A recent study has discovered a connection between watching horror content and belief in the paranormal. The findings, published in Psychology of Popular Media, indicate that certain types of horror media, particularly those claiming to be based on real events, are linked to viewers’ beliefs about the supernatural.
“I have always been interested in how media use can shape the way we think about and interact with the world,” said study author Femke Geusens, a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health at Uppsala University. “In my PhD and postdoctoral work, my research focus is on the role of social media in people’s health experiences and behaviors. Much of this research deals with heavier topics, such as alcohol misuse or mental health issues.”
“When I finished my PhD, I wanted to do a ‘lighter’ side-project. I have always been an avid horror fan, and can really enjoy a good scary book or movie. I also secretly believe in ghosts, something many people find strange considering that ‘I am a scientist and should know better’. This got me wondering: is there any chance that my belief in ghosts is in any way shaped by my media use? Is this something many horror fans experience, or am I just weird?”
To investigate this, Geusens recruited 601 Belgian adults aged 18 to 56 through various channels like student residences, workplaces, youth organizations, and online horror fan groups.
The primary tool used for measuring paranormal beliefs was Tobacyk’s Revised Paranormal Belief Scale. This scale is comprehensive and widely recognized in research for its ability to gauge different dimensions of paranormal beliefs. It consists of 26 items, which participants responded to on a 7-point scale, ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree.’ These items are grouped into various subscales representing different aspects of paranormal beliefs, such as traditional religious beliefs, psychic powers, witchcraft, superstition, spiritualism, extraordinary life forms, and precognition.
The participants were also asked to rate their frequency of watching eight different horror subgenres. This spectrum included paranormal fiction, based-on-true-events reenactments, found footage, paranormal reality TV, monster movies, slasher films, psychological horror, and horror comedy. Participants responded using a 7-point scale that ranged from ‘never’ to ‘(almost) daily.’ This broad categorization of horror subgenres allowed the researchers to capture a wide range of horror media preferences and habits.
Recognizing that various factors can influence belief in the paranormal or horror movie watching habits, Geusens also included several control variables. These included gender, age, past paranormal experiences, religious beliefs, and general television and movie consumption. Including these controls helped isolate the specific impact of horror media consumption on paranormal beliefs.
Among the horror subgenres, psychological horror emerged as the most popular, while paranormal reality TV was the least favored. In terms of daily habits, participants reported watching approximately 2-3 hours of television and movie content on weekdays, and slightly more during the weekends. Notably, the study found that most respondents were generally skeptical about the paranormal, with very few endorsing strong beliefs in it. Among the various paranormal aspects, spiritualism received the highest belief acceptance, while superstitions were least believed.
Geusens found that consumption of horror media that claimed to be based on true events or portrayed as reality, such as paranormal reality TV and based-on-true-events horror, positively predicted stronger beliefs in the paranormal. Surprisingly, other horror genres, including found footage and paranormal fiction, did not show a significant correlation with beliefs in the paranormal.
“There is a link between the media you consume, and how you think about the world,” Geusens told PsyPost. “In this study, I found that the more often you watch televised horror content that claims to be real or have its roots in reality (i.e., paranormal reality TV and based-on-true-events horror), the more you likely you are to believe in the paranormal.”
“Other types of horror content without that truth-claim are unrelated to paranormal beliefs. This is in line with the idea that if media content is perceived to be more realistic, plausible, credible, or factual, this can potentially lead to stronger effects because viewers accept the fictional content as truth.”
However, Geusens cautioned that the study’s cross-sectional nature means that it captures a snapshot of media use and paranormal beliefs at one point in time, making it difficult to determine causality. “It is likely that people who already believe in the paranormal are also more interested in this type of content,” she said. Future research should therefore consider longitudinal designs to better understand the direction of influence between horror media consumption and paranormal beliefs.
“Current media effect theories think of the association between media use and the viewer’s attitudes and beliefs as transactional, meaning that pre-existing attitudes and beliefs predict what kind of media content you will enjoy and consume, and simultaneously, your media use can shape and refine your attitudes and beliefs,” Geusens said.
The study, “‘I see dead people’: Exploring the associations between watching horror and belief in the paranormal“, was published November 30, 2023.