Morbid curiosity
This is what your true crime fascination says about you
© Anastasiya Kargapolov / Adobe Stock
Crime was yesterday – today we are gripped by the true stories of crime. But what exactly is behind the morbid curiosity?
Be it true crime podcasts like “Mordlust”, which tell us true crimes in a captivating way, or Netflix series, which let a shiver run down our spines by depicting true events in a morbid way. The fascination for true crimes has long been a real hype and omnipresent in all media. But why do so many of us get drawn into such horrifying stories? What exactly is behind the fascination of “True Crime” and what does your interest in it say about you?
Is the true crime community toxic?
Let’s be honest – getting caught up in murder and manslaughter sounds anything but normal. A look at the target group of such true crime stories is particularly surprising: When looking at the true crime community, it is noticeable that the consumers are mainly female. The moderators of the most successful true crime podcasts in Germany are also predominantly women. According to the True Crime Study 2022, more than half of the listeners belong to the 20 to 29 age group.
The fascination of the predominantly female audience can be attributed to the fact that women in general have greater empathy and emotionalityt and that fear of crime tends to be greater in women than in men. Research has also shown that one of the reasons women are interested in real crimes is to prepare for the worst and, if necessary, understand the mindset of a criminal in order to protect themselves from such situations. In most cases, it is more about self-protection than a pure interest in perfidious actions.
To the depths of human nature
But we are also fascinated by what is hidden, regardless of gender. True crime stories offer a safe way to peek into the depths of human nature. In a more subtle way, they also offer a psychologically safe option to watch the characters on screen act out the dark elements of our nature while we momentarily identify with them from a virtual distance. At the same time, we gain an understanding of something that is normally a part of us, isolated and unconscious – it sounds scary, but sudden impulses to push boundaries are quite normal and we all pop up from time to time. In most cases, however, these thoughts quickly disappear.
The fascination for true crime stories has completely normal reasons, which of course differ from person to person. However, what slumbers in each of us is a fascination for the unknown and for situations that go beyond our comprehension.
Sources used: True Crime Study 2022 from Seven.One.Audio, psychologytoday.com, telegraph.co.uk