Lurking Behind Your Fear

In our latest Please Explain, we confront our worst nightmares! The gripping fear when you're walking through a haunted house is not the same as the gut-wrenching fear that your life might be in danger. Nor is it the same as the fear of being rejected by a potential mate or the fear of jumping out of a plane. And our reactions to those chilling moments can range from screams, to adrenaline rushes, to even laughter. Margee Kerr is a sociologist at the University of Pittsburgh, and she also moonlights at a popular haunted house, where she gets an inside look into what fear does to us and why we're so attracted to it. In her new book, Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear, she explains the science of fear, unraveling the various dimensions of its grasp on us and our society.