I’m thinking there must be a substantial evolutionary advantage to being wired to seek out frightening experiences—up to a point, of course. It could even be argued that most human progress depends on people who felt the fear and did it anyway.
If you want to get all Heinlein about it, you could write about a society that put the babies out in the wilderness for a night, and the ones that didn’t stop crying got left for the bears.
Screaming is a great release. I love coasters and will ride them back-to-back-to-back if I can. I enjoy them during the ride, the rush, the exhilaration, the feeling of speed, the G forces, they’re all enjoyable. There’s no terror on my face; there’s more then one way to express enjoyment besides laughing or smiling. When I’m skiing in deep powder on steep terrain I’m whooping and hollering, just like I do on coasters.
I wonder if it has something to do with an ability to assert control over one’s environment. We all do it to an extent. Where some of us stop and let the environment takes over varies, and maybe a roller coaster or scary movie is a good separator of “the men from the boys” metaphorically speaking.
When I lived in or near the wilds of crime of Baltimore, I noticed the same thing about where different people felt safe going. We all have our comfort levels, but why are they where they are for each of us individually?
You should try Cedar Point when it is open on Halloween.
Thats all very well but what about those of us who enjoy Base Jumping while eating chocolates and looking at pictures of kittens ?
Minorities like us are always ignored,it can be so disheartening.
Mine too. And I don’t even have nuts.
But like others, I don’t find roller coasters & thrill rides scary, just thrilling & fun. The only ride I find scary is those tower things that drop you into a free-fall - and I don’t ride them.
I like scary movies too. There’s a big difference between being genuinely scared/terrified (like say, being alone in a dark ally with a mugger or rapist) and being “scared” by a movie you know isn’t real.
I consider this one of my life’s goals. 
Well, I can chime in with a certain perspective, because I still don’t like roller coasters, even though I have been riding them for the past five years after a life of avoiding them.
Spin me around all you want. Clickety-Clack me up a tall hill and drop me and I don’t like it. However, I am a firm believer in doing things that one doesn’t like, and forcing one’s self into scary or uncomfortable situations. I just think it makes me a better person. So I like the sense of accomplishment that comes** after** the fact more than any chemical dump happening in my blood during the event. Maybe it’s related to a chemical dump, but in a different order or different way.
One exception: I love the Hulk roller coaster at Universal Florida. I like being launched like that. I think the initial hill climb that other coasters go through ruins it for me.
Scary movies don’t scare me. Roller coasters intimidate me. But I like to overcome the fear/intimidation. I am happier overcoming it than I am avoiding it.
See, I love that too, and I like rides like the Rainbow where you don’t have that “look at the fall” thing, so your brain doesn’t fool your gut. Also, it goes in circles, not straight down, so there’s only a tiny second of that free-fall sensation. I love stuff like Test Track that just goes fast around banks.
I love scary movies and books; I started reading Stephen King at age 11, and have read scores of horror novels, and seen nearly as many movies since then.
Haunted houses rock, but I don’t like clown themed ones so much.
I’m afraid of heights but I loooove rollercoasters. And pirate ships. And just about any other ride that picks you up high or swings you around. Unlike being on the roof to shovel off snow, I’m 99.7% sure that nothing bad will happen to me on an amusement park ride.
I’m with you on bungee jumping, though.
Unlike the sort of thrills mentioned in LunaticFringette’s articles (sky diving, mountain climbing etc) none of the activities from the OP are real risks, especially the first two!, so I find them appealing even though I’m a fairly cautious person generally speaking. Controlled scares are kind of fun.
Maybe there’s a wuss gene?
::d&r::
I don’t close my eyes because not knowing makes me feel even less in control. I bet you check the restraint mechanism a million times before it gets going as well. 
This is one of my favorite topics. I’ve worked in a haunted house for the last three Halloweens, and I’ll never get over the number of people who will pay $10 and stand in line for an hour just to have me jump out at them and say, “Boo!” I’m a 5’4", 120 lb girl, I literally wouldn’t hurt a fly on purpose, and I’ve made men cry because I’ve scared them so bad.
What interests me most is the way in which you have to participate in your own scaring, both by paying for the park admission, or bungee jump, or whatever, and by suspending your belief that this really isn’t a threatening event. When I go into a haunted house (especially now, after I mostly know what’s coming) I can have exactly as much fun as I want to have. I can decide to let myself be scared, or I can pay attention to the craftsmanship of the house, the makeup, music, etc.
Alien is a great horror film.
And I disagree. It’s not easy to scare people. It’s easy to make a bad horror movie that thinks things jumping out at you yelling “boo” is scary.
Or maybe it’s just me, because for me the hard part is finding horror movies/games/books that are actually scary. It’s gotten to the point I’ve settled for being creeped out.
Calvin’s Dad: “It built character.”
Calvin: * “Oh sure. Why can’t I ever build character at a Miami condo or a casino somewhere?”*
True, true… the makers of those media are increasingly going after the creep-out/gross-out angle anyway.