Playing with fear: A field study in recreational horror
Andersen, Schjoedt, Price, Rosas, Scrivner and Clasen, Psychological Science 31(12), 2020, 1497-1510. Field study of 110 haunted attraction visitors aged 12 to 57 with heart rate monitoring, video of scare points and repeated self-reports. Enjoyment followed an inverted U against fear. Feeling frightened tracked large-scale heart rate changes linearly, and enjoyment followed an inverted U with small-scale fluctuations. The authors suggest the pattern reflects arousal that is just right.
Andersen, Schjoedt, Price, Rosas, Scrivner and Clasen, Psychological Science 31(12), 2020, 1497-1510. Field study of 110 haunted attraction visitors aged 12 to 57 with heart rate monitoring, video of scare points and repeated self-reports. Enjoyment followed an inverted U against fear. Feeling frightened tracked large-scale heart rate changes linearly, and enjoyment followed an inverted U with small-scale fluctuations. The authors suggest the pattern reflects arousal that is just right.
Written from the abstract, read via OpenAlex record 2026-11-04.
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Andersen, M. M., Schjoedt, U., Price, H. C. W., Rosas, F. E., Scrivner, C., & Clasen, M. (2020). Playing with fear: A field study in recreational horror. Psychological Science, 31(12), 1497-1510. doi:10.1177/0956797620972116 https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620972116