Current research at CMU explores modern life

Reality TV affects its viewers

Reality TV is here to stay--and Central Michigan University psychology professor Bryan Gibson says it's not as harmless as people think it is.

It's on nearly every channel in one form or another. Some of us keep up with the Kardashians and others tune in to Cops to watch officers nab real-life dope dealers, thieves and behind-the-wheel drunks.
 
Many guests on the daytime talk show Maury are treated to the results of DNA testing to publicly solve family mysteries, and its host urges people who suspect their spouses are cheating--or want to confront a family member with an alcohol problem--to call in for the chance to do it in front of an audience.

Insults (and chairs) fly, and burly bodyguards restrain the show's guests who lose it. On other shows, drug addicts are hustled to rehab after agonizing televised interventions.

Couples bring their marital train wrecks to the airwaves. Family members shriek at each other.

And we watch.  

Millions of us, while networks rake in cash and continue roll out more reality programs at warp speed. Some dysfunctional family chaos here, a dash of dramatic misery there--just harmless entertainment, right?

Wrong, according to Gibson who heads a team that's been studying effects on viewers who tune in to them regularly last September.

"Viewers don't realize," Gibson says, "that many people don't understand how harmful this can be--people who watch reality shows containing violence and aggression become more aggressive themselves."

For at least a decade, according to Gibson, the number of reality shows has spiked enormously. In 2000, he says, just four of them existed, but by 2012 that number had exploded to a line-up of 320 shows.

That's a hell of a lot of TV.

There are two types of reality television, according to Gibson: the well known competition shows  like Survivor and Biggest Loser, and another branded "surveillance reality," where people are followed, living their supposedly unscripted lives on camera.    

Gibson says harmful effects of both have not drawn the amount of research he feels necessary. He, alongside a group of his grad students and fellow co-researcher Brad Bushman, of Ohio State University, launched their own study project to research the topic and promote awareness.

"Many reality TV programs contain aggressive acts, mainly verbal or relational forms, and our goal, with this study, was to evaluate whether or not exposure to this type of program increases aggression," Gibson says.

"This research shows that these programs are not simply harmless entertainment. Exposure to this verbal and relational aggression increases physical aggression among their fans."

The team exposed 127 CMU students to both types of programs. Some of them watched programs the researchers agreed are supportive, family-based reality programing, with Little People, Big World and The Little Couple among them. Others viewed either negative reality shows with characters portraying relational and verbal aggression, including Jersey Shore and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, or a fictional crime drama, such as CSI, which also portrays violence and aggression.

Gibson says the study supported their hypothesis--that viewers who are regularly exposed to supportive family-based reality programming are less aggressive than those who watch the shows that portray hostility, physical violence and relational aggression.

What, exactly, is relational aggression?

Gibson describes it as behavior that's specifically meant to damage a relationship. Verbal acts like name-calling, insults and spreading hurtful, rumors.

"These findings are alarming because reality TV is very popular in our society," Gibson says. "These programs can potentially trigger aggression, making them more than just a guilty pleasure."

"I think we need more responsible programming."

But since the wildly popular shows with aggressive, negative characters and violence keep raining revenue on television networks, that solution seems beyond reach.

Gibson hopes his study will help other researchers realize just how vital these projects are.

"I just hope it helps people realize that they really are affected by shows they watch, even if they are not aware of it while it's happening."

Rare syndrome studied

On the same campus, another psychology professor conducts research of a very different brand--studying a rare and complex genetic disorder called CHARGE syndrome.

CMU psychology professor Timothy Hartshorne does so in the nation's only lab focusing solely on behavioral studies from CHARGE syndrome. Only one child in every 12,000 births worldwide is born with the disorder, says Hartshorne, who founded the lab a decade ago.

His son is one of them.

"My son communicates through pictures and other ways," Hartshorne says. "He can't walk and he can't speak, but he teaches me so much. Raising him has taught me so much."

CHARGE syndrome, according to Hartshorne, is typically caused by the mutation of a gene but occasionally from heredity. Symptoms vary, some severe and many of them very manageable.

"Almost everyone who has CHARGE Syndrome has balance issues--I'd say that 98 percent of them do learn to walk, but they are about three years old when that happens."

Trouble swallowing food--even milk from the breast or bottle from birth--is common.

"Sometimes they have to be fed by a tube inserted into their stomachs," Hartshorne says.

Some afflicted with CHARGE syndrome suffer from heart defects, like his own son does, according to Hartshorne. Some are deaf, some have vision problems and nearly all have sensory impairments.

The research is fairly young because, although CHARGE syndrome is a disease that was identified in 1979, researchers didn't discover its responsible gene until 2004. Most physicians and neonatologists are now familiar with the disorder, Hartshorne says.

"CHARGE syndrome is an extremely complicated condition, and parents are faced with so many surgeries, hospitalizations and doctor visits that it is easy to forget the individual and get caught up in all the 'medical stuff'," says David Wolfe, president of the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation. "In the process, the behavioral and psychological components, which in many ways are the most complex portion of the syndrome, are put on the back burner. It is in this critical area that CMU has excelled."'

Hartshorne shies away from being referred to as renowned, but he is a highly sought expert who travels the world speaking to and collaborating with physicians, geneticists and educators. CMU houses the country's only CHARGE-specific lab. Hartshorne's work is bringing CHARGE to light even far beyond mid-Michigan.

Jeff Barr is a Portage-based freelance journalist who can be reached at barrj88@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter: @JeffBarr88