Morbid fascination really DOES exist: Study finds we are physically compelled to watch gory scenes - even if they disgust us
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Most of us have sat cowering behind a cushion, or deep in a cinema chair unable to look away from the screen as a character is maimed or killed in a horror film.
And while this might seem like strange and morbid behaviour, scientists have discovered what is going on in our bodies to drive this reaction.
They found people exposed to blood and guts showed higher levels of attention the more extreme the content became - even though the people watching admitted to being disgusted.
Scientists claim they have discovered that morbid fascination is a physiological reaction, which explains why people are unable to look away when watching a scary film (illustrated). Tests showed that people exposed to blood and guts had higher levels of attention the more disgusting the content became
THE THREE TYPES OF DISGUST
Participants in the study watched film clips showing three types of disgust: socio-moral, body product and death, and gore.
Previous studies claim socio-moral disgust includes unacceptable human transgressions, such as lying and betrayal.
People reacted relatively slowly to clips that elicited socio-moral disgust. They were initially attentive before feeling negative.
But participants reacted to core disgusts – triggered by the showing of bodily fluids, gore and death – immediately and were at once negative and defensive.
Body product disgusts in particular showed an initially defensive response.
Instead of becoming attentive straight away, viewers became immediately negative, while the heart rate accelerated, indicating the content was, at first, too disgusting to watch.
People typically forgot that they had seen before watching a gory film clip.
However, their memory improved after watching all three types of clips and their heart rate slowed, suggesting they became more attentive over time.
A total of 120 people watched film clips showing three types of disgust, described as socio-moral, body product and death, and gore.
The experiment was devised by Bridget Rubenking of University of Central Florida, and Annie Lang of Indiana University.
Previous studies have given examples of socio-moral disgust as unacceptable human transgressions, such as lying and betrayal.
During the viewings, scientists measured the participants' heart rate, facial expressions and skin moisture while they watched the footage.
They then tested the viewers' memories after watching the clips to examine the differences between the recollections, and the physiological levels of activity.
Measurements were taken from before the onset of disgust in each clip to time points immediately afterwards.
They then compared the data across the different types of clips.
Clips that triggered socio-moral disgust elicited a slower response of disgust from the participants who were initially attentive and then increasingly negative, according to the study, published in the Journal of Communication.
But participants reacted to core disgusts – triggered by the showing of bodily fluids, gore and death – immediately and were at once negative and defensive.
'Body product disgusts' in particular showed an initially defensive response. Instead of becoming attentive straight away, viewers became immediately negative and aroused, while the heart rate accelerated, indicating that the content was at first too disgusting to pay attention to.
Memory improved during and after watching revolting clips, across all disgust types, and participants' heart rates showed a deeper deceleration over time. This means people became more attentive and couldn't look away. A still of Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh, in Psycho is pictured
Memory of content that appeared before the gory scenes was at 'near-chance levels' - this means it disrupted peoples' thought processes and made them forget what they had seen before watching the disgusting clip.
Memory improved during and after watching revolting clips, across all disgust types, and participants' heart rates showed a deeper deceleration over time, which suggested to the scientists that people became more attentive to the content as it went on.
Together, this data suggests that despite being fully aware of how disgusted they were, participants could not turn away from any of the disgusting content and actually paid more attention the more revolting the clips content got.
This pattern was especially pronounced in response to the gory videos.
'We often choose to view entertainment media to simply make ourselves feel good and we also likely often choose entertainment media that will provide meaning, fulfilment and spark introspection,' Dr Rubenking said.
'Despite whatever motives encouraged the decision to watch or not watch, this study demonstrates that when we're watching entertainment content that introduces specific types of disgust, our bodies react as being disgusted, and we can articulate that we are disgusted by the content.'
'However, we pay more attention once disgust is introduced and we remember the content with disgust better, making it a smart device for content creators to use, in moderation.'
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