We Are Fascinated by What We Fear
But why?
In her novel Lord of Shadows, author Cassandra Clare writes, “Everyone is afraid of something”. Although expressions attempt to extend their reach to all of humanity, humanity cannot make strides without exceptions.
The exception to “everyone is afraid of something” is a patient known to psychologists as SM: a 44-year-old woman suffering from a rare case of brain damage. Psychologists have found the damage lies within a region of her brain called the amygdala, an almond shaped mass involved with emotional experiences. Due to this damage fear is a foreign emotion to SM, and psychologists were intent on finding out why.
The researchers spent three months scaring SM with common stimuli, trying to evoke a fearful response. Horror movies and haunted houses couldn’t scare her, so they resorted to delving into her past, broaching her experiences being held at knife and gunpoint, and the domestic dispute that almost got her killed. None of these stimuli prompted a normal fearful response, but they did find another emotional response was brought up from situations that would frighten the average person.
Snakes, an animal quite terrifying to most people, didn’t frighten SM. Rather, when the researchers brought her to a pet store to analyze her interaction with snakes, she was intrigued. SM was amused by…
