The science of fear
NOVA Presents
00:00
Are Horror Movies Helping the Pandemic?
Do you think our obsessions with horror and fear are actually helping us in real life? I actually have empirical data to support such an otherwise outrageous idea because we did a study in the early days of the pandemic just shortly after it was declared a pandemic by the WHO. What we found was horror fans do indeed report less psychological distress during the pandemic. They have fewer sleep problems, fewer behavioral disturbances, fewer intrusive thoughts. And fans of alien invasion films and zombie films and so on feel better prepared for the pandemic than those who don't watch them.
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