I was interviewed recently by a producer and presenter making a radio series about the link between social psychology and reality TV. No surprises that their research led them to Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo. Apparently architects of Big Brother and Survivor credit the pair of social psychologists as the inspiration for their shows.
And founder of Candid Camera Allan Funt had a big impact on both Milgram and Zimbardo.
And when you look at Milgram’s obedience experiments and the Stanford Prison Study you can see the parallels between them.
Both the social psychology experiments and reality TV shows:
- make for powerful theatre
- involve subterfuge and trickery
- purport to reveal human nature
- are ethically problematic
- normalise sadistic behaviour (on the part of the producers/scientists)
- turn individual people into types
- rely on manipulation for dramatic results
- turn surveillance into theatre
- have had a huge impact on popular culture
The line between reality TV and experiments like Milgram’s and Zimbardo’s is blurry enough. Now its standard for reality TV shows to hire psychologists as expert advisors. But to advise on what and for whose best interests is the question.
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