Morbid curiosity
Horror, accidents, illnesses, court cases, catastrophes, death - people have always been fascinated by these topics. The phenomenon of morbid curiosity describes the motivation to engage with dangerous, threatening or frightening content. But why do we voluntarily expose ourselves to such aversive content? Is morbid curiosity only something for scary fans and adrenaline junkies, or does it also fulfill important biological functions? Can a morbid fascination for negative things also have a positive benefit for us? We investigate morbid curiosity on the basis of personality correlates, affective traits and states, as well as physiological and neurobiological characteristics (ECG, EEG, fMRI).
Morbid Curiosity Science Fun Facts (publication links)
Scrivner et al (2021): Fans of zombie and virus films
Oosterwijk et al (2020): Activation of the reward network
True Crime
According to the media, we are currently experiencing a "true crime hype" and the morbid interest in true crime on TV, books or podcasts is booming like never before. What's more, women are significantly more interested in true crime than men, although paradoxically they are more afraid of becoming victims of crime. How does this fit together? So far, science knows very little about the causes, motives and effects of true crime consumption on our experiences and behavior in everyday life. Does true crime consumption have a "pathological" character that leads to more hostility, anxiety and stress in everyday life because we suspect a crime around every corner? Or are there even positive effects of true crime consumption, because we can learn something from these morbid worlds? Our goal is to decipher behavioral, physiological, and neurobiological correlates of true crime and thus build a resilience model around the fascination for true crime.
