People Who Watch True Crime To Relax Usually Have These 10 Specific Personality Traits
It's not for everyone, but a surprisingly large number of Americans have consumed true crime content at some point.
fizkes | Shutterstock True crime as an entertainment genre has taken off in recent years. There are documentaries, podcasts, books, and more media dedicated to telling the gruesome stories of victims who fell prey to the wrong person at the wrong time. A lot of people choose to watch true crime shows as a way to relax. It’s not frightening to them, or at least not so much so that they can’t watch it. Instead, they enjoy it. In fact, Edison Research found that 84% of Americans over the age of 13 consume true crime media in some form.
There are plenty of people who think this is nothing short of insane. They wonder how you could possibly like watching a documentary about someone’s demise at the hands of an evil person. Yet, plenty of people still do it. A majority of Americans, in fact. They don’t see it as grotesque and disturbing. They watch and they learn, taking in every single fact there is to know. These people share some personality traits, both positive and negative, that tend to characterize them as a group.
People who watch true crime to relax usually have these 10 specific personality traits:
1. They like to figure out complex problems
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Watching a true crime show is a bit like solving a puzzle. Unless the case is well known and the viewer is already familiar with the outcome, it’s a real-life whodunnit. Sure, mystery novels and movies are fun, but isn’t it even better when you can try to beat the clock to solve a mystery that actually occurred in reality?
Patricia Bryan, Henry P. Brandis Distinguished Professor of Law emerita at UNC-Chapel Hill, confirmed the mystery element of true crime is part of why people enjoy it so much. “That encourages listeners to examine the evidence and figure out what happened on their own,” she explained. Often, there is no easy answer to who committed a crime. That’s why they have professionals who handle figuring it out. But amateur armchair detectives love to find the solution to a problem, just like they love figuring out who the killer was.
2. They have increased anxiety and stress
Unfortunately, true crime isn’t all fun and games. It can seriously affect viewers’ mental health for the worse. Dr. Chivonna Childs, PhD, a Cleveland Clinic psychologist, said, “It can increase our anxiety because we become hypervigilant. We’re always looking for the bad person. Every white van becomes the van of a killer or murderer.” A study titled “Out of the Dark — Psychological Perspectives on People’s Fascination With True Crime” confirmed this. Researchers suggested one reason for this increased stress could be that consuming negative news tends to have that effect.
Watching true crime may feel fun for some people, but that doesn’t mean it’s not affecting them mentally. Without them even realizing it, it can cause them to become more anxious and stressed. This may lead them to be less trusting of others and even question their motives. All that stress and anxiety takes a toll on the body and mind, and it takes the fun out of something that could just be merely entertaining.
3. They feel empowered
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Despite the anxiety, people who watch true crime tend to feel empowered. Evidence shows that women consume true crime content more than men do, and the same study concluded that it is probably because they are concerned about becoming victims of a crime. Researchers noted that “the subjective burden of fear is linked to reduced quality of life.” So, these women take courage from what they watch. They learn how to react and how not to react in dangerous situations.
“[As] a trend, women also reported a stronger emotion regulation motive for engaging with true crime content relevant to their fears,” researchers explained. “The idea that recreational horror provides critical learning opportunities about dangers and thus serves as a training ground for building emotion regulation skills is one of the proposed benefits of engaging with frightening media. Accordingly, it may also hold for true crime.” True crime viewers experience a sense of empowerment from watching the content and actually learn from it.
4. They are afraid of victimization
Still, that doesn’t change the fact that true crime watchers are afraid of becoming victims themselves. This is also especially true for women, who seem to be affected by crime and are therefore portrayed in true crime programs at higher rates. The Council on Criminal Justice reported that 51% of violent crimes impacted women in 2022. This was an increase from 41% in 1993.
According to criminologist Scott Bonn, PhD, “My discussions with true crime fans around the country, particularly with women, have taught me that true crime TV shows and podcasts allow them to experience and exercise their fear of becoming a victim of crime in a safe, non-threatening, and even entertaining environment. Scary true crime entertainment allows viewers to experience fear, although they are never actually in danger during the process.” Women do fear becoming victims just like the subjects of the true crime documentaries they watch, but watching them allows for a kind of “catharsis,” as Bonn said. They can let some of that fear go.
5. They have a sense of ‘morbid curiosity’
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The authors of the study said, “Morbid curiosity was the strongest [correlate] of true crime consumption, indicating that a general tendency to seek information about dangers may also steer people towards true crime content.” People are obviously curious. It’s just part of human nature. It only makes sense that they would want to know more about crimes that are committed. It’s a different world that is so far removed from what they know, so they feel a sense of curiosity that drives their media consumption.
However, true crime fans have to be careful and mindful of how this curiosity plays a role in their lives, as it can lead to an increase in anxiety. The Cleveland Clinic stated, “Too much true crime ceases to be about curiosity and starts becoming fear-based instead.” Similarly, Dr. Childs said, “When we start to feel worried and afraid all the time, it takes away the fun of it. It starts to instill anxiety in us instead.” Curiosity may have killed the cat, but don’t let it hurt you, too.
6. They are less agreeable
Agreeableness is one of the “Big Five” personality traits. Certified professional life coach Sherri Gordon, CLC, explained, “Agreeableness is a core personality trait that reflects [an] individual’s abilities to get along well with others and their concern for social harmony.” Agreeableness sounds like a pretty good thing, but it seems to be lacking for true crime fans. At least, that’s what the study authors concluded.
“Previous studies also found lower agreeableness linked to sensational media interests and longer engagement with negative media stimuli,” they said. “This supports the idea that agreeable people would rather avoid unpleasant true crime content, while less agreeable people would seek it out as an attitude-consistent environment.” This doesn’t mean that all people who watch true crime aren’t friendly. It does mean that people who struggle a bit more with socialization may turn to true crime, though.
7. They know how to defend themselves
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The women who watch true crime are far from helpless. Instead, they know how to act in dangerous situations because of the true crime they spend so much time watching. As the study authors said, “Thus, true crime consumption may increase real-life protective behavior (e.g., not walking home alone at night) and subjective feelings of being prepared, or true crime consumption may be part of the tools and behaviors cautious people exercise to avoid victimization.”
Bonn has found the same thing in his travels for “The Psychology of Serial Killers and Why They Captivate Us,” which he described as a “theatrical road show.” He said, “In particular, single women have told me that they look to true crime TV shows and podcasts for tips on how to protect themselves from attacks by strangers, as well as how to detect sociopathic ‘red flags’ in the personalities and demeanor of single men they encounter.” It may sound unlikely to people who don’t watch true crime, but it can actually teach you what to do when you’re confronted with a dangerous situation.
8. They display Machiavellianism
Machiavellianism was inspired by — you guessed it — Niccolò Machiavelli and the concepts he described in his famous work, “The Prince.” Health writer Sanjana Gupta described Machiavellian people as ruthless, manipulative, and using others for their own purposes. Machiavellianism is part of the “dark triad,” a personality type that also includes narcissism and psychopathy. So, it’s not exactly the best thing to be described as.
The researchers said Machiavellianism is the only part of the dark triad that can be linked to true crime, and that it may not mean that people who watch true crime actually relate to the criminals, as one might think. Instead, they believe it means that true crime viewers are less resistant to entering these dark worlds that true crime shows and documentaries create. This is not a sign that true crime fans need to be worried about themselves.
9. They are empathetic and believe in justice
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On the opposite side of the spectrum, true crime viewers are also very empathetic. It might sound counterintuitive, but Bonn believes that’s why so many women are drawn to true crime: they’re more empathetic. He said that women form a deep connection to the victims featured in true crime shows, who are typically women themselves. Perhaps more disturbingly, he has also found that these women seek to empathize with the criminals who commit these horrible acts because they want to be able to understand them in an effort to feel safer.
Anyone who watches true crime is also going to believe in justice like it’s a packaged deal. They have heard about heinous crimes, and they know how important it is that the perpetrators be held responsible. As true crime author Doug Kari pointed out, they are also willing to look beyond what the average person might see. He used the Menendez brothers as an example. While the brothers were found guilty of murder, a sizable number of people believe they should be released from prison because their actions were motivated by abuse. True crime fans consider every angle.
10. They are more aggressive
Finally, people who watch true crime were also found to be a bit more aggressive. This sounds bad, but the researchers said it’s not quite a reason to freak out yet. They acknowledged, “True crime consumption positively correlated with self-reported aggression, which matches the socialization hypothesis that exposure to violent media may normalize violence, bias hostile mindsets, and desensitize to others’ suffering.”
However, they also noted that what they found through their research was more “mild forms of aggression,” meaning that if you watch true crime, you’re probably not going to go out and commit a crime yourself. Being more aggressive may just lead to a natural propensity to watch violent media, but this doesn’t mean true crime fans are bad people. There are all kinds of aggression, after all.
Whether you think watching true crime is a nice way to relax and spend an evening, or absolutely unthinkable, you can’t deny that there are a lot of people out there who watch true crime and find it enjoyable. They all share some traits, some positive and some negative, that can make them easy to spot. This doesn’t mean they should be judged for these personality traits, though.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
