and here is what I have found out. Horror,

0:03:47.690,0:03:49.495
in whatever medium, from films and

0:03:49.495,0:03:51.567
literature to video games and virtual

0:03:51.567,0:03:54.910
reality, works by exploiting an ancient

0:03:54.910,0:03:57.315
and evolved set of biological defense

0:03:57.315,0:03:59.671
mechanisms. Let's call it the evolved

0:03:59.671,0:04:03.283
fear system. If we want to understand how

0:04:03.283,0:04:05.571
that system works and why it became part

0:04:05.571,0:04:07.309
of human nature we have to look at the

0:04:07.309,0:04:09.982
evolutionary history of our species.

0:04:09.982,0:04:12.759
Now, our evolutionary ancestors found

0:04:12.759,0:04:14.263
themselves in a world that was full of

0:04:14.263,0:04:16.450
danger. There was the threat from

0:04:16.450,0:04:18.623
predators and creepy crawlies and

0:04:18.623,0:04:21.413
invisible microorganisms or disease and

0:04:21.413,0:04:24.220
the threat from other humans. In response

0:04:24.220,0:04:27.028
to those dangers our ancestors gradually

0:04:27.028,0:04:28.298
evolved a

0:04:28.298,0:04:29.969
fear system that would keep them alert

0:04:29.969,0:04:33.780
and alive. In other words our species

0:04:33.780,0:04:35.868
evolved to be hyper vigilant and highly

0:04:35.868,0:04:38.309
fearful because being hyper vigilant and

0:04:38.309,0:04:40.715
highly fearful kept our ancestors alive

0:04:40.715,0:04:44.142
in a dangerous world. The world may now

0:04:44.142,0:04:45.511
be less dangerous than it was in

0:04:45.511,0:04:47.132
ancestral times at least in terms of

0:04:47.132,0:04:49.022
predation. We're not in any immediate

0:04:49.022,0:04:51.562
danger of being attacked by a

0:04:51.562,0:04:53.215
saber-tooth cat on our way home from

0:04:53.215,0:04:56.006
work, but we are no less vigilant and no

0:04:56.006,0:04:57.310
less fearful

0:04:57.310,0:05:00.000
than our evolutionary ancestors and

0:05:00.000,0:05:02.038
horror entertainment takes advantage of

0:05:02.038,0:05:07.019
that aspect of human nature. So horror

0:05:07.019,0:05:09.459
entertainment works by transporting us

0:05:09.459,0:05:12.266
imaginatively into virtual worlds that

0:05:12.266,0:05:15.140
are full of danger. In horror films and

0:05:15.140,0:05:17.129
literature we follow and mirror

0:05:17.129,0:05:19.653
protagonists as they confront terrifying

0:05:19.653,0:05:22.894
threats. Take Stephen King's The Shining

0:05:22.894,0:05:24.998
for example. Here we follow a family who

0:05:24.998,0:05:29.224
has snowed in at a haunted hotel. In the

0:05:29.224,0:05:31.148
novel's most famous scene the young boy

0:05:31.148,0:05:34.540
Danny goes into room 217.

0:05:34.540,0:05:36.897
He walks nervously around the room and

0:05:36.897,0:05:38.969
into the bathroom where a hotel guest

0:05:38.969,0:05:42.544
killed herself some years before. The

0:05:42.544,0:05:44.132
hotel is now supposed to be empty of

0:05:44.132,0:05:46.826
guests but to Danny surprise there is

0:05:46.826,0:05:50.465
somebody in the bathtub or something. To

0:05:50.465,0:05:53.489
Danny's horror it's a corpse.

0:05:53.489,0:05:55.980
It's the corpse of the woman who killed

0:05:55.980,0:05:58.404
herself. She's lying there bloated and

0:05:58.404,0:06:01.646
purple and with glassy white eyes. She's

0:06:01.646,0:06:04.469
rotting like meat festering in the trash.

0:06:04.469,0:06:09.350
And then she starts to get up. King provides

0:06:09.350,0:06:11.505
a detailed and really vivid description

0:06:11.505,0:06:13.242
of this moving corpse and as readers we

0:06:13.242,0:06:14.864
are forced to hold that image in our

0:06:14.864,0:06:17.788
minds. That's bad enough but we're also

0:06:17.788,0:06:19.744
given a detailed description of Danny's

0:06:19.744,0:06:22.051
response to the situation. We learned

0:06:22.051,0:06:24.273
that he tries to scream and wets himself.

0:06:24.273,0:06:27.732
We are made to mirror his fear and

0:06:27.732,0:06:29.955
revulsion and that strengthens our own

0:06:29.955,0:06:32.812
responses to the horrible image. Our fear

0:06:32.812,0:06:34.969
and revulsion become mixed with

0:06:34.969,0:06:37.257
sympathetic anxiety for a character in

0:06:37.257,0:06:38.863
danger.

0:06:38.863,0:06:41.385
It's a strong emotional cocktail.

0:06:41.385,0:06:44.895
Interactive and live-action media turn

0:06:44.895,0:06:47.887
the screw on horror entertainment .Or

0:06:47.887,0:06:50.843
video games for example make you feel as

0:06:50.843,0:06:52.281
if you're the protagonist in a digital

0:06:52.281,0:06:56.040
if you're the protagonist in a digital

0:06:56.040,0:06:59.151
attraction visitors walk through scary

0:06:59.151,0:07:01.956
sets populated by scare actors. Here's a

0:07:01.956,0:07:04.296
picture from dystopia haunted house

0:07:04.296,0:07:07.021
Denmark's scariest haunt. What you see is

0:07:07.021,0:07:09.010
a couple of visitors were confronted by

0:07:09.010,0:07:11.588
a big guy with a machete.

0:07:11.588,0:07:13.990
He's called the chef and you can take a

0:07:13.990,0:07:16.211
guess at what's on the menu here. Around

0:07:16.211,0:07:20.624
5,000 people pay for this every

0:07:20.624,0:07:23.814
Halloween and around 300 visitors never

0:07:23.814,0:07:26.588
make it all the way through the haunt.

0:07:26.588,0:07:28.411
They have to abort their visit because

0:07:28.411,0:07:29.798
it's too scary.

0:07:29.798,0:07:31.387
They have fainted from fear and they

0:07:31.387,0:07:33.943
have wet themselves in terror. Why do

0:07:33.943,0:07:36.751
they do it? Why do people pay good money

0:07:36.751,0:07:39.024
to experience true fear and genuine

0:07:39.024,0:07:42.482
terror like the people in this picture?

0:07:42.482,0:07:44.888
They do it because they have an evolved

0:07:44.888,0:07:47.225
appetite for vicarious experience with

0:07:47.225,0:07:50.537
threat scenarios and those scenarios or

0:07:50.537,0:07:53.746
horror entertainment work because they are

0:07:53.746,0:07:56.770
structured to target the evolved fear

0:07:56.770,0:08:00.167
system. Just consider the monsters that

0:08:00.354,0:08:01.973
populate our horror entertainment from

0:08:01.973,0:08:03.611
scary folk tales to haunted attractions.

0:08:03.611,0:08:06.952
Such monsters are universal in the human

0:08:06.952,0:08:09.611
imagination and the most horrifying ones

0:08:09.611,0:08:14.624
reflect ancestral threats. Just think of

0:08:14.624,0:08:17.297
the enormous white shark from Jaws you

0:08:17.297,9:59:59.000
Know. Duh duh duh duh duh duh

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the threat depicted here is the threat

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from an enormous man-eating predator.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That kind of threat really captures our

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
attention and sparks our imagination by

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
engaging the evolved fear system. Now the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
film itself is pretty unrealistic but

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that doesn't matter.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Horror monsters don't have to be

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
realistic to frighten us they have to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
engage the evolved fear system. They have

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to have qualities that match or over

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
match those of ancestral dangers and the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
white shark in Jaws has that in spades.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's like an ancestral predator on

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
speed. Faster bigger stronger and much

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
more dangerous. Media psychologists have

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
documented how thousands of people were

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
traumatized by jaws. Many viewers even

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
became afraid of swimming in pools and

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
freshwater lakes after watching the film.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Consider another well-known and highly

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
unrealistic monster. The zombie now

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
zombies don't exist in the real world

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and we have no archaeological evidence

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to suggest that they ever did but every

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
well-raised child is able to mimic the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
behavior of a zombie. You know they're

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
groaning the outstretch the limp arms

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the classic stumbling walk. The

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
monster has really infected our popular

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
culture in a big way. A zombie is a

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
effectively targets the evolved fear

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
system in fact the zombie targets the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
fear system from two angles

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because it combines the threat of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
predation with the threat of contagion. A

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
zombie is a predator it wants to eat you,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it is also contagious it will infect you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with its disease. It is visibly

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
decomposing creeping with rotten

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
pathogens. I mean look at the poor

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
creature.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
[Applause]

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
You can tell that these horror monsters

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
engage the evolved fear system from the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
behavioral and physiological effects of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the good horror film. You know the goose

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
bumps and the hammering heart and the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
screams. These are all evolved defensive

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
reactions goosebumps are a relic from a

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
distant past when we were covered in fur

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and goose bumps or piloerection would

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
make our first stand on end and so make

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
us look bigger to scare off an attacker.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Cats do the same thing by the way. Our

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
hearts beat faster to pump blood to the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
big muscle groups so that we're ready

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for fight or flight and screams send a

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
signal to other people a signal for them

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to help or get the hell away. Horror taps

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
into the evolved fear system but that's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
not all. Horror can help us calibrate that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
system. It's like when you take your car

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to the mechanic for a check-up the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
mechanic carefully goes through all the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
vital parts of the car and he or she

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
will make sure that the airbags and the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
anti-lock braking system work. Hopefully

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you'll never need them because you don't

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
want to get into a situation that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
requires an airbag to deploy but you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
certainly want them to work. Same with

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the fear system. Through exposure to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
horror you give it a test run make sure

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it works properly and keep it nicely

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
tuned. Horror lets us learn what it feels

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like to be truly afraid and it lets us

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
learn how to handle negative emotions. It

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
lets us maintain and refine coping

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
skills that we may apply in critical

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
situations in our own lives. There isn't

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
yet much experimental research into this

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but we do have some support from

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
psychological science. One study suggests

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that hardcore horror fans require more

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
extreme stimulation than to less avid

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
fans which means that the hardcore fans

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
build up some resistance to fear

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
provoking stimuli with exposure. Other

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
research suggests that by exposing

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
ourselves to horror we build a sense of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
mastery which may be transferred to our

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
own lives. In this way horror can help us

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
find and even expand our limits for how

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
much negative stimulation we can handle.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you know I'm not sure I'd be standing

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
here today if I hadn't for

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
myself to watch all those horror films

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the name of science. Sure my heart is

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
hammering and my palms are a little

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
sweaty but you guys are a lot less scary

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
than Pennywise the dancing clown.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So horror can help us calibrate the fear

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
system and horror can help us refine our

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
coping skills. That's why so many of us

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
are drawn to the genre even if we don't

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like to watch horror films alone. The

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
next time you are terrified of a novel, a

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
film a video game, or in a haunt, just

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
remember that you are in fact tapping

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
into and calibrating an ancient

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
biological defense system. Never mind the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
fear and the screams and the nightmares.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Who’s up for a horror film tonight? Thank you.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
[Applause]