Modern Psychology
Everyday, this chant is heard by millions of people watching the now
infamous
"talk show", Jerry Springer. Even though just a few years ago,
most
people regarded these shows as ridiculous, now this chant is recognized
and
adored by many people in society. The most parsimonious explanation for
this is
that the shows now have more interesting and captivating topics. The
premise of
most episodes of these shows has changed greatly over the past few
years; The
topics have moved away from large scale social issues, like
homosexuality and
cancer, to relationship and familial issues, like adultery
and mothers who are
too flirtatious with their daughter's boyfriends. Many
people would argue that
the issues being presented now are not as interesting
or captivating as the
older issues. However, after watching an old episode
and a new episode, most
people agree that the emotions displayed by the
guests in the newer shows are
more visible, with actions such as onstage
yelling and fighting. The general
emotional content of the episodes has
changed from sadness to anger. From a
psychological standpoint, there are
many influences that cause extreme anger to
be displayed by the guests on
"talk shows". Imagine being a guest on
the Jerry Springer show, as you walk
onto the stage you see the large audience
chanting those infamous words. You
sit down next to your fiance not knowing what
to expect, you are nervous and
anxious. Finally, Jerry says those terrible
words, "So, don't you have
something to tell your fiance?" She turns
to you, looks into your eyes and
says, "Remember about a month ago when I
disappeared at that party at your
house? Well, that night your brother and me
left the party early. I'm sorry,
I have been sleeping with your brother for the
past month." Suddenly, the
anxiousness that you experienced is gone and
replaced by anger, intense
anger. You turn to Jerry as he asks you, "Wow,
she has been cheating with
your brother, how does this make you feel?" Your
anger only gets more
intense, you ramble to your ex-fiance and ask her how she
could do such a
thing. Again, Jerry interrupts the moment and yells into the
microphone,
"Alright lets get the brother out here!" As you see your
brother walk through
the door, you again hear that irritating chant echoing
through the crowd. You
jump to your feet and go after your brother, within
seconds you are pulled
away by security guards and forced to return to this
humiliating situation.
Soon enough, you are too angry to talk, you simply scream
obscenities at your
brother and ex-fianc?e. It seems like every word Jerry
says makes you angrier
and angrier, and all the while Jerry Springer's ratings
are soaring through
the roof. There are many psychological explanations for this
increasing anger
experienced by the guests on a talk show. It is a well-known
psychological
observation that questions can be phrased in different ways
eliciting
different responses. A study conducted by Amos Tversky and
Daniel
Kahneman displayed that the same question phrased in two different
ways to the
same person can receive two different results. Interviews or
surveys often use
this framing effect to try to get the response that is more
favorable for the
interviewer or surveyor. Based on this discovery, it is
reasonable to assume
that the framing of a question can also affect the
emotional response that is
elicited by the subject. Knowing that there is a
strong correlation between the
anger of his guests and the ratings he
receives, Jerry Springer can use this
framing effect to his advantage. By
framing questions in a certain way, Jerry
can intensify the anger of his
guests. Often, when Jerry asks a question to his
guests, he tends to include
words with strong negative connotations. For
instance, in a topic like the
one presented above, Jerry tries to use words like
"cheating", "sneaking" and
"lying". Jerry also
phrases the question in such a way to evoke anger in his
guests. He typically
asks questions like, "Can you believe that your fiance
and your brother
would go behind your back like that?" The question is framed
in such a way
that any answer given to it would evoke or intensify anger. A
"no"
answer increases the feeling of surprise and causes the guest to think
to
himself, "How could they do such a thing?" A "yes" answer
could mean
that the guest may have noticed something going on between his fiance
and
brother before the show. Yet, it is more likely that the guest has
fallen
prey to hindsight bias. Hindsight bias is the inclination to remember
things in
a certain way based on information obtained later. So, in this
situation the
guest, now knowing that his fiance is cheating, will remember
anything that
seemed awkward in the weeks approaching the show. Although
these moments may not
have been very common, they will now stick out in the
guest's mind. The guest
will tend to recreate many of his memories of the
past few months based on this
new information. He may interpret common events
with no major emotional value as
strong signs of his fiance's cheating. As he
thinks about these memories, his
anger towards the situation will increase
greatly. Jerry is able to cause a
great increase in the anger felt by the
guest by framing the question in a
certain way. Besides Jerry's questions,
though, many factors influence the
emotional content of the show. When a
guest enters the stage, there are hundreds
of people looking down chanting
and cheering. When placed in such situations, in
front of large crowds,
people tend to feel nervous. Their heart rate, breathing
rate and production
of sweat all increase due to the reaction of the sympathetic
nervous system.
Based on the Schachter and Singer theory of emotion, this helps
to explain
why the emotions displayed in the shows are so intense. Schachter
and
Singer believed that the intensity of emotions are determined by the
intensity
of the physiological state, but the emotion itself is determined by
the
situation. As explained earlier, the situation that the guests are put in
is
definitely an angering situation. Therefore, when the guests are placed
into the
angering situation, their sympathetic nervous system has already
been aroused
and the intensity of the anger is much stronger than it would
have been
otherwise. The participation of the audience, with shouts and
cheers, tends to
increase the intensity of the anger even more. So, these
guests are manipulated
psychologically to deal with difficult situations with
even more anger than they
would display normally. To make matters worse, when
the guests try to fight they
are torn apart by security guards. Yet, they
have enough time to activate a
fight response; their sympathetic nervous
system is aroused greatly, releasing a
great deal of adrenaline causing an
even greater increase in heart rate and
breathing rate. This intensifies
their emotions in multiple ways. First of all,
the physiological state is
further intensified, corresponding to even stronger
emotions of anger. Yet,
along with this, there seems to be a great deal of
frustration evoked in the
guest. Based on the frustration-aggression hypothesis,
frustration causes
aggression. In other words, failure to obtain something
causes raised
aggression. In the case of the guests, their failure to get
revenge or
resolve out of the issue causes an even greater feeling of outrage.
All
of these factors cause the guests on the Jerry Springer Show to elicit
strong
emotions of anger and violence. Although the talk show was created as a
way
for people to share their problems with society and try to resolve them in
a
group situation, now it has become simply a quest for more money. The
Jerry
Springer Show simply causes more anger and disappointment in
situations that are
already very difficult for people to deal with. Many
psychological influences
affect the guests on talk shows into becoming much
more angry than necessary.
Rather than solving any of the problems
discussed, shows like Jerry Springer
tend to create a great deal of tension.
Jerry is able to manipulate his guests
into intense anger; since the general
population would rather watch anger and
violence, rather than peaceful
resolve, the Jerry Springer Show is greatly
benefiting from the strong
psychological influences on the
guests.