Warning: we all have the gawker in us. Long before YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and the like existed, we used to gawp at other people's mishaps, misfortunes and breakdowns on TV, for example in the funniest home videos in the world. Small mishaps but also accidents: Fails and crashes simply fascinate us. And the click figures on the internet prove it: They fascinate us even more!
Athletes shouldn't feel bad that their crashes achieve higher click rates than their successful stunts. - Dr Ingo Schymanski, psychotherapist and addiction specialist
But why do we find failures more interesting than successes, especially in high-risk sports? Is it sensationalism, schadenfreude or a thirst for blood? We asked an expert. Dr Ingo Schymanski is a psychotherapist and addiction specialist. He researches the neurological processes in our brain and says: "If crash videos are the better click hits on the Internet, athletes shouldn't be angry. That's normal.
Adrenaline rush, fear & schadenfreude: what fascinates us about mishaps
The full-speed passage in the downhill video, the steep descent that takes your breath away, the balancing act over the abyss or the Monster drop - Dangerous stunts make us cheer and sweat at the mere sight of them. It gets really exciting when something goes wrong. That's when our brain really freaks out. Our expert explains why.
Mirror neurons
The reward centre in our brain is always of central importance in everything that affects us emotionally. The reward centre is particularly strongly stimulated by surprising events. If a stunt goes as planned, we see a dangerous sporting feat and feel the adrenaline rush that floods through the athlete via mirror neurones.
The muscles twitch!
If you play a similar sport yourself, you may find yourself involuntarily performing similar movements to the athlete you are watching. If something goes wrong, the situation becomes particularly exciting. While a successful stunt goes "as expected", a mishap immediately arouses our particular interest.
Exciting tingling - fear keeps us under its spell
The reward centre has connections to many other areas of the brain. If the reward centre sends signals to the fear centres (amygdala), this dampens the Fear. We may still feel an exciting tingle, but we can't tear ourselves away from what is actually a shocking sight. In addition, we can emphasise our expertise with our precise observations and analyses in a group of like-minded people, which leads to a gain in social prestige.
Social prestige - Schadenfreude helps you feel good about yourself
Social prestige is one of the strongest stimulants of our reward system. Ultimately, and this should not be concealed, schadenfreude over a failed stunt can serve to minimise one's own feelings of inferiority and increase one's own well-being.
Conclusion on the psychology of viewer behaviour:
Successful stunts attract less attention and emotions because they offer hardly any surprises beyond the expected. Crashes go deeper emotionally and appeal to a broader spectrum of feelings, from empathy (excitement, fear, learning effects) to one's own social status. No athlete should feel sorry that their crashes achieve higher click rates than successful stunts. The one requires the other: great cinema!
>> Book tip: Exciting reading for anyone who wants to know more. "Im Teufelskreis der Lust - Raus aus der Belohnungsfalle" by Ingo Schymanski, 2015.
In the past it was only for the outtakes, today the accident is the topic: Danny MacAskill has internalised the effect of unplanned accidents. In his clip "Do a Wheelie", he gets on his back after just ten seconds:
Laurin Lehner
Editor
