1276: Coltan Scrivner | The Evolutionary Logic of Morbid Curiosity

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Jan 27, 2026

Coltan Scrivner, a behavioral scientist who studies fear and morbid curiosity, joins to unpack why we rubberneck, binge true crime, and love horror. He explains horror’s formula of a powerful villain versus a vulnerable protagonist. He connects true crime’s appeal to threat learning, contrasts gendered curiosity toward violence, and shows how scary play builds emotional resilience.

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ANECDOTE

Coltan Miner At The Club

Jordan recounts meeting a European man guarded by militia who mined coltan in Africa.
The encounter showed moral opacity around resource extraction and local exploitation.

ANECDOTE

How Coltan Sparked Curiosity

Coltan Scrivner describes being introduced to the coltan topic via a friend's club encounter and later research.
The story motivated his interest in complex, morally opaque industries.

INSIGHT

Rubbernecking Informs Risk

People rubberneck accidents because seeing outcomes informs how risky their current activity is.
Observing bodily injury provides cues about hazard severity and personal vulnerability.

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Why do we rubberneck accidents and binge true crime? Behavioral scientist Coltan Scrivner explains the surprising psychology behind our morbid curiosity.

Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1276

What We Discuss with Coltan Scrivner:

Morbid curiosity isn't a character flaw — it's an evolutionary feature. The same instinct that makes us rubberneck at accidents helped our ancestors learn about threats without becoming victims themselves. It's your brain's built-in threat-assessment system, gathering intel from a safe distance.
Horror movies work because of a specific formula: an overwhelmingly powerful villain versus a vulnerable protagonist. That imbalance — think Pennywise hunting kids or Jason stalking camp counselors — triggers our threat-detection systems in ways action films simply can't replicate.
True crime's massive female audience isn't random. Women face threats primarily from people they know, so their curiosity focuses on spotting danger signals and understanding how predators operate. Men, who historically face violence from strangers, gravitate toward watching combat simulations like UFC.
Decades of research and millions of dollars confirm: violent video games don't create violent people. The Mortal Kombat moral panic of the nineties produced the ESRB rating system — but the generation raised on those pixelated fatalities turned out just fine.
Engaging with scary play — whether horror films, spooky games, or even childhood tag — actually builds emotional resilience. Kids who experience controlled fear learn to regulate anxiety, giving them psychological tools to handle real-world stress as adults. So don't skip the haunted house.
And much more...

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