“An imaginary sense of personal success”: why Russians like scandalous talk shows

Screams, screams, scandals and long discussions of some topics. All this (and more) mixed together characterizes

scandalous talk shows. Thus, psychologist and coach Alexander Kichaev, in a conversation with the newspaper “Evening Moscow”, explained the love of Russians for such talk shows. Discuss

According to him, watching programs that show other people's problems gives the viewer an imaginary sense of their own success.

According to Kichaev, people's interest in suchprograms that show the problems of other people, gives the viewer an imaginary sense of their own success, which allows people to feel more confident and leads them to the conclusion that they “after all, everything is not so bad.” The specialist called this effect optimism on someone else's grief.

The situation is similar with melodramas.

For example, many people like TV series in whichthe girl meets the prince and everything goes well for them. But here there is another psychological effect, this feeling of faith in miracles and sweet masochism: “Unfortunately, I haven’t met the prince, but maybe my daughter will.”

Alexander KichaevPsychologist