Psychology of Fear
Most holidays have their roots in past historical events. For example, Christmas comes from the birth of Jesus, and the Fourth of July from the United State's Declaration of Independence from Britain. However, Halloween is a holiday that may have once come from such an event, but now people only identify it with costumes, pumpkins, and candy. When I was carving pumpkins last week, someone turned on the radio. Children were being interviewed about Halloween, and were asked what scared them.
Child #1: Monsters.
Child #2: It's scary because you have witch stuff and crazy stuff and zombies,
Child #3: Zombies with pimples.
Child #2: Yeah.
Child #3: Zombies with pimples.
Child #4: When I'm go outside in the dark, when it's pitch black and I'm all by myself, and I see something move or something, I just get really scared. My heart, like, pumps up and then I just run upstairs.
Child #5: Ghosts, goblins and witches. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114361001
This caused me to start thinking about the psychology of fear. Halloween is a holiday that exists because of people's enjoyment of fear. So I looked up some information on why people love the feeling of being scared, and learned that everyone has a biochemical response. This includes a heightened heart rate, and sweating, and these responses are a result of evolution. Basically, fear is a good thing that is necessary for our survival, so we recognize when situations are dangerous. However, people also have an emotional response to fear. This can vary from person to person. This is the reason why some people enjoy fear, and others do not. Going to a haunted house or a scary movie is always a controversial decision among my group of friends, because while some people enjoy the thrill and adrenaline rush, there are always people who don't.
The emotional response to fear is highly personalized. Some people are adrenaline junkies, thriving on extreme sports and other fear-inducing thrill situations. Others have a negative reaction to the feeling of fear, avoiding fear-inducing situations at all costs. Although the physical reaction is the same, fear may be perceived as either positive or negative... The majority of people avoid situations in which there is a high risk of actual injury. Yet they enjoy the experience of being scared in an environment that is actually safe. http://phobias.about.com/od/introductiontophobias/a/psychologyfear.htm
