Murder Mystery

In this episode of Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam interviews Colton Scrivner, a psychologist, about why humans are drawn to stories of violence, gore, and danger, despite often finding such content aversive. They discuss research showing increased interest in scary entertainment after real-life frightening events, such as the popularity of the movie "Contagion" during the COVID-19 pandemic. Scrivner introduces the concept of "morbid curiosity," comparing it to animals' predator inspection behavior, suggesting that humans seek out information about threats to learn and prepare. The conversation explores how horror movies can provide a safe outlet for anxieties, offering a controlled environment to confront fears, and how these shared experiences can foster social connections. Scrivner also dispels the notion that horror fans are less empathetic, presenting evidence that they are just as empathetic as non-fans, and in some cases, even more so.