FREE ESSAY ON MODERN PSYCHOLOGY

MODERN PSYCHOLOGY

Talk Show Tension
Jerry, Jerry, Jerry... 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 fiancee 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-fiancee 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-fiancee. 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 fiancee 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 fiancee 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 fiancee
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 fiancee'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.