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Meet the Staff: Postdoc Mihaela Taranu

Meet lab member and psychologist Mihaela Taranu, who will be exploring recreational fear across the lifespan.

Photo: Jacob Papsø

Being part of the Recreational Fear Lab is a challenging and wonderful opportunity. This is a truly interdisciplinary project and the research questions are fascinatingly hard to answer – to test experimentally. 

 

I also get to work with some very cool researchers! 

 

I trained as a psychologist and have a Master’s degree in developmental psychology and psychological counselling, and a PhD in experimental psychology. In this project I will look at recreational fear with the spectacles of a developmental psychologist: How is horror content consumed across the lifespan? 

 

Over the long term I find it personally interesting to understand the border between when recreational fear turns into fear from a clinical and educational perspective. Understanding when recreational fear turns into fear might help trauma treatments. It is often said that fear decreases curiosity and creativity, which raises the question of whether recreational fear can be used as force to foster creativity and curiosity.