Why do we consider some music to be creepy/scary?

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Horror shows and games often rely to some extent on the effect of off-putting music and sounds. Is it because we’ve heard these things before that our brain associates them with scary things? Does it have something to do with how our bodies react to the dissonant notes/minor keys?

I just watched someone play a horror game and felt unsettled for a little bit because of the music, so I was just curious!

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3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s what we associate the sound with that makes it considered creepy and scary.

Think about it, if the effect of what we perceive as scary is a biographical process in our brain, why do we think hearing a lullaby (A children’s song) in an abandoned house is scary (In games) ? Lullabies are supposed to help us fall asleep and such.

Instead, we have played games or watched movies that used lullabies in horror settings, making us perceive hearing that in a similar setting give us the same effect as in the movie/game.

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