Horror fans more resilient during COVID-19 pandemic, study says
MANILA, Philippines — A recent study found out that people who love horror films are more resilient and prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic.
John Johnson, professor emeritus of psychology at Pennsylvania State University in the US, recently concluded in a study that movies about zombies, alien invasions and apocalyptic pandemics serve as mental rehearsals for actual events.
"My latest research collaboration was unique in that my colleagues wanted to identify factors beyond personality that contributed to people's psychological preparedness and resilience in the face of the pandemic," Johnson explained.
"After factoring out personality influences, which were actually quite strong, we found that the more movies about zombies, alien invasions and apocalyptic pandemics people had seen prior to COVID-19, the better they dealt with the actual, current pandemic. These kinds of movies apparently serve as mental rehearsal for actual events,” he added.
Johnson explained that horror stories are about preparation for survival and not just for entertainment.
“To me, this implicates an even more important message about stories in general — whether in books, movies or plays. Stories are not just entertainment, but preparation for life,” he said.
The researchers administered the survey among 310 respondents via a website. Thirteen items in the survey assessed positive and negative resilience. A set of six questions covered preparedness for the pandemic.
Participants then indicated the extent to which they were fans of horror, zombie, psychological thriller, supernatural, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, science fiction, alien-invasion, crime, comedy and romance genres in movies and television. They were asked about the past and present experience with interest in films that were explicitly about pandemics.
"What we found was that people who watched certain kinds of movies before the pandemic seemed to be helped by them during the pandemic," Johnson said.
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