The Science of Scaring

[flano]

after I watched only the first 15 minutes of 'Dawn of the Dead' ,(the zombie movie Its very gory and jumpy and quiet well done), I stopped the film and continued some studying but I noticed an adrenaline rush or sort of sickness feeling for a period after. Does anyone exactly what this is or the biological process involved.

[andy hughes]

It's the 'fight or flight' reaction, which our 'civilised' bodies retain from our cavemen ancestors, even though we don't need it anymore.

When frightened, or threatened, even by default through a film, TV, or even a fairground ride, our bodies send a surge or adrenalin into our system. This shuts down blood bessels, in case of injury, inceases oxygen levels to the blood, pumps up muscles, and gets the body ready to fight, or run, which ever is required.

Because neither of these actions are required, the adrenalin slowly dissipates, but a feeling of shakiness and nausea can be an after-effect.

My theory is that we subconciously need this reaction to be stimulatyd aritificially, which is why horror films, big dippers and so on, are popular.

[JOEYSHABADO]

Good reply andy.

The 'fight or flight' response is the common term for the stress response carried out by the SAM (Sympathetic Adrenal Medulla), which activates the hormonal discharge you speak of. It is 'pre-human', ie it existed in species before our own, and we receive it from them.

I was going to talk of it earlier, but I didn't want to because it is really still a matter of debate. SAM theories are sometimes seen as a circular argument for explaining biological responses to stressors. It's worth remembering that many other psychological and social variables must be considered also, the response cannot be reduced to the biological.

I would say it is still very much used today, but not, as andy points out, for the purposes for which it was first designed. I do also agree that we are set up with the expectation that (at least for men) we will be exposed to FFF (flight/fight/mating) responses at least once or twice a week. We don't really get this nowadays, thus the need for funfairs/Doom3 etc. We are, after all, hunter gatherers through most of our evolutionary history. Plenty of fighting and flighting going on there.