‘Reality shows meaner than fiction’

Although reality television shows display almost no such physical violence, the non-physical aggression shown on those programmes can encourage viewers to imitate them in real life, a new study has found.

The “realistic portrayal” of aggression and snarky gossipping in those shows even make them much “meaner” than the fictional programmes, according to the research carried out at the Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

Those verbal or relational aggression in reality shows typically slips past TV-rating systems and media watchdog groups, which instead focus on condemning the physical violence of gunfights and fisticuffs, said Sarah Coyne, who led the study.

“All of these reality shows would never receive a rating of violence or aggression from the current rating systems,” Coyne told LiveScience.

According to the researchers, verbal aggression includes direct taunts or insults. By contrast, relational aggression includes more indirect attacks on social status or relationships, such as anonymous gossip-mongering or threats to end a friendship.

For their study, they examined the 10 most popular shows from the third quarter of 2007 among the TV-viewing audience in the UK. A few American TV shows also appeared as audience favourites among the top five reality shows and top five fictional shows.

They found that five reality TV shows that included “American Idol” and the British versions of “Apprentice” and “Big Brother” typically showcased more acts of aggression per hour of TV than the five fictional shows, including the medical drama “ER” and the sci-fi drama “Torchwood”.

Verbal aggression represented the most frequent type of aggression by far among all the TV shows, the researchers found, and pointed to past research that showed links between viewing verbal aggression in the media and then behaving aggressively afterwards.

The study also found that both reality and fictional TV shows tended to portray females as the relational aggressors (the gossipy type) rather than males, which fits the “mean girls” stereotype.

ut the TV depictions clash with reality, which shows that girls are just slightly more relationally aggressive than boys during late childhood and the early teen years. That difference disappears entirely by adulthood, according to past studies.

Coyne said: “Real research shows that boys are just as likely as girls to be relationally aggressive. These TV shows are kind of perpetuating stereotypes.”

The sample of top reality TV and fictional shows also showed females as the more common verbal and physical aggressors, which conflicts with past studies that found males were likelier to be the bully types.

Some reality TV shows, such as “American Idol” and “Big Brother,” also encouraged viewer interaction, as viewers can vote for or against participants. The study found that interactive reality shows did not show more aggression overall than non-interactive shows.

“The shows that are really interesting are the ones where you call in,” Coyne explained. “Voting someone off is actually relational aggression.”