How Easily Do You Get Scared?

[Moonface]

With Halloween only a week away, why don't we talk about how easily we get scared?

Do you get scared easily in general, or is it dependent on certain things and/or situations? To give an example, recently I shared an experience I had in Phasmophobia where I thought I would be fine trying out a solo match because I don't really get scared playing in multiplayer, only to find that I ended up so scared in the single game I played alone that I felt like I needed a Xanax.
I find that when it comes to an unknown threat where I don't know what it is and/or where it will come from and when, I'll get scared really easily. Phasmo has been that way for me even in multiplayer and I would hate going into the house even in that mode, but gradually got desensitized to it because of not having to rely entirely on myself to tell what the ghost is or doing and not being its only target when it hunts.
Dead Space was another where I had to play the first game with a guide because the atmosphere and ambient sounds in that game combined with not knowing where or when a necromorph would pop out of a vent had me so terrified when I first played the game that I didn't make it past the opening before I turned it off and didn't touch it for nearly a year or more. XD
Another game that does that was Alien: Isolation, which I've never played but just watching others play it was enough to scare me, and although I did eventually get desensitized to it I expect if I ever play the game I'll go back to being terrified of it again.

Thinking of times I got scared easily outside of games, I remember there was a movie called "F" which utterly terrified me and might be the movie that has scared me the most. It just has such a grounded setting and the antagonists of that movie are people you never see the faces of, never hear speak, and you never know any motive for what they do. They just turn up, kill whoever they find, and it gives no resolution, no reason, no end to their actions, nothing. It just had so many unknowns to it and created such an unsettling atmosphere that it made it hard for me to even go to sleep that night. I don't even know if I want to ever see that movie again honestly.

[ShiraNoMai]

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being phobia levels of fear and 1 being unfazed entirely, I'd say I sit mostly at a 3. It takes a lot for me to move past 5, and there's only one thing that's gotten me to 10 (which I've now cooled down to a soft 7, bless).

Things that are an actual threat to my physical being are what tend to stir the most discomfort in me. If I know it's not real, or not actually going to do the thing it says on the tin can, there's a very small chance I'll be effected by it.

Now I will take this moment to say that there is a notable difference in being startled and being genuinely scared/uncomfortable. I jump easily, mostly from physical touch that's unexpected, but loud noises tend to get me as well. I'm not actually "scared" in those situations but it does put me on edge or anticipatory anxiety for a period of time (depending on what it is).

[Moonface]

@ShiraNoMai: Yeah, I can be really bad with getting startled too, mostly when there's tension involved rather than the scare being unexpected. I can't think of a time I've been relaxed and gotten startled, but if I'm really focusing on something (tension in horror or just a generic task) it's easy to get me to jump.

I did a haunted house recently and thought I'd get startled at least once in that, but didn't, and I think it's because there was no build up between people jumping out, and when they did it was always the same high pitched noise and lunging out of the fog so it got dull really fast. The only thing in it that unnerved me was the one person who instead of jumping out and making noises, opted to slowly walk out from behind a prop without making a sound and just looking at me, and I think it was because he actually built a sense of tension that wasn't happening anywhere else in the entire place.

[Mr EliteL]

Loud noises and sudden big movements can startle me but I won't be scared. If I know or think something can do no harm/isn't real I won't be scared by it. However if I choose not to go along with something like rides and things I don't feel like I have control over, I'll avoid outright. So....not too easily anyway. Depends on what I feel in the moment I guess.

There have been times I've been seemingly startled by something around other people and they think I'm scared but I usually feel nothing. Must be an expression I pull in a split second but I swear I don't do anything to cause it so I get confused why they think that. (can't think of an example but know it's happened before)

[ShiraNoMai]

Yeah rides I feel a bit apprehension towards because of their possibility of being a real physical threat to me. Water rides are more terrifying to me than regular rollercoasters because of their lack of safety measures (being entirely left up to your physicality with no restraints).

[Moonface]

Yeah rides I feel a bit apprehension towards because of their possibility of being a real physical threat to me. Water rides are more terrifying to me than regular rollercoasters because of their lack of safety measures (being entirely left up to your physicality with no restraints).

I've never really felt a ride can be a threat to me except for the ones seen at those local fairs because I have no idea how safe those actually are. At least in theme parks the rides are always being checked and even the slightest thing being off will alert the ride operator due to the technology in the rides, but those local pop up ones are not going to be anything like that. I remember that one rollercoaster we went on at the South Florida Fair and I walked off that ride feeling like I'd undergone an interior check at airport customs because of how rough it was. x.x

[ShiraNoMai]

Well even the ones with safety measures in place can put me on edge cuz they imitate a threat on my life (even if they're 1000% safe), it tricks my body into going into fight/flight mode.

But yeah that coaster was something else for sure

[Moonface]

Well even the ones with safety measures in place can put me on edge cuz they imitate a threat on my life (even if they're 1000% safe), it tricks my body into going into fight/flight mode.

Hmm, I dunno if I've ever been on a ride where anything was being simulated to seem like it was gonna harm me.

Oh, actually though there was that one time in Universal where I got scared by the Jurassic Park log flume ride because the ride attendant saw fit to have me share a row of seats with someone twice my size, meaning the lap bar didn't really come down to my lap at all and caused me to start lifting off of the seat during the final big drop. For a brief moment I genuinely thought I was going to leave the boat.


Something I am curious about though is whether everyone is able to be scared by their dreams, or if people who aren't scared by much while conscious are also the same way when sleeping, even if it's one of those dreams that can scare anyone else into waking up startled and on edge (or maybe that's just me).