Submitted by dystopiandissent in Psychology

It feels good to control what will terrify you.

Horror films essentially offer a socially-sanctioned outlet for you to express your anxiety.

Horror can provide this sense of control by shifting the source of your anxiety. Once a fictional world of horror has your attention and you escape into the narrative, the source of your anxiety changes. Instead of feeling anxious about a social interaction that went awry, looming deadlines, or any other number of anxiety-inducing events in the real world, your anxiety is now attached to the monster on the screen. Importantly, you are now choosing to feel anxious rather than anxiety being something that just happens to you outside of your control.

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