Image source, Netflix
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- author, Edward White
- Author title, Conversation*
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For the final season of Stranger Things, millions of fans will immerse themselves one last time in the Upside Down to witness an epic showdown against Vecna, who threatens Hawkins and the entire world.
But what sparks our collective fascination with this dark, horror-filled universe?
The answer lies in the psychological and philosophical principles that explain why we are drawn not only to entertainment, but also to information. Understanding why millions of people willingly immerse themselves in the terrifying world of the Upside Down reveals profound truths about human nature and our relationship with fear.
From ghost stories to true crime documentaries, our obsession with horrific events stems from negativity bias: the tendency to react more intensely to negative information than to positive or neutral content.
This bias toward negativity has evolved as a warning system: our fight-or-flight response to threats. Today, since we no longer encounter saber-toothed tigers, this alert has turned into a thrill-seeking urge to access terrifying content because of the intense excitement involved.
This explains why viewers feel afraid and drawn to painful scenes Flashbacks Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) or the brutal attacks of the Demogorgon.
Image source, Netflix
Our brains are programmed to respond to danger, even in imaginary scenarios. Research on the psychology of horror shows that stimulation seekers actively try to find negative stimuli to increase their arousal.
On the other hand, cross-cultural studies on curiosity about pathological topics reveal that this attraction manifests itself in different human cultures and is based on stable psychological mechanisms, rather than on specific cultural mechanisms.
“Stranger Things” deftly exploits all four dimensions of our morbid curiosity: exploring villains (like Vecna and Dr. Brenner), witnessing violence (from the creatures of the Upside Down), experiencing body horror (through the mind blight infection) and confronting supernatural threats (those that haunt Hawkins).
Reward system
This deep engagement explains the series’ massive global appeal.
Neuroimaging research using brain scanning tools such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which tracks blood flow and neural activity in real time, suggests that viewing disturbing content activates the brain’s reward system.
This neural response explains why the series is so terrifying and satisfying: our reward systems reinforce the psychological benefits of confronting fear through imaginary mechanisms, allowing us to exercise emotional flexibility and evaluate threat without real consequences.
Image source, Getty Images
One common aspect of Stranger Things is the setting: America in the 1980s. This choice adds a deeper psychological resonance to what the French philosopher Jacques Derrera called “the science of the chase.”
Hauntology suggests that we are all “haunted” by two ghosts. The first is a return to the social past, the idea that everything was better before.
The second ghost represents the longing for a future that promises salvation and the belief that great change is still possible.
Presence and absence
These two ghosts create a state between presence and absence, where lingering traces of the past continue to haunt and shape the present.
Set in the 1980s, Stranger Things is a deliberate return to a utopian era, where unresolved social, economic, and cultural problems of the past haunt the present.
Image source, Getty Images
The city of Hawkins, where the series takes place, is presented as an ideal city with traditional values and economic stability. But beneath this façade, the series systematically deconstructs the myth of 1980s American innocence by revealing the psychological trauma inherent in idyllic suburban life.
For example, the “Upside Down” (a dark, decadent alternative dimension that mirrors our own) functions as a psychological manifestation of what psychologist Carl Jung called the “shadow”: those repressed aspects of individual and collective consciousness that society refuses to acknowledge.
The Hawkins Laboratory, operating secretly beneath the surface of the city, represents the dark side of American scientific progress during the Cold War, as children become the subject of scientific research.
Eleven’s systematic abuse at the hands of Dr. Brenner (played by Matthew Modine) reveals how institutional power can perpetrate intergenerational trauma while maintaining facades of charitable care.
Image source, Getty Images
Ultimately, Stranger Things is so addictive because it explores multiple psychological layers at once.
The series’ clever use of our natural passivity and curiosity about illness keeps viewers emotionally hooked from the start, while its ecumenical framework adds deeper resonance by encouraging us to confront the traumas hidden behind our favorite cultural stories.
This combination – where reward signals in our brain meet real-world reflection – helps explain why so many of us return again and again to Hawkins’ mysterious world.
It almost becomes a form of co-therapy, allowing us to overcome fears of institutional betrayal, childhood wounds, and social breakdowns through supernatural stories that make us feel safe.
In this way, Stranger Things shows that our love of fictional horror has a real purpose: it allows us to exercise resilience while critiquing the very systems that generate our everyday fears.
The series’ enduring popularity suggests that viewers instinctively recognize this dual function, seeking not only entertainment but also meaning in a world where the line between monsters and social horrors has become surprisingly blurred.
*Edward White is a PhD candidate in Psychology at Kingston University.
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