Watching Horror Movies Crowded, UM Surabaya Psychology Lecturer: This is the Impact when Watched by Children

• 25 May
• 2022

Poster KKN di Desa Penari Extended. (Twitter/@awisuryadi)

Watching Horror Movies Crowded, UM Surabaya Psychology Lecturer: This is the Impact when Watched by Children

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• By Uswah Sahal
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The KKN horror film in the Dancer Village seems to make people curious. The film, which was able to penetrate more than 7 million viewers, has its own charm, ranging from parents, teenagers to children. Watching horror movies, for some people, is considered as a way to release stress and tension. But there are also those who choose to avoid watching horror films for various reasons, one of which is health reasons and psychological reasons.

Fety Khosianah, a Psychology Lecturer at the University of Muhammadiyah Surabaya (UM Surabaya) gave a response regarding the large number of underage children who watched the film. According to him, horror films in cinemas with dark rooms have several impacts and consequences, so parents must be more sensitive about this.

First reduce the sensitivity. Watching horror movies seems to work fine on the surface because people have become used to seeing things that are gory and horrific. However, on the other hand, if someone watches too many horror movies and scenes of violence in their daily life, it will actually be very dangerous for their sense of sensitivity. He gave an example of one case, for example if a neighbor screamed or cried hysterically, they might not respond quickly to find out because they thought they were watching a horror film.

“Another impact is sticking in memory. Watching horror movies, without realizing it, pollutes our brains. According to research, whatever we see and hear and feel is recorded in the subconscious," said Fety, Wednesday (25/5/22)

He gave an example that after watching horror films, both in theaters and on television, they became more fearful than before. Like not daring to sleep alone, not even daring to go to the toilet.

This happens because children still cannot distinguish between the real and fictional worlds. A scientific study conducted by a professor of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin, Joanne Cantor, and her colleague, Dr. Kristen Harrison, a professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan, notes that children are most at risk of experiencing long-lasting fears. This is what causes children to think that scary figures in horror films are real.

Another thing to watch out for is making children's speech inconsequential. Although watching movies can improve speech skills, especially in children, however, the opposite can also happen if children watch horror films. Horror and violent films make children speak harshly, dirty and inconsequentially.

“Another impact is sleep disturbance. Many adults and children have trouble falling asleep after watching horror movies. This is due to the effect of the possibility of the shadow of a horror film still looming, such as scary sounds or the appearance of a scary figure that still sticks in the memory, even to the point of being carried away by dreams," he added.

If watching a horror film is done at night in a dark and tense atmosphere, it will become more embedded in the memory, making it more difficult for children to fall asleep.

Another impact that needs to be watched out for is causing aggressive behavior. A family psychologist RY Langham told the Association of Youth, Children and Natural Psychology (AYCNP), that children who watch scary films can show aggressive behavior in the form of verbal or physical violence at home or at school.

"Disturbing physical health. This means that watching scary movies can increase the clotting agent known as Factor VIII which can cause thrombosis in the body. The increase can reach 57%, while if you watch other films it is only 3%," Fety added in a written statement.

Fety explained that the normal number of platelets in the human body ranges from 150,000 – 450,000 cells per microliter of blood. Low platelets can indeed cause Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF), but platelets that are too high – above 450,000 cells per microliter of blood – according to Mediskus, are also dangerous, because they can cause bleeding.

"In addition, when watching a horror film with horrific graphic images, the heart rate will also increase by 15 beats per minute, then the palms become sweaty, the skin temperature drops several degrees, the muscles become tense, and blood pressure increases," he said again.

The last is to cause death. There are many cases of people who died while watching horror films due to heart attacks. As reported by the news site The Independent, a man in Sri Balasubramaniar, Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu State, India died of a heart attack while watching The Conjuring 2.