Why do we scream?

This is how we announce our arrival into the world: with a shout. Afterwards, we scream many times in life. We do it when something surprises us or scares us. Also when happiness overwhelms us or when despair does not fit in our chest. And, of course, we learn to shout to impose ourselves, to attack others, to intimidate them.

Sports commentators shout when there is a goal or when a competitor crosses the finish line. Restaurant promoters shout to attract the attention of passers-by and make them notice their offer. The entertainers shout to infect the audience with enthusiasm. The mothers scream. The police scream. The teachers shout. The scream is everywhere.

In contrast to silence, which calls for relaxation, The cry is an expression intended to alert. Sometimes about something positive, but almost always about a not so pleasant fact. Generally, a scream expresses lack of control, overflow of emotions. Raising your voice is a resource that is usually used by those who are more interested in “making themselves heard” than in listening to others.

We shout to say something else

The Scream It is a form of elementary expression, which the dictionary defines as “inarticulate sound.”. This means that although it is dressed in words, that tone of voice that becomes a scream remains a chaotic, “inarticulate” reality, that is, with a diffuse, dispersed meaning. In the cry there is always a kind of imposition, but mainly it suggests the need for help.

We scream at the beginning of our life because it is the only way to stand in the world as someone who exists and who needs others.. We want others to stop some suffering we are experiencing. We feel cold and we want to be sheltered. Or we feel hungry and need to be fed. The cry is, above all, an expression of the need we have for others to recognize our shortcomings and address them.

When we enter the extraordinary world of language, we would no longer need shouting to communicate that we need something. and that we need others to obtain it. However, the needs are also beginning to become more complex. Many of them are not so easily resolved by offering shelter or food. In fact, needs arise that cannot even be precisely identified.

The scream, then, becomes that way of expressing the inexpressible.. It continues to be the way to ask for the help of others, the recognition of others; but this time it involves satisfying a need that is beyond words.

If it could be said, it would be enough to organize a phrase and communicate it. But in this case, the person cannot fully establish the nature and extent of the need for him. That’s why he shouts, to make it clear that there is something beyond simple words..

The unexpected consequences of screaming

People shout because they cannot find, or do not want to find, another way to express what they feel or what they want. In happy circumstances, screaming is liberating. It allows you to give free rein to a feeling, for no reason other than the satisfaction of expressing it. There we scream to create catharsis, to remove the plug from pressure, without attacking others. The typical example of this is the goal, that unique moment where there is a cry of joy that is almost always shared.

In other cases, The scream only reflects the inability – or the impossibility – of transferring a message, more or less desperate, into words.. Whoever shouts demands something from whoever listens to him. In principle it is greater attention, but behind this there are also other demands that are more complex.

In any case, the scream, instead of clarifying the communication, what it achieves is breaking it. Whoever shouts makes the tone of his voice noticeable, much more than the message he wants to convey. What it communicates, rather, is that someone is about to lose control completely and that the other must gauge their actions before continuing. In this case, the shout fulfills the function of canceling out the other. It is born from fear and lack, but its effect is to fill that void through imposition.

The aggressive shout is intended to prevent the other from expressing themselves, so that there is nothing more to say.. Finally, what this type of scream does is call for silence. Not only to the silence of the other, but also to one’s own silence. In this case, it is not a silence full of meaning, but the silence of repression. The silence that covers up everything that should be said and that with the screams is buried in an endless darkness.

The emotions we express through shouting

However, a recent study, carried out by Professor Sascha Frühholz of the University of Zurich, has shown that There are at least six types of emotions that we express through shouting. And not all of them are negative. These are: pain, anger, fear, sadness, joy and pleasure.

According to Frühholz, “screams of joy are truly specific to humans.” In these cases, We usually scream when we experience extreme joylike when our favorite soccer team wins.

For its part, The scream also usually appears when we experience extreme pleasures, like when adrenaline seekers scream on a roller coaster. In these cases, people feel so excited that they cannot contain their urge to scream.

Additionally, the aforementioned study found an even more interesting finding: Each of these six types of screams present a different acoustic. To test this, they asked the participants to listen to different screams and identify the emotion behind them.

Besides, The participants were able to classify cries of joy and pleasure much more easily. The reason behind this inclination towards identifying positive emotions may be due to the evolution of human beings; Those of us who currently live in safe and civilized environments, so we give lower priority to shouts that denote threats.

Likewise, Frühholz states that “positive shouts are much more important for humans because they create social bondsyes.” Which is not the case with negative shouts, which we seek to avoid.

Based on what has been said so far, It is evident that human beings scream for various reasons., which can be positive or negative. The ideal would be to promote this experience for people’s enjoyment and relaxation.

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