Why do we enjoy when we see other people having drama?
In: Other
There’s a lot of theories behind why this happens, so here’s a simple one.
Humans have things in their brain that let us feel, to a small extent, what other people are feeling. Some of these things are ways we think and feel (Empathy), while other things are actual physical elements (Mirror Neurons).
Actually, there are a lot of physical things in and around our brains that affect how we feel. Some of them correspond to fear and instincts (Amygdala), others let us feel things physically (Neurotransmitters), and yet more let us feel emotions and other sensations (Endorphins).
When people get into “drama”, often times there’s very heightened emotions involved. And just because of how the brain works, sometimes these emotions overlap in strange ways with feelings. For example, very angry arguments often times, in the moment, feel good to the people arguing. Even though they’re angry, they get a physical “rush” from the physical things in their brain, because that’s how the brain is wired. In the moment, it simply feels like a rush.
So, if Drama is so physically fun, why don’t we all have drama 100% of the time? Well, even though it feels good in the moment, drama becomes unpleasant very quickly from what it leaves behind. When the endorphins wear off, you have hurt relationships with others, hits to your reputation, and other consequences that are not great.
But remember at the start when I said humans can, to an extent, feel what other people feel?
Well, when we watch people have drama, a lot of parts of our brain help us to feel the pleasant feelings that the people in the drama feel. We feel, to a smaller extent, as good as they do in the moment of the drama. But then when the drama ends, we, as observers, don’t have negative consequences to weigh us down.
So, a lot of people find pleasure in watching drama, while not wanting to be in drama themselves.
First of all, we often compare these things with the negative events that are going on in our own lives. So theoretically, it gives us an example where others *just may* have it a lot worse than us.
For others, they just want to see the world burn. Entertainment.
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