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The Thrill of Fear: Felicity Hannah talks to Dr Margee Kerr

Why do we enjoy haunted houses and ghost stories? When is fear fun and when is it just frightful? Journalist Felicity Hannah asks sociologist and fear expert, Dr Margee Kerr.

Before her life as a financial journalist began, Felicity Hannah could more often be found wearing a top hat, leading tourists round the ghostly streets beneath Edinburgh. She loves sudden startles and that sense of creeping enjoyable fear in person, in books and on screen, but she wants to know why. Why are some humans wired to get a thrill out of fear? Why not all of us?

Felicity talks to fear expert Dr Margee Kerr, sociologist and author of Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear, about what happens in our bodies when we鈥檙e frightened, and how, surprisingly, this can help us build relationships and personal resilience. She asks: what鈥檚 the difference between the feelings we experience in a haunted house and genuine terror? Why do children love being chased? Is fear really contagious?

Produced in Bristol for 成人快手 Audio by Sarah Goodman.

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14 minutes

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  • Tue 14 Jun 2022 09:30
  • Sat 12 Nov 2022 05:45

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