PEOPLE DON’T KNOW FROM SCREAMS

A new study finds most people can’t tell the difference between screams of joy and screams of terror. Researchers from Emory University asked 182 participants to listen to 30 screams from Hollywood movies. Each scream communicated one of six emotions: anger, frustration, pain, surprise, fear, and happiness. Subjects then rated on a scale of one to five how likely the scream was associated with one of these six feelings. The results reveal participants correctly paired screams and emotions in most cases, except when it came to happiness. The group often confused these screams with fear. The researchers say it appears screams of joy are much harder to decode if you don’t have any additional context.
* Because normal people don’t just sit around smiling and screaming. That’s just my theory, though.
* They only used screams from movies, so the problem is probably that the actors weren’t that great.
* I mean, we’re talking slasher movies and romantic comedies, right? This ain’t Oscar winner territory.
* The next time you hear screaming coming from your parents’ bedroom, kids, knock on the door and ask for context.
* This is another of those “Oh my God I forgot to pick a research topic and it’s due tomorrow morning” studies.