Coltan Scrivner Profile picture
Jun 20, 2022 17 tweets 14 min read Read on X
Both the public and academics often claim that horror fans are less empathetic and compassionate, but is this true?

My new paper suggests this stereotype is inaccurate.

psyarxiv.com/rhc23

Read on to see why. This was a fun set of studies

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The rise of slashers led to moral panic from the public & critics in the 80's. Gene Siskel encouraged readers to mail complaints to Paramount's chairman, & The UK banned what they called "video nasties," leading the Scotland Yard to raid VHS stores.
imdb.com/list/ls0513642…

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There's some evidence that horror fans are lower in empathy, but this literature is small, mostly from the 80s, and suffers from some methodological and conceptual flaws. I addressed these issues in a previous thread.



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So both scientists and the public think horror fans are low in empathy & compassion — but is this true? I tested this in Study 1. I had participants predict the personality of different people based on randomly generated profiles. They also reported their favorite genre

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The participants predicted that those who listed horror as their favorite movie genre were lower in empathy, compassion, and kindness.

Of course, horror fans knew better. They perceived other horror fans to be just as empathetic, compassionate, and kind.

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Now I had evidence that people had this view of horror fans, but was it an accurate view?

Study 2 looked at how trait levels of cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and coldheartedness related to enjoyment of 5 subgenres of horror.

editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/slashe…

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After they completed the empathy and coldheartedness measures, I gave participants definitions and examples of each subgenre and asked how much they enjoyed them. I also averaged responses for a general measure of horror enjoyment.

Any predictions?

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Greater enjoyment of any given subgenre of horror was either unrelated to empathy and coldheartedness or *positively* correlated with empathy and *negatively* correlated with coldheartedness.

Horror fans were not lower in empathy or more coldhearted than non horror fans.

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It's possible that some people believe they are compassionate or empathetic, but don't put their money where their mouth is when it matters. So, I had participants play a dictator game 1 week later

I gave them a bonus and told them they could donate some of they want.

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There was no expectation of reciprocity and donations were anonymous.

There was reason to donate money to a participant whose name was not randomly drawn to receive a bonus other than a sheer act of kindness or compassion. Some examples of participants' comments here.

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About half of the participants decided to donate some portion of their bonus.

How did the horror fans do?

They were just as kind and compassionate as everyone else. Enjoyment of horror was not significantly correlated with how much the participant decided to donate.

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So to sum up, these studies found:

1) Empirical evidence that people believe horror fans are less kind, empathetic, and compassionate.

2) Enjoyment of horror — even the gory, violent subgenres — is either unrelated to empathy and compassion or positively related to it.

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This will not come as a surprise to horror fans. But if you were surprised by these findings, I'd encourage you to hangout with some people who like horror. Go to some conventions! Horror fans some of the nicest people around (now supported by science).

👻
I think @joe_hill would also like this

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More from @MorbidPsych

Apr 2
I've argued that recreational fear (e.g., horror movies) can help build resilience by offering playful opportunities to practice emotion regulation skills.

This paper on spider and height phobia suggests exposure treatment does generalize across categorically different fears.
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For papers on horror and emotion regulation:

1) ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
Read 5 tweets
Oct 14, 2022
👻🎃HORROR MEGA THREAD🎃👻

Over the past few months, I've tweeted out a number of threads about the psychology of the horror genre and true crime.

I thought it would be fun to put together a mega thread of threads for the spooky season.

1/🧵
First up, let's talk about true crime and serial killers. I've received a bunch of interview requests the past 2 weeks to talk about the new #DahmerMonster series.

Why are we fascinated with evil men? Check out this thread to learn more:



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It's not just true crime villains that fascinate us. Some of the most popular horror movies center around a killer.

Michael. Jason. Freddy. Leatherface.

What makes these villains so popular? This thread explains their psychological appeal:


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Read 12 tweets
Aug 16, 2022
What makes Freddy Krueger an iconic horror villain?

I thought it would be fun to look at a specific horror icon and examine the psychology behind their appeal.

For the general background on this, see my recent thread:

So, why is Freddy so great?

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Let's start with his looks.

Freddy loves kids, has a great sense of fashion and is, in some ways, the man of your dreams. However, I think we can all agree that he might not fare too well on Tinder.

Rather than masking his face, Freddy proudly shows it.

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When you first saw these photos, you probably had a similar reaction as when you saw Freddy’s face. You likely experienced a feeling of disgust.

This response is part of the behavioral immune system — it helps us avoid infections.

Freddy's looks trigger this response

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Read 16 tweets
Aug 15, 2022
👹What makes a horror villain psychologically appealing?👹

There are an almost endless number of ways that a horror monster can be built, yet most of them share some common features.

So, what are some of the shared features of a successful horror villain?

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Let's start with the weapon.

The weapon of choice for horror villains varies quite a lot, but they all share one common feature: Sharp edges.

Machetes, knives, razor gloves, chainsaws, hatchets, big teeth, large claws.

Sharp weapons are the go-to for horror. But why?

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What do nearly all predators have in common?

Sharp teeth and/or sharp claws.

The sharp blade-like appendage is a near-universal feature of predators. Attending to and fearing it is a phylogenetically old imperative.

Wes Craven understood this when creating Freddy.

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Read 13 tweets
May 22, 2022
🚨3 Misconceptions about horror fan psychology🚨

Horror is a controversial genre, and horror fans are a commonly misunderstood group of people.

Here are 3 of the most common misconceptions about horror fans and why they are wrong.

1. Thrill-seekers
2. Anxiety
3. Empathy

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⚠️Misconception #1⚠️

Aren't horror fans just thrill-seekers?

This idea comes from work in the 1980s on sensation-seeking. Sensation-seeking is a trait that promotes the seeking of varied, novel, complex & intense sensations & experiences.

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There's some evidence that sensation-seeking is correlated with horror fandom, but it's not consistent.

Sometimes sensation-seeking predicts attendance, and sometimes enjoyment. Sometimes its only true for men or for a specific type of sensation-seeking.

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Read 28 tweets
Apr 26, 2022
Why are we fascinated with serial killers and evil men?

I gave a Science on Screen talk last week about our fascination with evil men, using Patrick Bateman from AMERICAN PSYCHO as an example. Here's a thread with the main points & some of my slides

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Humans are fascinated with morbid situations, and this shows up across entertainment. Take horror, for example

1. It's the most profitable film genre

2. 2 of the 5 most widely listened to podcasts tell stories about evil men

3. horror novelists sell billions of books

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Our fascination with evil men is part of this broader "morbid curiosity" that humans have. My research finds that people tend to be morbidly curious about 4 topics (broadly speaking):

1. Supernatural Danger
2. Body Violations
3. Violence
4. Minds of Dangerous People

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Read 15 tweets

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