{"id":{"repo_id":"brock","oai_identifier":"oai:brocku.scholaris.ca:10464/18954"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/brock/oai:brocku.scholaris.ca:10464/18954","repository":{"repo_id":"brock","name":"Brock University","base_url":"https://brocku.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis: Psychopathic Traits and Invincibility","abstract":"The main objective of this study was to examine whether invincibility mediates the relationship between psychopathic traits and fear enjoyment. Brock University undergraduate student participants (N = 81) viewed either a neutral video or a video intended to decrease feelings of invincibility and then played a horror game in Virtual Reality. Participants rated the videogame on a list of adjectives which captured fear and exciting affective appraisals. As expected, psychopathic traits were associated with lower fear scores and higher excitement scores. The video condition was not a significant predictor of mediation in the initial model. However, in the control condition the relationship between psychopathy and fear enjoyment was replicated, when each condition was examined separately. More specifically, psychopathic traits were related to a less negative and more positive perception of their emotional state. When participants’ feelings of invincibility were manipulated, this relationship was no longer significant suggesting that feelings of invincibility may be important in being able to enjoy fear-inducing stimuli. These findings align with the Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis (FEH). Future research could investigate invincibility as a mediator with a larger sample size.","abstract_html":"The main objective of this study was to examine whether invincibility mediates the relationship between psychopathic traits and fear enjoyment. Brock University undergraduate student participants (N = 81) viewed either a neutral video or a video intended to decrease feelings of invincibility and then played a horror game in Virtual Reality. Participants rated the videogame on a list of adjectives which captured fear and exciting affective appraisals. As expected, psychopathic traits were associated with lower fear scores and higher excitement scores. The video condition was not a significant predictor of mediation in the initial model. However, in the control condition the relationship between psychopathy and fear enjoyment was replicated, when each condition was examined separately. More specifically, psychopathic traits were related to a less negative and more positive perception of their emotional state. When participants’ feelings of invincibility were manipulated, this relationship was no longer significant suggesting that feelings of invincibility may be important in being able to enjoy fear-inducing stimuli. These findings align with the Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis (FEH). Future research could investigate invincibility as a mediator with a larger sample size.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Csordas, Amy"],"institution":"Brock University","degree_name":"M.A. Psychology","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"Faculty of Social Sciences","degree_department":"Department of Psychology","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-10-02T12:31:10Z","date_published":"2024-10-02T12:31:10Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:23:00Z","subjects":["Psychopathic Traits","Invincibility","Fear Enjoyment","Virtual Reality"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10464/18954","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Department of Psychology"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Csordas, Amy"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2024-10-02T12:31:10Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-10-02T12:31:10Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2024-10-02T12:31:10Z"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Faculty of Social Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A. Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Brock University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Psychopathic Traits","Invincibility","Fear Enjoyment","Virtual Reality"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10464/18954"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The main objective of this study was to examine whether invincibility mediates the relationship between psychopathic traits and fear enjoyment. Brock University undergraduate student participants (N = 81) viewed either a neutral video or a video intended to decrease feelings of invincibility and then played a horror game in Virtual Reality. Participants rated the videogame on a list of adjectives which captured fear and exciting affective appraisals. As expected, psychopathic traits were associated with lower fear scores and higher excitement scores. The video condition was not a significant predictor of mediation in the initial model. However, in the control condition the relationship between psychopathy and fear enjoyment was replicated, when each condition was examined separately. More specifically, psychopathic traits were related to a less negative and more positive perception of their emotional state. When participants’ feelings of invincibility were manipulated, this relationship was no longer significant suggesting that feelings of invincibility may be important in being able to enjoy fear-inducing stimuli. These findings align with the Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis (FEH). Future research could investigate invincibility as a mediator with a larger sample size."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis: Psychopathic Traits and Invincibility"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.department":["Department of Psychology"],"dc:creator":["Csordas, Amy"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2024-10-02T12:31:10Z"],"dc:date.available":["2024-10-02T12:31:10Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2024-10-02T12:31:10Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The main objective of this study was to examine whether invincibility mediates the relationship between psychopathic traits and fear enjoyment. Brock University undergraduate student participants (N = 81) viewed either a neutral video or a video intended to decrease feelings of invincibility and then played a horror game in Virtual Reality. Participants rated the videogame on a list of adjectives which captured fear and exciting affective appraisals. As expected, psychopathic traits were associated with lower fear scores and higher excitement scores. The video condition was not a significant predictor of mediation in the initial model. However, in the control condition the relationship between psychopathy and fear enjoyment was replicated, when each condition was examined separately. More specifically, psychopathic traits were related to a less negative and more positive perception of their emotional state. When participants’ feelings of invincibility were manipulated, this relationship was no longer significant suggesting that feelings of invincibility may be important in being able to enjoy fear-inducing stimuli. These findings align with the Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis (FEH). Future research could investigate invincibility as a mediator with a larger sample size."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10464/18954"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:subject":["Psychopathic Traits","Invincibility","Fear Enjoyment","Virtual Reality"],"dc:title":["The Fear Enjoyment Hypothesis: Psychopathic Traits and Invincibility"],"dc:type":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Faculty of Social Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A. Psychology"],"thesis:institution_name":["Brock University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:23:00Z"}