KID NEWS: Here’s Why We’re So Into Haunted Houses for Halloween…
If you like Halloween and haunted houses, you’re not alone.
Knox College professor of psychology, Frank McAndrew, says going to “haunted” experiences provides an ideal emotional cocktail of “fear, enjoyment, and surprise.”
McAndrew adds, “Walking through a commercial haunted house can also provide relevant feedback about ourselves. It might be useful to know which types of things are scary to us and which are not, and examining our emotional reactions to unsettling experiences may help us gauge our level of preparedness for dealing with terrifying unexpected situations.”
He concludes that haunted houses give our bodies an arousal change (increased heart rate, adrenaline rush) that he describes as, “Goldilocks arousal changes—not too small and not too large, but just right.”
Scare up a little more, here: (Yahoo)
- It turns out we love haunted attractions because they give us just enough of a thrill that we don’t go into full panic mode—something we find enjoyable, and many people find addictive
