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 sh
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. 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. 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
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Approximate Word count = 1453
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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