Why do horror movies always make people feel pleasure?

In fact, from a psychological point of view, comedies and horror movies actually bring the same pleasure to people. They are both strong cognitive stimulation. So what kind of pleasure can horror movies bring to people? Woolen cloth?

Horror film, horror film psychology

The famous director Polanski made "Cold Blood" in 1965, which was considered by many to be "the scariest movie they have ever seen." . Some people avoid it, while others enjoy the process of watching it, and even discuss the heroine's morbid psychology with great interest after watching it. Horror movies are unpleasant, but there are a lot of audiences who like them. With the development of horror movies today, the degree of "heavy taste" such as horror, gore, and thriller has far surpassed the "Cold Blood" of the year, such as "Saw". Why do humans derive pleasure from the most negative emotions?

Philosopher: Pleasure comes from learning

This question can be traced back to the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. The question he poses is: Why do we enjoy the ugly things in life? Why do we enjoy tragedy? He answered from a cognitive perspective: We can also learn from ugliness and pain, and we love learning, and learning can gain the meaning of things.

Psychologists: Pleasure lies in inaction

Fictional horror can produce pleasure. The audience does not need to take action in response to emotional stimulation, and action requires mental effort. When watching horror movies and literary descriptions, we don’t need to do anything—it’s pleasurable to be lazy because it saves a lot of psychological energy.

Why do jokes make people laugh? Freud's explanation is simple: the superego or ego is always trying hard to suppress certain "bad" instincts. This force is suddenly released when it encounters humor, and then turns into laughter. Similarly, our brains have accumulated a surge of energy in preparation for action, but suddenly relax and the energy is released, giving us pleasure. Before we walk into the movie theater, we predict that there will be unpleasant fears, but we also know that we don’t need to do anything to deal with the fear, so we can derive a steady stream of pleasure from fear.

Sociologists: Pleasure must be safe

The key to pleasure in horror films lies in aesthetic distance, that is, the audience can empathize with the characters in the story, but at the same time realize that they are in Safe place. Because of the distance, the originally painful emotion turns into pleasure. For example, people feel great riding a roller coaster, provided that the roller coaster is safe so that they can fully experience fear.

Emotions such as fear are aroused states of the body in preparation for fight or flight. Of course, humans have developed many ways to deal with their emotions, not just fight or flight. It is quite pleasant to experience emotions and observe your own reactions while ensuring safety.