As usual in reporting and PR around brain/mind science, the "why" question posed in the title is not even remotely addressed or even approached by the study. Th

As usual in reporting and PR around brain/mind science, the "why" question posed in the title is not even remotely addressed or even approached by the study. That would, of course, require a theory about why people feel things at all, and why the feelings feel like they do and not some other way, which we are still woefully ignorant about. The greater (and more general) question here is: why do humans seek out things that make them feel negative emotions? People watch horror movies wanting to be scared. They watch romantic comedies knowing that they will cry sad tears at some point. They read stories containing evil villains who kill and cause great suffering.