Why do people enjoy roller coasters?

[Mark6]

Put it in Science forum because it is sort of psychology question.

I am asking because I do not enjoy them. At all. It is supposed to be scary but exciting. Well, for me there is no "exciting" part. Being thrown in stomach-churning loops is scary and unpleasant. When I was young I went on roller-coasters and similar rides many times, because it was expected thing to do. It was supposed to be fun. I tried to find "fun" in it, but every time I just found myself hanging on and trying not to puke. Even if I did not get seasick, not once could I honestly say upon getting off a ride "Wow! I wish I could go right back!"

Eventually I realized there is no point to carnival rides for me, and spending money on them is beyond stupid. And never went on one again. So my question is -- what do "normal" people get out of it?

[CynicalSkeptic]

adrenaline rush

[catsmate1]

adrenaline rush
Yep, safe fear.

[Mark6]

adrenaline rush
I get no adrenalin rush out of it.

I think (hard to test), I can only get adrenalin rush out of activity where I am in control. I did get such rush slaloming a car down a mountain road. With someone else driving, it is just scary and unpleasant.

[DallasDad]

My kids think I'm an old fart because I don't enjoy going on rides with them. The thing is, I was a fuddy-duddy long before they were born. My approach to a roller coaster is to close my eyes, hold on, try to keep my backbone from being overcompressed or my tailbone from shattering, and wait unhappily for it to end.

I don't imagine a cat in a bag enjoys being whirled around on the end of a rope, either. Although my claws are less sharp than a cat's, my unhappiness is not.

[Lamuella]

well, maybe they're just not for you. My wife isn't fond of them either.

I haven't been on one in years, but when I did it was fun for the reason that an action movie or a haunted house is fun: the impression of danger without the danger.

[NoahFence]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MnB98VheTkQ/TZyFZ-dSCXI/AAAAAAAAArA/GIvM_va5VRk/s1600/Loch_Ness_Monster_(Busch_Gardens_Europe)_01.jpg

I went on that puppy 6 times without getting off the car....

(Got there early!)

It's the adreneline rush. Some people enjoy it, some don't. For instance, while I thoroughly enjoyed that ride, I'd never skydive.

[Professor Yaffle]

This is one area where the rather obscure psychological theory called Reversal Theory makes a lots of sense. I'll write a post explaining it if I have the time later, but for now here is the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversal_theory

[Big Les]

I absolutely hate the feeling in my 'stomach' that negative G creates - I can't really describe it but assume it's the same almost-painful feeling that some people actually enjoy. I have to push down *hard* with my diaphragm to deal with it, which makes breathing rather tricky!

[Professor Yaffle]

It is commonly assumed that people do not like, and try to avoid, high arousal – which is equated with anxiety. What is obvious, and is missed by psychologists working in this field, is that people actually sometimes want high arousal – the higher the better – which they experience as excitement or even euphoria. In other words, high arousal has two alternative forms, one pleasant and the other unpleasant. It is not enough to say that this was recognised by Hebb when he developed his optimal arousal theory and pointed out that people sometimes do things to raise as well as lower their arousal levels. For Hebb the most pleasant arousal is always more or less moderate and any raising or lowering has to be to this moderate level. But he gave no explanation as to why people might want to increase their arousal levels way beyond moderate levels. After all, when one goes to a fun fair, or a football match, or a rock concert, one does not just want moderate arousal – one wants very high arousal. In fact one wants to be thrilled. Some people will even go to dangerous extremes (such as bungee jumping and sky diving, etc) to achieve this experience. I have documented this phenomenon in detail (Apter, 1992). Simple homeostatic theories of the Hebb type (and this homeostatic idea underlies a number of personality theories such as those of Eysenck and Zuckerman) cannot convincingly account for this. What is needed is an approach that allows for people framing experience in alternative – even opposite – ways related to different needs and desires.
http://www.reversaltheory.org/about-2/on-a-certain-blindness/

[AlBell]

Brain damage might explain it. :p

[malaka]

For the same reason they love the BMV: the lines!

[EHocking]

Meh, I'm rather ambivalent about roller coasters.

But they have their ups and downs.

[alfaniner]

I have been on some I really hated, and some I absolutely loved. It's a combination of factors of speed, comfort, perceived danger, and length of ride. It's hard to quantify each of those.

[Number Six]

I don't know the reason why people enjoy roller coaster rides but I bet it has the same cause or a related cause to why babies and toddlers enjoy being tossed up in the air.

[Lithrael]

I don't get a rush because I perceive the ones I ride as being extremely safe and I've ridden them a lot. I just enjoy going fast with the wind in my face and seeing the horizon do wacky things. Those giant slingshot things look terrifying. I won't go on them. It just looks too easy to mess up. A really tall drop ride will actually scare me a little, but not so much it's unpleasant. But I far prefer the coaster, since the part I really enjoy is the zooming around.

[bottsranzee]

Roller coasters are enjoyed by people who like get an adrenalin rush from taking risks; risk being whether or not you're sitting behind one of you pukers.

[rjh01]

I wonder what people think of this YouTube channel? http://www.youtube.com/user/JPizzle1122 It shows roller coaster rides.

mHYUfgp_7Iw

[Almo]

Roller coasters are enjoyed by people who like get an adrenalin rush from taking risks; risk being whether or not you're sitting behind one of you pukers.

I don't agree. I don't consider rollercoasters risky since they are so safe. I love them, and get a huge rush.

I did not get a rush from jumping out of an airplane; that was relaxing.

Freefall (the parachute jump) doesn't freak me out; it relaxes me. Rollercoasters are freaky because they're not freefall. There are several rollercoasters that just feature a drop. The ones that have straight-vertical tracks don't freak me out.

Oblivion does freak me out:

http://www.adventureswithdan.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Alton_Towers___Oblivion_Drop_by_darkmessenger841.j pg

Note the curve on the drop. It also stops just after going over the edge, so you can't see where you're going. Then it plunges you through a mist of water on a slightly-curved track so A) you're not in freefall B) you can't see where you're going.

That was awesome. :)

[bottsranzee]

A wise man once said, a joke isn't funny if you have to explain it.

[jj]

Question of Taste: I like them, your milage may vary.

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 rocks, too. :)

[Jim_MDP]

Oblivion does freak me out:

http://www.adventureswithdan.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Alton_Towers___Oblivion_Drop_by_darkmessenger841.j pg

Note the curve on the drop. It also stops just after going over the edge, so you can't see where you're going. Then it plunges you through a mist of water on a slightly-curved track so A) you're not in freefall B) you can't see where you're going.

That was awesome. :)

Sux it's over the pond... I can't drive there. :(

My lower back can't take the good ones anymore, but I do love them.

Sorry... what was the question?

:p

[JFrankA]

I'm kind of different. I HATE roller coasters. Won't get on them. They turn my stomach just looking at them.

However, get me to a park with water flumes? Even long, high tall ones? I'm first in line.

[Halfcentaur]

I hated them with a passion as a child, and even had some trauma of sorts when I was 6 or 7 from being forced on one twice in a row. Around my 14th birthday I tried one and enjoyed it, but it's sort of a love/hate thing.

[epepke]

They're really cool, and I love them. Note though that I used to hate them. There are various differences between me now and me then, as I'm generally free of fears these days.

I like them because:

1) Hell of a view when you get to the top.

2) My monkey brain thinks it's swinging through the trees.

3) The rest thinks it's flying, and I like that.

4) I think the engineering is cool.

Note that I don't like all "adrenaline rush" rides, nor do I like all roller coasters. I like steel coasters with long swooping features. Big drops are just OK, and the wooden ones that rattle your bones or the ones that bang up your ears, I don't like.

[whatthebutlersaw]

Put it in Science forum because it is sort of psychology question.

I am asking because I do not enjoy them. At all. It is supposed to be scary but exciting. Well, for me there is no "exciting" part. Being thrown in stomach-churning loops is scary and unpleasant. When I was young I went on roller-coasters and similar rides many times, because it was expected thing to do. It was supposed to be fun. I tried to find "fun" in it, but every time I just found myself hanging on and trying not to puke. Even if I did not get seasick, not once could I honestly say upon getting off a ride "Wow! I wish I could go right back!"

Eventually I realized there is no point to carnival rides for me, and spending money on them is beyond stupid. And never went on one again. So my question is -- what do "normal" people get out of it?


I used to LOVE roller coasters. I would maim and kill for a trip to Liseberg which, at the time, had Sweden's biggest and loopiest roller coasters. (Yeah, they were not the same one. One was the biggest, one was the loopiest. Oh, and the big one was also constructed on a wood frame.) I loved them so much I even loved the lame ones. Even more than roller coasters, I loved the "hangovers" which are roller coasters you hang underneath instead of sitting on top of, meaning there is always only air and the ground underneath you.

I kid you not, when asked to imagine the perfect life - even as an adult - my fantasies never revolved around unlimited, danger free sex, partying or gorging without consequences or sitting on clouds playing harps or whatever: my version of having as much fun as a human could was having 24-7 access to a good roller coaster. I preferred it to any other activity humanity could come up with.

And then one day, I hadn't had an opportunity to go roller coastering for over a year and then found some time go to Liseberg (At the time, I lived in Gothenburg and had a friend who would lavish me with employee tickets and when he ran the coaster, would let me cut, unashamedly, in line - I could ride all day if I wanted to. The reason I hadn't for so long was that I worked all the time.) I was so excited I nearly wet myself.

And as we reached the apex of the first summit, I suddenly realized that this was the last place on earth where I wanted to be. In fact, I was willing to get out and climb down, rather than go with the cart over that edge. I wanted to crawl out of my own skin.

Yep. Somewhere along the way I had lost my inert trust in other people knowing what they were doing. And all of a sudden, the coaster scared the living daylights out of me. I "survived" the ride by reverting to meditation techniques from my wooier days. Fortunately, I've never suffered any kind of motion sicknes (probably because my balance sux) so I didn't feel sick but by Jove was I scared.

So that's where it was for me. I enjoyed it while I had a childish belief in other people, including engineers and builders, knowing what they were doing. And then I lost that trust and the coasters weren't fun anymore.

[ToddH]

I love coasters. I can ride them over and over and not get bothered at all. In fact there's only one ride that has ever scared me...

Insanity the Ride (http://www.stratospherehotel.com/Tower/Rides/Insanity)

[not_so_new]

LOVE roller coasters!

For me it isn't the adrenaline rush at all. I am actually pretty scared of heights so the going up part is really not for me at all but I love the g forces, something really cool about the negative and positive G's.

I could ride all day.... and have.

[CynicalSkeptic]

I have been on some I really hated, and some I absolutely loved. It's a combination of factors of speed, comfort, perceived danger, and length of ride. It's hard to quantify each of those.

I'm actually more comfortable on a modern coaster (with the harness that goes over my shoulders) than a ferris wheel. My anxiety is very high when I'm sitting on a chair with no seatbelt and low walls that is rocking back and forth as the the wheel stops to let passengers on/off.

[MattTheTubaGuy]

The last time I went on a roller coaster would have been when I was in the United States in 2001, when I was only 10. Based on my memories, I enjoyed them, my little sister did NOT!
I really want to go to the Gold Coast and ride some roller coasters again. I wonder if I will still like them.

Regarding the adrenalin rush, literally nothing beats the adrenalin rush of a large quake rudely waking you up in the middle of the night!
I think part of that is the fact that you literally can not know when an earthquake is going to hit. with roller coasters, at least you can see where you are going, and you know you are going to be fine. With earthquakes, you don't really know how long or short it is going to be, plus there is actually the very real possibility of getting hurt. Personally I find earthquakes kind of exciting during and just after they happen, and I actually miss that rush during quiet periods. That's during the day anyway. During the night, they scare the crap out of me!

[Ziggurat]

I absolutely hate the feeling in my 'stomach' that negative G creates - I can't really describe it but assume it's the same almost-painful feeling that some people actually enjoy. I have to push down *hard* with my diaphragm to deal with it, which makes breathing rather tricky!

I've only been on one of those free-fall rides once. I remember while waiting in line that I thought it was strange that the people screamed when the "car" started decelerating, not when it started falling. Once I got on, I found out why: when you suddenly hit freefall, that sensation you describe of the diaphragm pushing up makes it hard to scream. Once the "car" starts braking, then screaming becomes easy.

[Dr. Trintignant]

Freefall (the parachute jump) doesn't freak me out; it relaxes me. Rollercoasters are freaky because they're not freefall.

Neither one is freefall, at least in scientific use. They both have an initial period of near-freefall (limited by air resistance and for a coaster, the slope of the track), but the skydiver quickly reaches terminal velocity and experiences 1 G, while the coaster of course has wildly varying G loads which nevertheless average >1 G.

As you say, though, the drop coasters are very close to freefall for most of their duration, but only because the ride is so short. I rode one once with several friends; one friend was two seats down and he held a penny in his upturned palm. When the ride dropped, the penny gently floated up and over (probably from his hand bouncing; there was surprisingly little air movement) and I snatched it in mid-air from in front of the friend immediately next to me. The whole process took well under two seconds, but it sure seemed like longer, and was a very nice taste of zero-G.

- Dr. Trintignant

[Gazpacho]

It really comes down to your own sensory reaction, which you might be able to change, but probably no one else can. I've never "understood" why anyone gets sick on an airliner or looking at a screen with a 60Hz refresh rate, but they objectively do. There's no secret and no inherently right or wrong reaction.

[epepke]

As you say, though, the drop coasters are very close to freefall for most of their duration, but only because the ride is so short. I rode one once with several friends; one friend was two seats down and he held a penny in his upturned palm. When the ride dropped, the penny gently floated up and over (probably from his hand bouncing; there was surprisingly little air movement) and I snatched it in mid-air from in front of the friend immediately next to me. The whole process took well under two seconds, but it sure seemed like longer, and was a very nice taste of zero-G.

I like to do this on the Tower of Terror, though that one is pulled down faster than freefall.

[Pup]

I agree with the explanation of adrenaline rush or "safe fear."

I wonder, though, what types of people don't enjoy that sensation, because I'm one of them, and in my case there's an obvious explanation.

Thanks to PTSD, I'm stuck at "fear" most of the time. Literally, all day, anywhere, it's always an emotion in the background. I've trained myself to ignore it, like people train themselves to ignore tinnitis for example.

If there's another reward, I can actually enjoy false-fear-inducing situations better than most because I can turn off the fear/nervousness to enjoy the fun. For example, public speaking seems no different than chatting with friends. Even though I have mild, normal height phobia, I can turn it off to climb a tower if I want to enjoy a view, for example.

But I don't enjoy anything designed primarily to induce fear, like roller coasters, Halloween haunted houses, horror movies, etc., because there's really no point to them, unless you enjoy the fear itself. Turning off the extra fear seems like way too much emotional work for very little reward. And if I just wanted to feel fear, well, I could do that anytime.

Is that typical of people who don't enjoy safe fear, or just a subset, and some other reason is more common?

[Miss_Kitt]

I love certain kinds of roller coasters...I like swoops and dips and hard corners. I don't even mind severe banking...BUT don't ever make me go upside down. (shudder) Man, I don't even like to watch that.

I know, intellectually, that it's no more dangerous than warping through a sharp corner; but my monkey brain does not. I can only do upside down when *I* control it. Then, it's fine--there used to be a low-end carnival ride called a "RockOPlane" that had a control ring you grabbed that let you invert the car, and release to let it return to (rocking) upright. That one was fine by me. I suspect I could handle doing a corkscrew, where the G forces make it feel like you're still upright. But that 'gravity pulling towards my head' thing freaks me out.

I enjoy my few exposures to brief free-fall, too. Parachute jump rides, steep bits of coasters are just fun. On my 'lifetime' list is to do a real parachute jump; the only reason I haven't done it yet is that there is no longer a DZ within an hour's drive of where I live, so it's a big expedition to do this.

Anyway, I think that Yaffle has it right: when it is not a sense of danger, intense stiumulation is fun--think of a concert or a party--and when it's not desired it feels scary and dangerous. I seldom want to do concerts, not because I mind the music, lights, or volume; but I am so uncomfortable in large crowds that I seldom attend one. Ditto for shopping (you can't make me go to a mall in the Xmas shopping season) and even sports events--when I do a baseball game, I go early and stay late so most of the crowd is moving while I'm seated.

Good thread! --MK

[dlorde]

I love them, because - wheeeeeee!

A partial key to my enjoyment is urging it forward rather than trying to hold it back - it reminds me of getting the 'whirlies' (the room oscillating as if I was on a swing) when I first went to parties, got drunk, then smoked. After much party sickness, I realised that by 'going with' the whirlies, even 'over the top', it took the nausea away, and exhilaration followed.

It also reminds me of flying in lucid dreams...

[Soapy Sam]

I get no adrenalin rush out of it.

I think (hard to test), I can only get adrenalin rush out of activity where I am in control. I did get such rush slaloming a car down a mountain road. With someone else driving, it is just scary and unpleasant.

This is critical in my experience, even just driving in normal conditions. My wife's driving scares me and mine scares her, though we both have excellent safe records. It's the lack of control.

I'm a terrible flyer- scared stiff in the slightest turbulence, but I'm pretty sure if I was in the left hand seat up front I'd be a lot happier.
Of course the other 300 people would be justifiably petrified.

I never get on roller coasters, but I did a bungy jump once- not because I wanted to do it, but because I wanted to have done it, which is not the same thing at all.

[Comrade Raptor]

I get no adrenalin rush out of it.

I think (hard to test), I can only get adrenalin rush out of activity where I am in control. I did get such rush slaloming a car down a mountain road. With someone else driving, it is just scary and unpleasant.

I'm exactly the same way. When I went in a small plane and was given the controls (after I had specifically said it wasn't a good idea) I tried my best to break the thing. Didn't matter to me if the wings ripped off, I'd probably cackle all the way to the ground.

But put me in a 727 where all I can do is look out the window? White as a ghost and terrified.

I also don't like coasters.

[Wolfman]

Q: Why do people enjoy roller coasters?

A: Because they're frickin' awesome!



I wish all of life's answers were this easy.

[Squid]

I went on that puppy 6 times without getting off the car....



Which one? Loch Ness Monster, Alpengeist, or Griffon? (Been on all three myself; really miss Big Bad Wolf.)