You’re walking through your favorite Halloween haunt. Eerie creaks and moans surround you. You feel a chill–and have a sense that you’re being watched.

Suddenly, a ghostly figure looms in front of you. You scream.

At that moment, you’re probably NOT thinking of what’s happening with your body’s neurochemicals.

But that’s one area of Dr. Margee Kerr’s expertise.

As a sociologist, haunt consultant, educator and author, Margee has done extensive research on the science of fear.

So much so that she traveled the world for two years, researching her book Scream: Chilling Adventures in the Science of Fear. In the process, Margee explored, first-hand, some of our most common fears.

Fear of heights, fear of ghosts and the ultimate one–fear of death–are among the areas which she covers.

A researcher’s firsthand perspective

With a storytelling style, Scream takes readers along, vicariously, on experiences that include riding the world’s steepest roller coaster, performing “stunts” on the world’s tallest tower and ghost-hunting–at an institution alleged to be the most haunted location in America.

Margee, who is a Faculty Lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh, is the creator of the course “Understanding and Overcoming Fear” on The Great Courses, and the co-author of the new book Ouch! Why Pain Hurts, and Why It Doesn’t Have To, which she co-wrote with Linda Rodriguez McRobbie.

Margee explained the science behind a good scare, discussed some of her experiences while researching Scream and offered some ways that science can work to create an effective, yet enjoyable, Halloween experience.

On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:

• How Margee first became interested in haunts and the science of fear;

• How her book, Scream, ultimately resulted from her research and her work with a popular Pittsburgh haunt;

• Some of her creative challenges, as an artist designing haunt experiences;

• A closer look at some of the scientific reasons we enjoy Halloween scares;

• How being alone, or with others, will affect the ways we experience a scare;

• An important point to remember, about “fun” fear experiences;

• How to use the science of fear, as explored in Scream, to create a compelling haunt experience;

• The haunt that scared Margee the most during her research, and why she found it effective;

• Her experience “ghost hunting”, in the allegedly most-haunted location in the U.S.;

• How real-life fear can be used to create haunt experiences, based on the three types of fear which Margee outlines in Scream;

• Why something that scares us can be empowering;

• Margee’s takeaways for daily life, from her research findings on fear.