As Oct. 31 approaches, businesses are capitalizing on the psychology of fear. Fear arouses a cocktail of chemistry in the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that controls memory, perception and consciousness. "We don't have many other holidays that are really directly connected to a strong emotion that is almost universal — fear and the dark side," said Frank Farley, a professor in Temple's College of Education. "The fear business is institutionalized and I wonder if the positive or negative reliving of horror — setting aside a day — does that take the sting out of fear?"