Psychology of Horror Exam Study Guide PDF

**Psychology of Horror / Bassett / Spring 2025 / Study Guide for Exam 1** [Two essay questions worth 20 points each] - Know the details of the various perspectives (psychoanalytic, cognitive/fascination, existential, societal concerns, evolutionary) on horror and be able to apply each pe...

**Psychology of Horror / Bassett / Spring 2025 / Study Guide for Exam 1** [Two essay questions worth 20 points each] - Know the details of the various perspectives (psychoanalytic, cognitive/fascination, existential, societal concerns, evolutionary) on horror and be able to apply each perspective to a specific example of horror provided by the instructor Psychoanalytic- Horror is strange yet familiar to us because it presents returning repress childhood fears like castration anxiety (we are scared that they will cast us away) presented in the domination of killers and monsters, returning to the womb, dead things can come back to life, and the existence of doppelgangers. Cognitive/ fascination- we are fascinated and interested in monsters because they violate or cultural norms and defy categorization. For example, monsters and ghost defy classification of animal or human. Societal Concerns- metaphor for real social issues that's why we are scared. For example, vampires are gears of foreigners and AIDS often having thick foreign accents and fear of blood being contaminated. Existential- Human deal with other anxieties that other animals do not have to recognize the end of mortality. Horror reminds us that we are mortal, and our lives are fragile, and we can die. Evolutionary- biologically learn to fear things that cause danger to our survival. This is why horror monsters are scary because they are big, scary, animals, or men that can cause physical harm. - Know the three types of horror viewers identified in research by Scrivner et al. (2022). Know the previously documented gender and personality differences in liking horror and be able to extrapolate these findings to possible relations to the three types. Be able to differentiate between the cognitive and emotional consequences of watching horror for each type of viewer and relate these differences to the following perspectives: sensation seeking, mastery, dispositional alignment, excitation transfer, and benign masochism. (1)Adrenaline junkies are individuals who watch horror because of the sensation of being scared, enjoying the emotions of anxiety and adrenaline. These individuals are more likely to be men because they are more allowed to be socially adventurous and have less empathy, there is no cognitive benefit for watching horror but provides a sensation seeking benefit for the brain. (2)White knucklers are individuals, more likely women, who are bothered by horror and is easily frightened creating lingering fears that can cause a long lasting effect because women are usually more empathic to victims. Although there can be negative emotional consequences for watching horror, like anxiety and paranoia, there can be cognitive benefits, like mastery over one's fears, change ways of thinkings or beliefs in self. These individuals may build sense of mastery when there is disposal alignment meaning that there are more okay with violence if it used against unfair characters, believing in a fair world. These individuals may also experience excitation transfer feeling when they don't necessary enjoy watching horror in the moment but feel relief of stress and anxiety when the horror movie is over. (3)Dark Coppers are individuals that use horror to coper and sympathize with their own problems. There is no gender difference in dark coppers but usually have less empathy than white knucklers and adrenaline junkies. They get both benefits because they emotionally enjoy horror and cognitively benefits their rationalization of their own problems. These individuals have benign masochism enjoyment of things that we find discomfortable or unpleasant. [20 multiple choice questions worth 3 points each ] - Know how gender age sensation seeking, empathy, the big five, and paranormal beliefs are correlated with horror preferences - Men typically enjoy horror more than women because it provides them the opportunity to validate their gender and masculinity. - Adolescence and young adults tend to enjoy horror more because it also provides the opportunity to validate their emerging adulthood. - Individuals who are more liking to seek sensations of adrenaline will have higher scores of enjoyments of horror. - High levels of Openness in (OCEAN 5 Personalities) are more likely to enjoy horror - Higher levels of paranormal beliefs are more likely to enjoy horror (will prefer supernatural horror over psychological horror) - Know the results of Bandura's bob doll studies and the implications for observational learning and the relationship of violent media and actual aggression - The bandura's bob doll studies demonstrated the process of social learning (learning through watching and mimicking others) - So the more violent media you consume the more likely to be violent/ aggressive - Know the results of research on the relationship between violent media exposure and actual aggression and various interpretations it's both - We can be primed to have violent thoughts through increased violent media exposure which can make the accessibility to violent/ aggressive thoughts closer - Know the four levels of relevance articulated by Walters (2004) - Universal: touches on universal aspects of fear and terror (darkness, danger, and death) - Cultural: reflects universal and cultural changes that invoke fear and terror (vampire= AIDS) - Subgroup: fears that invokes based on developmental trends - Majority of horror is aimed at adolescent audiences so invokes adolescence issues such as identity figure and issues of independence - Personal: individuals concerned about losing control or strong sensation seeking tendencies find horror movies more relevant - Dispositional alignment- satisfied when violence effects unlike character even when favorable character dies, because we believe in a just world. - Excitation transfer- don't enjoy horror when 1^st^ watching it but feel relief after the movie is overs - Sensation seeking- brain wants adrenaline but modern life is alme so have to watch horror to fulfill adrenaline - Snuggle theory- people enjoy watching horror with their partner because it allows them to act according to their gender roles. Man gets to be protecter/brave and women get to be protected - Benign masochism- we find please in things we find discomfort in - Threat simulation - practicing what we do for survival when watching horror it allows us to feel mastery over topics about our fears and find safety in the world - Unhemlich- unfamiliar things that suggest that they are threatening or uncomfortable - Know how Carroll applied Mary Douglas' theory of disgust to horror - We feel fear when watching horror because of threat and disgust because the monsters/villain go against our social category - Know the role that monsters play in determining if a movie falls in the realm of art horror according to Carroll - Monsters do not only equal horror the characters reactions run parallels to the audience feelings - Know the types of repressed anxieties and surmounted beliefs that psychoanalysis views as being metaphorically embodied in horror monsters - Castration anxiety: fear of abandonment and being set away - Return to the womb - Dead things can come back to life - Thoughts can have powers to control the outside world - Thoughts on doppelgangers - Know the four types of motives for watching or four types of slasher horror viewers described by Johnston (1995) Gore Watchers: watch horror because they enjoy the graphic content, have high sensation seeking needs, and have less feelings of empathy for victims, desensitizing you to important moral values Thrill Watchers: watch horror for the enjoyment of being scared and have high sensation tendencies allows individuals to challenge their minds and world view independently. Independent Watchers: people who enjoy watching horror by themselves and feel more afraid when watching in big groups and report feeling positive feelings before and after movie because allows them to positively change themselves and their world views Problem Watchers: people who watch horror to escape the problems and behaviors from their own lives, and uses horror as a drug, but can desensitize people to important moral issues and cause negative psychological impacts before and after watching - Know the definitions of horror given by Walters and Carroll - Walters defines horror as a fictionalized account designed to evolve terror through implied presence of supernatural or grossly abnormal forces - Carroll defines horror as the art of fear (threat of life/well-being) and disgust (doesn't fit social categories) - Know the results of Welsh's (2010) research on sex and sexualizing of characters in predicting survival in slasher films - Males are more likely to be killed the female characters but is not defined if he was sexualized or not. Women's survival us based on her sexualness, the more sexual a female character is the more likely she will die and have a prolonged death scene