'Negative stimuli do not only evoke fear or disgust but can also evoke a state of "morbid fascination" which is an urge to approach and explore negative stimulus.' (Oosterwijk, et al. 2016).
Scientists including neuroscientists have often studied the human response to negative stimuli including images of fear and disgust, which is t=often the response, however, some results also suggest how people also experience fascination and interest/curiosity. The Conceptual Act Theory of emotion (CAT, Barrett, 2006) predicts that negative stimuli can lead to different subjective experiences of emotion based on individual factors. One factor is conceptualisation, which refers to the retrieval of context-relevant conceptual knowledge from past experiences. These past experiences can alter the way a negative stimulus is received.
The different conceptualisations of negative stimuli are supported by the 'neural reference space for discrete emotions', which is a set of regions that are consistently active when people experience discrete emotions. The article by Oosterwijk et al., suggests that people who experience emotions of fear and disgust in response to a negative image such as a mutilated corpse are those of a typical nature. Those who experience atypical emotions and ways of conceptualising it often shows signs of morbid fascination. This response combines negativity with an intention to approach and explore. 'Morbid fascination suggests a reconciliation between a tendency to explore the informational content of the stimulus and its negativity.' (Oosterijk, et al. 2016).
Oosterwijk, S., Lindquist, K., Adebayo, M. and Barrett, L. (2016). The Neural Representation of Typical and Atypical Experiences of Negative Images: Comparing Fear, Disgust and Morbid Fascination. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(1), pp.11-22.
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