{"id":18393,"date":"2019-10-28T01:22:11","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T01:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=18393"},"modified":"2019-10-30T04:19:03","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T04:19:03","slug":"why-we-love-big-blood-curdling-screams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-we-love-big-blood-curdling-screams\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we love big, blood-curdling screams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frank T. McAndrew<\/a>, Knox College<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Of all the sounds humans produce, nothing captures our attention quite like a good scream<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re a regular feature of horror films, whether it\u2019s Marion Crane\u2019s infamous shower scream<\/a> in \u201cPsycho\u201d or Chrissie Watkins\u2019 blood-curdling scream<\/a> at the beginning of \u201cJaws.\u201d<\/p>\n

Screams might seem simple, but they can actually convey a complex set of emotions. The arsenal of human screams has been honed over millions of years of evolution, with subtle nuances in volume, timing and inflection that can signal different things.<\/p>\n

Ancestral cues<\/h2>\n

Screaming can be traced to the prehistoric ancestors we share with other primates, who use screams as a key component of their social repertoire.<\/p>\n

Screams are especially important in monkey societies.<\/p>\n

Emory University psychologist Harold Gouzoules<\/a> is one of the world\u2019s leading screaming experts. He\u2019s been able to show how monkey screams convey a wealth of information. Different screams at different pitches and volumes can communicate different levels of urgency, such as whether a fight is simply about to take place or whether a predator is in the area.<\/p>\n

The grammar of monkey screams can be surprisingly sophisticated.<\/p>\n

African vervet monkeys, for example, have three main predators: leopards, snakes and eagles. Each type of predator requires different escape routes. To elude an eagle, the monkey must abandon wide-open spaces and seek shelter in dense shrubbery. But this would be exactly the wrong response if a snake were lurking in bushes.<\/p>\n

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Vervet monkeys have developed a unique language of screams.<\/span>
\nserkan mutan\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For this reason, vervets have evolved a pattern of distinct screams<\/a> that not only act as a warning but also reveal the type of predator in their midst.<\/p>\n

Monkeys can even identify other individual monkeys from their screams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is highly adaptive, because it enables the listener to assess the importance of the screamer to the listener, facilitating the protection of children and other relatives.<\/p>\n

Why screams of terror stand out<\/h2>\n

Like monkeys, humans have the ability to identify people they know by the sound of their screams<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Humans produce a range of screams as well<\/a>: There are screams that reflect more positive emotions, such as surprise and happiness. And then there are screams of anguish, screams of pain and, of course, screams of terror.<\/p>\n

Screams can be described according to their place along an acoustic dimension known as \u201croughness<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roughness is a quality that reflects the rate at which a scream changes or varies in loudness. The more rapidly the loudness fluctuates, the \u201crougher\u201d the scream. And the rougher a scream is, the more terrifying it\u2019s perceived to be<\/a>.<\/p>\n