Why Do We Tune In To Reality TV?

Researchers: Viewers Enjoy Contrasting Themselves With Participants

(WebMD) 

Ability to Identify Critical to Enjoyment

Priscilla and Pam, two other study participants, rejected Temptation Island, not because they didn't like the fantasy element provided by the locale, but because they saw the goals of the "characters" as not being genuine and consistent with personal standards of conduct.

Participants in the study agreed that character identification, or engagement, could only evolve over time. "When you first start watching Survivor, you don't know the people ... It gets more interesting once you get to know them," writes Shirley, one of the participants.

She began to enjoy the show only after she learned enough about the participants to begin to identify the social relations among them, she says - a process that allowed her to define herself through social comparison.

Participants agreed that the presence of a "person you love to hate" made the shows more interesting.

What Actually Happened vs. What Might Have Been

Whereas some were drawn to shows like Temptation Island because they found the singles "so beautiful" and "like people they knew," others found the shows fun to watch because they featured people like themselves.

Most agreed that the main thing that made reality TV shows more interesting than sitcoms like Frazier is that, unlike Frazier, they are unscripted.

In conclusion, say the researchers, the success of reality-based entertainment may be the depiction by certain shows, such as Temptation Island, of a reality that is totally foreign to viewers. "It may reflect a nostalgia for authenticity among the class of consumers to whom it is most rigorously denied," they write.

According to the researchers, others may appeal simply because they are so familiar, and therefore understandable, to viewers.

"Shows like Cops or Big Brother could be viewed as an echo of modernist angst," they write.

"Study participants wondered why the cast members acted or spoke as they did, they wondered what they would do if in the cast member's place, they wondered what the producers were 'up to,' and they wondered what actually happened and what might have been."

Sources: Rose, R.L. Journal of Consumer Research, September 2005; vol 32: pp 284-296. News release.