Horrified!

Today in class we discussed the idea behind being horrified or scared from a film. What was discussed sparked a question in my mind. What was said was that when a person watches a horror film or a scary movie, they aren't actually horrified when the killer jumps out from behind the curtains or when the man with the chain saw cuts through the chest of the teenage girl. Our professor mentioned that if we were truly horrified, we would run and hide for cover not just sit there and watch was happening on the screen with the occasional jump or twitch from sudden fear. The reason for this is that human beings and other large brained mammals process the ability to basically multi-task emotions. We are able to sustain to emotions at exactly the same time. So when your body is telling you that you are afraid of what is happening on the screen, in actuality, your mind is able to calm you down and maintain the notion that what you are watching isn't happening in real life, and you are able to enjoy the movie. Another point that was made is that small children are not able to manifest this emotional sensation because of their lack of advanced brain development. They aren't able to maintain the reality that what is happening in the movie or the scene isn't reality. Therefore, they are actually horrified.

Now with this in mind a question arises. If, as our professor stated, you were really horrified you would run for cover, how does one justify being scared stiff? Being so horrified that you are unable to run and take cover?