Finally, some actual research on the benefits of watching disaster movies. But we all knew that, right?
Last week, a group of American and Danish scientists reported results of an study of 310 adults across the U.S. The researchers asked participants about their interest in horror and/or “prepper” movies—zombie, (post)apocalyptic, and alien-invasion, their psychological preparedness for and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their overall “morbid curiosity” (how much they want to learn about dangerous aspects of life).
Turns out that fans of prepper movies (us, in other words) are significantly more prepared psychologically and have much less negative disruption in our lives during the pandemic.
To no one’s surprise, previous viewing of pandemic films such as Outbreak, Contagion, and The Andromeda Strain was linked to feeling much more prepared for the current situation, and current viewing of such movies was linked to positive resilience.
And given these results, it comes as no surprise that people who were morbidly curious (again, us) turned out to be much more resilient that those who said they weren’t.
The scientists hypothesized that pandemic films give viewers easy access to information that would be difficult or dangerous to come by in the real world. If the event then does occur in life, such information could lead to better preparedness and psychological resilience. In their words:
…these results are consistent with the hypothesis that exposure to frightening fictions allow audiences to practice effective coping strategies that can be beneficial in real-world situations.
So the next time you want to watch World War Z, sit comfortably in the knowledge that the science is behind you.
Obligatory note: These study results were published on PsyArXiv, a preprint platform run by the Center for Open Science. As such, the work has not yet been subjected to peer review. These data should therefore be considered preliminary at present.
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