Abstract

MILLAN, Marília Pereira Bueno. Reality shows: a psychosocial approach. Psicol. cienc. prof. [online]. 2006, vol.26, n.2, pp. 190-197. ISSN 1414-9893.

As from the earliest period of civilization, human beings have shown their need to perform their personal dramas and existential vicissitudes on stage. The reality show is one of the postmodern versions of human life staging. Based on a bibliographical research, this article analyzes on a critical basis the relations between the reality show and psychosocial aspects of human behavior. Such TV programs portray contemporaneous life, that is, they disclose the subject's death, the fugacity of life experiences, the history devaluation and the cult of image and superficiality. By seducing the spectator, the reality show mobilizes primitive aspects of the spectator's psychism, thereby making him feel narcissistically powerful and omnipotent, and able to decide the participants' fate. New studies that contribute to critical considerations and deeper consciousness would be advisable.

Keywords : Reality shows; Television; Post-modernity; Spectator; Image.

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