(单词翻译:双击或拖选) The Evolutionary1 Reasons We Are Drawn2 to Horror Movies and Haunted Houses Chain saws roar, and spine-chilling screams echo from behind a dense3 wall of trees. You know you're at a scary attraction in the woods of Denmark called Dystopia Haunted House, yet everything sounds so real. As you walk into the house, you become disoriented in a dark maze4 filled with strange objects and broken furniture; when you turn a corner, you're confronted by bizarre scenes with evil clowns and terrifying monsters reaching out for you. Then you hear the chain saw revving5 up, and a masked man bursts through the wall. You scream and start running. This might sound like the kind of place nobody would ever want to be in, but every year millions of people pay to visit haunts just like Dystopia. They crowd in during Halloween, to be sure, but show up in every other season, too. This paradox6 of horror's appeal—that people want to have disturbing and upsetting experiences—has long perplexed7 scholars. We devour8 tales of psychopathic killers9 on true crime podcasts, watch movies about horrible monsters, play games filled with ghosts and zombies, and read books that describe apocalyptic10 worlds packed with our worst fears. This paradox is now being resolved by research on the science of scary play and morbid11 curiosity. Our desire to experience fear, it seems, is rooted deep in our evolutionary past and can still benefit us today. Scary play, it turns out, can help us overcome fears and face new challenges—those that surface in our own lives and others that arise in the increasingly disturbing world we all live in. The phenomenon of scary play surprised Charles Darwin. In The Descent of Man, he wrote that he had heard about captive monkeys that, despite their fear of snakes, kept lifting the lid of a box containing the reptiles12 to peek13 inside. Intrigued14, Darwin turned the story into an experiment: He put a bag with a snake inside it in a cage full of monkeys at the London Zoological Gardens. A monkey would cautiously walk up to the bag, slowly open it, and peer down inside before shrieking16 and racing17 away. After seeing one monkey do this, another monkey would carefully walk over to the bag to take a peek, then scream and run. Then another would do the same thing, then another. The monkeys were “satiating their horror,” as Darwin put it. Morbid fascination18 with danger is widespread in the animal kingdom—it's called predator19inspection20. The inspection occurs when an animal looks at or even approaches a predator rather than simply fleeing. This behavior occurs across a range of animals, from guppies to gazelles. At first blush, getting close to danger seems like a bad idea. Why would natural selection have instilled21 in animals a curiosity about the very things they should be avoiding? But there is an evolutionary logic15 to these actions. Morbid curiosity is a powerful way for animals to gain information about the most dangerous things in their environment. It also gives them an opportunity to practice dealing22 with scary experiences. Three people dressed as horror creature with white painted faces and darkened eyes, shown behind a wire fence. Customers at Dystopia are threatened by ghouls that could break past a thin wire barrier at any moment. Credit: Henriette Klausen When you consider that many prey23 animals live close to their predators24, the benefits of morbidly25 curious behavior such as predator inspection become clear. For example, it's not uncommon26 for a gazelle to cross paths with a cheetah27 on the savanna28. It might seem like a gazelle should always run when it sees a cheetah. Fleeing, however, is physiologically29 expensive; if a gazelle ran every time it saw a cheetah, it would exhaust precious calories and lose out on opportunities for other activities that are important to its survival and reproduction. Consider the perspective of the predator, too. It may seem like a cheetah should chase after a gazelle anytime it sees one. But for a cheetah, it's not easy to just grab a bite; hunting is an energetically costly30 exercise that doesn't always end in success. As long as the cheetah isn't starving, it should chase a prey animal only when the chances of capturing it are reasonably high. If it's best for gazelles to run only when the cheetah is hunting, then they benefit if they can identify when a cheetah is hungry. And the only way for a gazelle to learn about cheetahs31 is by closely observing them when it's relatively32 safe to do so. For example, if the surrounding grass is short and a cheetah is easily visible, a gazelle feels safer and is more likely to linger a while and watch the cheetah, especially if the gazelle is among a larger group. The age of the gazelle matters, too; adolescents and young adults—those fast enough to escape and without much previous exposure to predators—are the most likely to inspect cheetahs. The trade-off makes sense: these gazelles don't know much about dangerous cats yet, so they have a lot to gain from investigating them. Relative safety and inexperience are two of the most powerful moderators of predator inspection in animals—and of morbid curiosity in humans. Today people inspect predators through stories and movies. Depictions of predators are found in stories passed along through oral traditions around the world. Leopards33, tigers and wolves are frequent antagonists34 in regional folklore35. We also tell stories and see films about monstrous36fictional37 predators such as ferocious38 werewolves, mighty39 dragons, clever vampires40 and bloodthirsty ogres. Indulging in stories about threats is a frighteningly effective and valuable strategy. Such tales let us learn about potential predators or menacing situations that other people have encountered without having to face them ourselves. The exaggerated perils42 of fictional monsters create strong emotional and behavioral responses, familiarizing us with these reactions for when we have to deal with more down-to-earth dangers. Children are often the intended audience for scary oral stories because these stories can help them learn about risks early in their lives. Think about the key lines of Little Red Riding Hood43: “Grandmother, what big eyes you have!” “All the better to see with, my child.” “Grandmother, what big teeth you have got!” “All the better to eat you up with.” The tale teaches a young audience, in a safe and entertaining way, what wolves look like and what certain parts of a wolf do. The story takes place in the woods, where wolves are typically found. It's scary, but told in a secure space, it delivers a valuable lesson. A person dressed in an intimidating44outfit45 wearing a gas mask and holding a gun. A menacing figure looms46 out of the darkness at Dystopia. Credit: Jacob Papsø Our fascination with things that can harm or kill us is not limited to predators. We also can be morbidly drawn to tales of large-scale frightening situations such as volcanic47eruptions48, pandemics, dangerous storms and a large variety of apocalyptic events. This is where the magic of a scary story really shines: it's the only way to learn about and rehearse responses to dangers we have yet to face. Most people were feeling pretty uncertain about the future in 2020. COVID had thrust the world into a global pandemic. Governments were restricting movement, businesses were closing, and the way of living that many were used to was screeching49 to a halt. But some of us had seen something like it before. Less than a decade earlier meningoencephalitic virus 1, or MEV-1, was wreaking50havoc51. It spread with terrifying speed and without requiring close contact in subways, elevators and outdoor public spaces. Society's response to MEV-1 foreshadowed what would happen in 2020 with COVID: travel stopped, businesses closed, and people started stockpiling supplies. Some of them began touting52dubious53 miracle cures. If you don't remember the worldwide devastation54 of MEV-1, you must not have seen the movie Contagion55, a 2011 thriller56 starring Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Laurence Fishburne. Watching it might have benefited you when COVID spread across the planet. In a study that one of us (Scrivner) conducted in the early months of the pandemic, those who had seen at least one pandemic-themed movie reported feeling much more prepared for the societal surprises that COVID had in store. The stockpiling of supplies, business closures, travel bans and miracle cures were all things fans of Contagion had seen before; they had already played with the idea of a global pandemic before the real thing happened. Learning to regain57 composure and adapt in the face of surprise and uncertainty58 seems to be a key evolutionary function of play. Engaging in play that simulates threatening situations helps juvenile59 mammals such as tiger cubs60 and wolf pups practice quickly regaining61 stable movement and emotional composure. Humans do this as well. Call to mind a backyard party where young children squeal62 with fear and delight as they are chased by a fun-loving parent who threatens, with arms outstretched in monster pose, “I'm gonna get you!” It's all just fun and games, but it's also a chance for the kids to try to maintain their motor control under stress so they don't tumble to the ground, making themselves vulnerable to a predator—or a tickle63 attack from the parent. Researchers who study human fun and games have argued that the decline of thrilling, unstructured play over the past few decades has contributed to a rise in childhood anxiety over that same time period. School and park playgrounds used to be arenas64 for this kind of play, but an increased emphasis on playground safety has removed opportunities for it. Don't get us wrong: safety is a good thing. Many playgrounds of the past were dangerous, with ladders climbing upward of 20 feet to rusty65 slides with no rails. But making playgrounds too safe and sterile66 can have unintended consequences, including depriving children of opportunities to learn about themselves and their abilities to manage challenging and scary situations. Kids need to be able to exercise some independence, which often involves a bit of risky67 play. Many scientists who study play have proposed that adventurous68 play can help build resilience and reduce fear in children. In line with this research, organizations such as LetGrow have created programs for schools and parents to foster independence, curiosity and exploration in children. Their solution is simple: let kids engage in more challenging, unstructured play so they can learn how to handle fear, anxiety and danger without it being too overwhelming. Even virtual scary experiences provide many of these same benefits. The Games for Emotional and Mental Health Lab created a horror biofeedback game called MindLight that has been shown to reduce anxiety in children. The game centers on a child named Arty who finds himself at his grandmother's house. When he goes inside, he sees that it has been enveloped69 in darkness and taken over by evil, shadowy creatures that can resemble everything from blobs to catlike predators. Arty must save his grandmother from the darkness and bring light back to her house. He has nothing to defend himself with except a light attached to his hat—his “mindlight.” Players controlling Arty must use the mindlight to expose and defeat the creatures. But there's a catch: as a player becomes more stressed (as measured by an electroencephalogram), their mindlight dims. The player must stay calm in the face of fear by practicing techniques such as replacement70 of stress-producing thoughts or muscle relaxation71, borrowed from cognitive-behavioral therapy. As they regain their composure, their mindlight grows in power, and they are able to defeat the monsters with it. This combination of therapeutic72 techniques and positive reinforcement (kids defeat the monsters and conquer their fear) makes MindLight a potent41 antianxiety tool. Randomized clinical trials with children have shown the game to be as effective at reducing several anxiety symptoms as traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy, a widely used anxiety treatment. Scary play can help adults navigate74 fear and anxiety, too. Scrivner tested this idea with visitors to Dystopia Haunted House. Haunted house goers could take personality surveys before they entered and answer questions about their experience when they exited. After about 45 minutes of being chased by zombies, monsters and a pig-man with a chain saw, the visitors ran out of the haunted house and into some members of the research team, who then asked them how they felt. A huge portion said they had learned something about themselves and believed they had some personal growth during the haunt. In particular, they reported learning the boundaries of what they can handle and how to manage their fear. Other research from the Recreational Fear Lab in Aarhus, Denmark, has shown that people actively75 regulate their fear and arousal levels when engaging in scary play. This means that engaging with a frightening simulation can serve as practice for controlling arousal and may be generalizable to other, real-world stressful situations, helping76 people bolster77 their overall resilience. In one study that supports this idea, real soldiers played a modified version of the zombie-apocalypse horror game Left 4 Dead that incorporated player arousal levels. In the game, zombies pop out of nowhere, chasing players and clawing them to the ground, generating visceral fear even in experienced video game players. In the study, some players were given visual and auditory signals when their arousal increased: a red texture78partially79 obscured the player's view, and they heard a heartbeat that got louder and faster as their stress increased. Later, during a live simulation of an ambush80, soldiers who played the video game and received biofeedback had lower levels of cortisol (a stress biomarker) than those who did not play. Strikingly, these people also were better at giving first aid to a wounded soldier during that simulation. A person dressed up as a horror creature with a disturbing smile shown peering between the planks81 of a wood fence. People who confront monstrous predators in a relatively safe space, such as a haunted house, can learn to manage anxiety felt during distressing82 real-life situations. Credit: Andrés Rein73 Baldursson These rehearsals83 for stress may be especially effective when people do them in groups. Collectively experiencing a dangerous situation ties people together. There are many anecdotal examples of this in history, from post-9/11 America, to military platoons, to the high levels of cooperation and assistance that often occur in the aftermath of natural disasters. There are also experimental studies showing that danger and fear can be powerful positive social forces. For example, engaging in rituals such as fire walking can physiologically synchronize84 people with one another and promote mutually beneficial behavior. We don't need exposure to real danger to reap these cooperative benefits, however. Collectively simulating upsetting or dangerous situations through scary play could confer similar benefits without the physical risk. In the health-care industry, simulations are often used to teach medical skills by creating situations that are intense. In public health, simulations have been used to teach people ways to cooperate and coordinate85 in pandemic preparedness and response. In other species, learning about risks is often a social endeavor. Stickleback fish investigating predators often do so with others. One stickleback will begin approaching, then wait to see whether another will approach a little closer. Then the first stickleback will go a little further, taking its turn being the one nearest the predator. The results of studies into this behavior even suggest that sticklebacks from regions with higher predation risk are more cooperative than those from places with lower risk. In humans, morbid curiosity seems to be associated with cooperation and risk management. For example, in many societies people tell stories about dangers in their environments, whether those are natural disasters such as fires, earthquakes and floods or threats of war, theft or exploitation from nearby groups. The Ik people of Uganda, whom one of us (Aktipis) has studied as part of the Human Generosity86 Project, have a collective and emotionally compelling way of engaging with concerns about raids from other groups. They enact87 entire plays with music, dancing and drama where they reexperience both the tragedy and the triumph of helping one another during such difficult times. Such stories and dramatic enactments88 can bring shared attention to these kinds of challenges, and we know that shared attention is one mechanism89 that can help people cooperate and solve coordination90dilemmas91. A failure of group imagination, in contrast, can lead to vulnerability. Some researchers have suggested that zombie-apocalypse fiction can lead to more creative solutions during unexpected and risky events by helping people become more imaginative. With CONPLAN 8888, a fictional training scenario92, the U.S. military used a hypothetical zombie apocalypse to make learning about disaster management more fun for officers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did something similar with a comic they produced called Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic. Organizations have recognized that couching fears in imaginative play is productive. Right now our research team is developing a set of scary group games to help people manage shared risks and fears. What can we learn from the human propensity93 for scary play? First, don't be afraid to get out there and explore your world, even if it sometimes provokes a little fear. Second, make sure that your morbid curiosity is educating you about risks in a way that is beneficial to you. In other words, don't get stuck doomscrolling upsetting news on the Internet; it's a morbid-curiosity trap that, like candy, keeps you consuming but does nothing to satisfy your need for nourishment94. Instead of doomscrolling, take on one or two topics you want to know more about and do a deeper dive that leaves you feeling satisfied that you've assessed the risk and empowered yourself to do something about it. Be intentional95 about gathering96 more information through your own experience or by talking with others who are knowledgeable97 on the subject. You can also tell or listen to scary stories with others and use them as a jumping-off point for thinking about real risks we face. Watch a movie about an apocalypse, go to a haunted house, get in costume to go on a “zombie crawl,” or have a fun night at home chatting with your friends about how you'd survive the end of the world. And finally, invite creativity and play into spaces where the gravity of a situation might otherwise be overwhelming. Make up horror stories or dress up as something frightening and have a laugh about how silly it all is. In other words, embrace the Halloween season with abandon—and then bring that same energy to the challenges of the times we're living in now. 点击收听单词发音 adj.进化的;演化的,演变的;[生]进化论的 参考例句: v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 参考例句: a.密集的,稠密的,浓密的;密度大的 参考例句: 4maze n.迷宫,八阵图,混乱,迷惑 参考例句: v.(使)加速( rev的现在分词 );(数量、活动等)激增;(使发动机)快速旋转;(使)活跃起来 参考例句: n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法;自相矛盾的人(物) 参考例句: adj.不知所措的 参考例句: v.吞没;贪婪地注视或谛听,贪读;使着迷 参考例句: 凶手( killer的名词复数 ); 消灭…者; 致命物; 极难的事 参考例句: adj.预示灾祸的,启示的 参考例句: 11morbid adj.病的;致病的;病态的;可怕的 参考例句: 12reptiles n.爬行动物,爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) 参考例句: 13peek vi.偷看,窥视;n.偷偷的一看,一瞥 参考例句: adj.好奇的,被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式);激起…的兴趣或好奇心;“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 参考例句: 15logic n.逻辑(学);逻辑性 参考例句: v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) 参考例句: 17racing n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的 参考例句: n.令人着迷的事物,魅力,迷恋 参考例句: 19predator n.捕食其它动物的动物;捕食者 参考例句: n.检查,审查,检阅 参考例句: v.逐渐使某人获得(某种可取的品质),逐步灌输( instill的过去式和过去分词 ) 参考例句: 22dealing n.经商方法,待人态度 参考例句: 23prey n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 参考例句: n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 );奴役他人者(尤指在财务或性关系方面) 参考例句: 25morbidly adv.病态地 参考例句: 26uncommon adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的 参考例句: 27cheetah n.(动物)猎豹 参考例句: 28savanna n.大草原 参考例句: ad.生理上,在生理学上 参考例句: 30costly adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的 参考例句: 31cheetahs n.(奔跑极快的)非洲猎豹( cheetah的名词复数 ) 参考例句: adv.比较...地,相对地 参考例句: 33leopards n.豹( leopard的名词复数 );本性难移 参考例句: 对立[对抗] 者,对手,敌手( antagonist的名词复数 ); 对抗肌; 对抗药 参考例句: 35folklore n.民间信仰,民间传说,民俗 参考例句: adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的 参考例句: adj.小说的,虚构的 参考例句: adj.凶猛的,残暴的,极度的,十分强烈的 参考例句: 39mighty adj.强有力的;巨大的 参考例句: 40vampires n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 );吸血蝠;高利贷者;(舞台上的)活板门 参考例句: 41potent adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 参考例句: 42perils 极大危险( peril的名词复数 ); 危险的事(或环境) 参考例句: 43hood n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖 参考例句: vt.恐吓,威胁( intimidate的现在分词) 参考例句: 45outfit n.(为特殊用途的)全套装备,全套服装 参考例句: 46looms n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现,阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 );隐约出现,阴森地逼近 参考例句: 47volcanic adj.火山的;象火山的;由火山引起的 参考例句: n.喷发,爆发( eruption的名词复数 ) 参考例句: v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 );发出粗而刺耳的声音;高叫 参考例句: 50wreaking 诉诸(武力),施行(暴力),发(脾气)( wreak的现在分词 ) 参考例句: 51havoc n.大破坏,浩劫,大混乱,大杂乱 参考例句: 52touting v.兜售( tout的现在分词 );招揽;侦查;探听赛马情报 参考例句: 53dubious adj.怀疑的,无把握的;有问题的,靠不住的 参考例句: n.毁坏;荒废;极度震惊或悲伤 参考例句: n.(通过接触的疾病)传染;蔓延 参考例句: 56thriller n.惊险片,恐怖片 参考例句: 57regain vt.重新获得,收复,恢复 参考例句: n.易变,靠不住,不确知,不确定的事物 参考例句: 59juvenile n.青少年,少年读物;adj.青少年的,幼稚的 参考例句: 60cubs n.幼小的兽,不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 ) 参考例句: 复得( regain的现在分词 ); 赢回; 重回; 复至某地 参考例句: 62squeal v.发出长而尖的声音;n.长而尖的声音 参考例句: 63tickle v.搔痒,胳肢;使高兴;发痒;n.搔痒,发痒 参考例句: 64arenas 表演场地( arena的名词复数 ); 竞技场; 活动或斗争的场所或场面; 圆形运动场 参考例句: 65rusty adj.生锈的;锈色的;荒废了的 参考例句: 66sterile adj.不毛的,不孕的,无菌的,枯燥的,贫瘠的 参考例句: 67risky adj.有风险的,冒险的 参考例句: adj.爱冒险的;惊心动魄的,惊险的,刺激的 参考例句: v.包围,笼罩,包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) 参考例句: n.取代,替换,交换;替代品,代用品 参考例句: n.松弛,放松;休息;消遣;娱乐 参考例句: adj.治疗的,起治疗作用的;对身心健康有益的 参考例句: 73rein n.疆绳,统治,支配;vt.以僵绳控制,统治 参考例句: 74navigate v.航行,飞行;导航,领航 参考例句: 75actively adv.积极地,勤奋地 参考例句: 76helping n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 参考例句: 77bolster n.枕垫;v.支持,鼓励 参考例句: 78texture n.(织物)质地;(材料)构造;结构;肌理 参考例句: adv.部分地,从某些方面讲 参考例句: 80ambush n.埋伏(地点);伏兵;v.埋伏;伏击 参考例句: 81planks (厚)木板( plank的名词复数 ); 政纲条目,政策要点 参考例句: a.使人痛苦的 参考例句: n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 );排练;复述;重复 参考例句: v.使同步 [=synchronise] 参考例句: adj.同等的,协调的;n.同等者;vt.协作,协调 参考例句: n.大度,慷慨,慷慨的行为 参考例句: 87enact vt.制定(法律);上演,扮演 参考例句: n.演出( enactment的名词复数 );展现;规定;通过 参考例句: n.机械装置;机构,结构 参考例句: n.协调,协作 参考例句: 91dilemmas n.左右为难( dilemma的名词复数 );窘境,困境 参考例句: 92scenario n.剧本,脚本;概要 参考例句: n.倾向;习性 参考例句: n.食物,营养品;营养情况 参考例句: adj.故意的,有意(识)的 参考例句: n.集会,聚会,聚集 参考例句: adj.知识渊博的;有见识的 参考例句:
人们被恐怖电影和鬼屋吸引的原因
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2023年10月30日 09:06