What does it actually say about you if you love streaming reality shows, comedy classics or can’t resist true crime?
The answer might not be what you expect.
Several scientific studies have investigated the personality traits associated with different TV genres and watching habits, and have come up with some surprising associations.
True crime fans, for example, aren’t likely to be violent themselves. In fact, they are likely to be the complete opposite – they’re highly empathic.
Here’s what your TV habits say about you, according to science:
It’s bad news if you binge
People who binge-watch TV can end up eating unhealthily, behaving in an antisocial way and performing poorly at work or school, a study found.
Stranger Things: people who binge shows can end up underperforming at work (Getty)
Hardcore binge-watchers tend to be people with poor impulse control and a tendency not to plan – with some watchers binging up to 20 episodes at once, a Polish study found.
Researchers interviewed 645 people between 18 and 30 to find out why they binged multiple episodes in one sitting.
Up to 20 percent of the group admitted to watching between six and 20 episodes at once, with researchers suggesting that these hardcore bingers are using TV to escape reality.
Jolanta Starosta, lead author said: ‘It may be related to the fact that problematic binge watchers engage in marathoning TV series, mainly because they want to escape their daily life problems and regulate emotions.’
True crime fan? You’re a lover not a fighter
From American Nightmare to Don’t F**k With Cats, Netflix and other TV streaming services have become the go-to places for true crime shows.
True crime shows such as Dahmer have become huge hits
Half of Americans say they enjoy true crime, but it’s women that drive the trend with 58 percent of women enjoying true crime compared to 42 percent of men, according to a YouGov study.
For women, previous research has suggested that they hope to learn how to avoid the same fate, and to feel empathy for victims.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that women chose entertainment with female victims and which explored a killer’s motives.
Previous research in 2010 in Social Psychological and Personality Science suggested that women are drawn to true crime entertainment to watch for warning signs and learn ‘escape tips’.
The authors say that it’s possible true crime fans enter a vicious cycle where their favored entertainment scares them even more – driving them to consume more true crime.
Authors Amanda M. Vicary and R. Chris Fraley wrote: ‘Women, compared to men, have a heightened fear of crime despite the fact that they are less likely to become a victim.’
Dramas and soaps – you’re a relationship person
Watching TV dramas like One Day could have important implications for your real-life love life, a 2019 study found.
The study led by Valerie Kretz found that – in contrast to previous research – watching TV dramas predicted that fans believed in love, and that their real relationships would be stronger.
The same applied to fans of soap operas, Kretz’s research found.
TV dramas such as One Day could have important implications for your love life
Kretz wrote, ‘TV drama viewing could encourage the belief that men and women vary dramatically in their needs, which is also considered maladaptive. Thus, through the encouragement of maladaptive beliefs, TV drama viewing could undermine relationship satisfaction.
‘In the present study, viewing TV dramas was associated with greater relationship satisfaction.’
If you watch reality TV shows…
Watching reality TV shows like Squid Game: The Challenge could mean that you’re trying to live ‘through’ the characters – and not always in a good way.
Do you like reality TV shows like Squid Game: The Challenge?
Research by Ohio State University found that people try to satisfy their basic urges by watching reality TV – and that our reasons for doing so include the motives in our real life.
On the positive side, people who like reality shows are often motivated by their own desire to be social and even for romance.
But on the other hand, people also enjoy such shows due to their own desires for status and vengeance, the study found.
The researchers wrote, ‘By far, the largest significant effect was for the motive of status. The more reality TV shows a person liked, the more status-oriented the person was.
‘The second largest significant difference concerned the basic motive of vengeance. People who watched and enjoyed reality television placed a higher value on vengeance than did people who did not watch such shows.’
‘People who liked two or more reality television shows on our list tended to be more motivated by social life, less motivated by honor, more concerned with order, and more motivated by romance, as compared to those who did not watch any of the reality television shows in our list.’
If you stream old favorite shows
What does it say about you when you find old favorite shows such as Friends on streaming services and watch them over and over?
It might mean that you feel lonely.
Streaming old favourites like Friends might mean you are lonely
Research has shown that loneliness can drive us to watch old favorite shows, and that doing so actually makes us feel safe against drops in self-esteem and feelings of rejection.
Research published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology in 2009 suggested that returning to favorite TV shows makes us feel less lonely.
The researchers wrote that the study, ‘demonstrated that people report turning to favored television programs when feeling lonely, and feel less lonely when viewing those programs.’
