Cafe Scientifique: "Why We Enjoy Fear"

Margee Kerr, "Scare-ologist" at ScareHouse Using her background in sociology, Margee Kerr will explain why we enjoy fear. She will focus on the biological, psychological, and sociological reasons we can, and do, enjoy thrilling and scary activities and material. From roller coasters and haunted attractions to scary movies and video games, her talk will explain the many upsides to fear and how our consumption of and engagement with scary material has changed over the last 100 years. Margee Kerr currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA where she teaches courses in sociology for the University of Pittsburgh. She grew up outside of Baltimore and attended Hollins University in Roanoke, VA where she earned her Bachelor's Degree in 2002. Moving to Pittsburgh for graduate school, she studied Sociology at the University of Pittsburgh completing her Masters degree in 2004 and her PhD in 2009. Margee has extensive experience in research, co-authoring scholarly articles on the history of medicine and doctor/patient communication. She is also a nationally recognized expert on professional haunted houses. She was a featured presenter at The American Sociology Association's annual meeting in 2005, HauntCon (National Haunted Attraction Convention) in 2012, and at TransWorld (the largest national haunted attraction convention in the world) in 2013. Margee works year-round for ScareHouse consulting with the creators and owners on how to be scientifically scary and in developing, implementing, and analyzing data on customers and employees. In 2012 Margee helped to create, write, and host the Scare U web series with the ScareHouse which aired in October of 2012. Scare U presents fast-paced and entertaining lessons all about fear, covering everything from the evolution of the fight or flight response to the fear of zombies and clowns, to why people love to be scared. Margee is turning her research into why people enjoy fear into a book with PublicAffairs Press, tentatively titled SCREAM: Adventures in the upside of fear due for publication in 2015. Follow Margee's adventures researching fear on her blog at www.margeekerr.com. Recorded Monday, April 7th, 2014 at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA.