I knew watching horror movies and not going outside would save my life someday! Are you proud of me yet, mom? Because in a study conducted by Coltan Scrivner, a University of Chicago researcher, it says that horror fans are preternaturally suited for any pandemic – including the current Covid crisis affecting the world (especially the United States).
Here's the abstract from his study:
In this study conducted during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, I explored how trait morbid curiosity was related to interest in 1) factual information about Coronavirus that was specifically morbid, 2) general factual information about Coronavirus, 3) pandemic and virus genres of films and TV shows, and 4) genres of film and TV shows that center around threat more broadly. Participants (n = 125) who scored high in morbid curiosity reported increased interest, compared to usual, in pandemic/virus genres as well as horror and thriller genres. Morbidly curious participants were also more interested specifically in morbid information about Coronavirus. Furthermore, disgust sensitivity was unrelated to these preferences. These results provide initial evidence that trait morbid curiosity can predict particular media preferences in the face of a real threat, and that morbid curiosity may reflect an adaptive predisposition in some individuals toward learning about the dangerous and disgusting aspects of a threat.
And here's what Ccrivner had to say in an interview with The Guardian:
If it’s a good movie, it pulls you in and you take the perspective of the characters, so you are unintentionally rehearsing the scenarios…We think people are learning vicariously. It’s like, with the exception of the toilet paper shortage, they pretty much knew what to buy.
If you’ve watched a lot of what we call prepper movies, you will have vicariously lived through massive social upheavals, states of martial law, people responding in both pro-social and dangerously selfish ways to sudden catastrophic events…Compared to somebody who has never simulated the end of the world, you’ll be in a better place because you have that vicarious experience.
So what do you guys think? Agree with the findings? Either way, sound off below!
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