Daft Posted July 28, 2009 Posted July 28, 2009 An interesting, maybe obvious, read. A lonely child might invent an imaginary friend, but for adults, reprieve from loneliness comes from a less creative source: television. New studies find that humans are sating their craving for friendship by forming relationships with the people on TV. In a new article from the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Jaye Derrick and Shira Gabriel of the University of Buffalo and Kurt Hugenberg of Miami University examine the "Social Surrogacy Hypothesis," which posits that humans are using their TV sets as a substitute for human interaction. What they found was that people become more emotionally invested in watching television when they felt a need to belong to a social group: The authors theorized that loneliness motivates individuals to seek out relationships, even if those relationships are not real. In a series of experiments, the authors demonstrated that participants were more likely to report watching a favorite TV show when they were feeling lonely and reported being less likely to feel lonely while watching. This preliminary evidence suggests that people spontaneously seek out social surrogates when real interactions are unavailable. The authors also found that participants who recalled a fight with a close person in their lives wrote for significantly longer about their favorite TV show than a non-favored TV show. It appears that experiencing a lack of belonging actually caused people to revel in their favorite TV shows, as though the parasocial relationships with TV characters replaced the flawed relationships that had been recalled. The results suggest that humans are inclined to form one-sided, parasocial relationships with people and characters on television, and that being able to spend time with those characters without the possibility of rejection fulfills a primal need to socially connect to others, even if that connection isn't interactive. So what effect, I wonder, does canceling shows have on the human psyche? Do we unconsciously feel that a trusted friend has been ripped from us, and does not being able to spend time with them make us more lonely? http://io9.com/5324882/television-is-your-new-best-friend
Dannyboy-the-Dane Posted July 28, 2009 Posted July 28, 2009 How is this news? I thought this was obvious? Seriously, do scientists get paid to prove things we already know?
Ashley Posted July 28, 2009 Posted July 28, 2009 Yeah its a bit "well, duh" as far as research goes. However the implications are not to be as easily scoffed. It makes sense that lonely people can feel recognition and friendship in television more so than other mediums. I don't think its all bad as long as a distinction is clear. Like, I'd love to be friends with Veronica Mars but I know I am not/cannot be....not sure I'm really saying anything with this. But yeah, not exactly shocking new developments. Although the bastard stole my idea for a PHD :p (the affect of cancellation upon fandom)
Daft Posted July 28, 2009 Author Posted July 28, 2009 However the implications are not to be as easily scoffed. Yeah, totally. Arguably this could have filled a role religion might have once done for some people. I kind of wanted to know how much people on the boards got invested in the shows they watch. For example, I know if Battlestar Galactica was real, Adama and I would be BFF. Jokes. :P
Ashley Posted July 28, 2009 Posted July 28, 2009 Oh well I agree. Television is an idealised version of reality and its quite easy to think "if television were real..." For example it can give a false idea of life, for example Entourage kinda makes me want to be an agent because it seems you just have to shout and be lovably biggoted :p But television is obviously escapist and I think a part of that is to do with characters, they can fill a void left in life. I'm sure I'm not the only one whose ever wished they could be friends with someone from TV and yeah you could argue that a) that's sad and b) should go make friends but again they're ideolised/exagerrated. I can search the world and I doubt I'll ever find someone like Kimber Henry (probably for the best however) and yeah...getting back to the point (kinda) I think it can help fill that void a bit. I don't think its such a bad thing as long as there is a distinction...as I said before. I think this post makes no fucking sense
Recommended Posts