Media effects; effects theory: an audience theory that tends to see the audience as passive and seeks to measure how exposure to particular aspects of media content can influence the behavior of the reader or viewer.

Reality TV: Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors.

How the Participants Are Chosen for Television Reality Shows

Television reality series such as Survivor, Amazing Race, Real World, and Rock of Love, are created to attract the most viewers possible. Beginning with the casting call, thousands of applicants are screened by professionals. The few chosen to be on the shows are picked because of their attractiveness to the audience, and their ability to create conflict. This ensures a dramatic and conflict riddled season.

How the Reality Shows Are Filmed and Edited

The appearance in Survivor is that the participants are alone in a secluded wilderness. It seems that there is no one nearby to help them, and they are truly alone in the world. But are they? They are surrounded by the crews working on the series.

The participants on Survivor regularly have lone interviews where they reminisce about their experiences. While the dialogue they present is not scripted by professional writers, they are prompted with questions and suggestions of what to talk about in these scenes. Then, film material is edited to reflect what they reveal to the audience.

Over the course of about 1000 hours of time on the secluded location, Survivor is edited to give the public about 1% of what actually happened. This is all selected and prepped by professionals whose jobs are to make the show as dramatic as possible.

Adult Perceptions of Reality Shows

Viewers activate what is called in fiction, “suspension of disbelief,” and immerse themselves in the action as it develops. This “suspension of disbelief” causes them to forget that the participants are surrounded by camera crew, sound crew, setting technicians, and directors.

Adult perceptions of reality are also based on what could have happened. If the scenario is plausible, and if it follows through to a logical consequence, then many adults will consider it reality. This perception sometimes even carries over into fiction.

Fiction Confused With Reality

As an example, during the television run of the comedy show Gilligan’s Island, where seven castaways were shipwrecked on a small island, many people began worrying about the fictional characters. Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of the series, stated in a 1984 Parent’s Choice article that the Coast Guard received telegrams stating that someone should be sent to help the castaways.

In a 2009 SuperBowl commercial, the mascot for Jack in the Box was hit by a bus and seriously injured. According to workers at the fast food franchise, many people called in concern for his welfare. Some were joking, but seemingly, some were not.

As reality shows continue in their popularity, it’s important to remember that what is billed as reality, may not necessarily be so. Even though they are based on kernels of real events, they are still created for a target audience, they send a message, and they are constructed and edited by media professionals to create the most commercially viable product possible. Let the viewer beware.