Like haunted houses? Scientists do.
That's because they're an excellent place to study how humans respond to — and actively seek out — fear.
"Typically when we study things in the lab, we're exposing people to these repeated, low-intensity experiences. And that's not really the way we experience threat in the real world," says neuroscientist Sarah Tashjian, head of the Affective Neuroscience and Development Lab at the University of Melbourne. "Haunted houses have a benefit in that they're these really immersive experiences that have all of these sensations going on at the same time … so they're closer to what we might experience in the real world."
That immersive experience often activates what scientists call an "arousal response," which includes sweaty palms, shorter breath and an elevated heart rate. University of Pittsburgh sociologist Margee Kerr says that this arousal state can be interpreted by our bodies as fear — but that, depending on the context, it could also be framed as excitement, suspense or anticipation.
"Our emotions are so informed by context," Kerr says. "Who we're with, what we're doing, time of year, all of that comes into play. And so if we limit ourselves to just one word — like 'this can only be called fear' or 'this can only be called fun' — it's really not capturing our lived experience."
Kerr's colleague neuroscientist Greg Siegle agrees.
"You could also think of it as, 'What is the narrative that I'm going to put to my arousal?'" he says. "In the context of a voluntary haunted house experience, where I came to have fun ... I'm going to call that fun and exciting rather than panic."
Interested in more social and psychological science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.
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This episode was produced by Berly McCoy. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts. The audio engineer was Robert Rodriguez.
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