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 shows". 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 fiance not knowing what
to expect, you are nervous and anxious. Finally, Jerry says those terrible
words, "So, don't you have something to tell your fiance?" She turns
to you, looks into your eyes and says, "Remember about a month ago when I
disappeared at that party at your house? Well, that night your brother and me
left the party early. I'm sorry, I have been sleeping with your brother for the
past month." Suddenly, the anxiousness that you experienced is gone and
replaced by anger, intense anger. You turn to Jerry as he asks you, "Wow,
she has been cheating with your brother, how does this make you feel?" Your
anger only gets more intense, you ramble to your ex-fiance and ask her how she
could do such a thing. Again, Jerry interrupts the moment and yells into the
microphone, "Alright lets get the brother out here!" As you see your
brother walk through the door, you again hear that irritating chant echoing
through the crowd. You jump to your feet and go after your brother, within
seconds you are pulled away by security guards and forced to return to this
humiliating situation. Soon enough, you are too angry to talk, you simply scream
obscenities at your brother and ex-fiancИe. It seems like every word Jerry
says makes you angrier and angrier, and all the while Jerry Springer's ratings
are soaring through the roof. There are many psychological explanations for this
increasing anger experienced by the guests on a talk show. It is a well-known
psychological observation that questions can be phrased in different ways
eliciting different responses. A study conducted by Amos Tversky and Daniel
Kahneman displayed that the same question phrased in two different ways to the
same person can receive two different results. Interviews or surveys often use
this framing effect to try to get the response that is more favorable for the
interviewer or surveyor. Based on this discovery, it is reasonable to assume
that the framing of a question can also affect the emotional response that is
elicited by the subject. Knowing that there is a strong correlation between the
anger of his guests and the ratings he receives, Jerry Springer can use this
framing effect to his advantage. By framing questions in a certain way, Jerry
can intensify the anger of his guests. Often, when Jerry asks a question to his
guests, he tends to include words with strong negative connotations. For
instance, in a topic like the one presented above, Jerry tries to use words like
"cheating", "sneaking" and "lying". Jerry also
phrases the question in such a way to evoke anger in his guests. He typically
asks questions like, "Can you believe that your fiance and your brother
would go behind your back like that?" The question is framed in such a way
that any answer given to it would evoke or intensify anger. A "no"
answer increases the feeling of surprise and causes the guest to think to
himself, "How could they do such a thing?" A "yes" answer
could mean that the guest may have noticed something going on between his fiance
and brother before the show. Yet, it is more likely that the guest has fallen
prey to hindsight bias. Hindsight bias is the inclination to remember things in
a certain way based on information obtained later. So, in this situation the
guest, now knowing that his fiance is cheating, will remember anything that
seemed awkward in the weeks approaching the show. Although these moments may not
have been very common, they will now stick out in the guest's mind. The guest
will tend to recreate many of his memories of the past few months based on this
new information. He may interpret common events with no major emotional value as
strong signs of his fiance's cheating. As he thinks about these memories, his
anger towards the situation will increase greatly. Jerry is able to cause a
great increase in the anger felt by the guest by framing the question in a
certain way. Besides Jerry's questions, though, many factors influence the
emotional content of the show. 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. To make matters worse, when the guests try to fight they
are torn apart by security guards. Yet, they have enough time to activate a
fight response; their sympathetic nervous system is aroused greatly, releasing a
great deal of adrenaline causing an even greater increase in heart rate and
breathing rate. This intensifies their emotions in multiple ways. First of all,
the physiological state is further intensified, corresponding to even stronger
emotions of anger. Yet, along with this, there seems to be a great deal of
frustration evoked in the guest. Based on the frustration-aggression hypothesis,
frustration causes aggression. In other words, failure to obtain something
causes raised aggression. In the case of the guests, their failure to get
revenge or resolve out of the issue causes an even greater feeling of outrage.
All of these factors cause the guests on the Jerry Springer Show to elicit
strong emotions of anger and violence. 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.