Well, that worked really well. Let's try that again in a different way...
Dear friends, family and colleagues:
I was just notified of a 3-part psychology series that will be shown starting
next week (MONDAY NIGHT, APRIL 16, 9-11 PM) on the Discovery Channel that
might be of interest to you (teachers might want to have a tape recorder set
since much of the material can be used in the classrooms), and perhaps alert
others to this event. I don’t think there are plans for reruns.
The program is called THE HUMAN ZOO, it was produced in London last year (by
Granada Media and London Weekend Television). I served as chief scientific
consultant and on-screen analyst in various portions of the three hour-long
programs (first 2 programs will air 4/16, not sure of timing of the 3rd
show). I think it represents some of what is best in Reality TV, when done
responsibly and with respect for the intelligence of the audience. What the
success of the current crop of reality TV in the U.S. and overseas tells us
is that human behavior is fascinating to observe. I believe this is even more
true when experts help the public give that behavior meaning and focus their
observations, and this is what the Human Zoo series attempts to do.
The 3hour series summarizes a week that a diverse group of 12 stranger
volunteers spent together in a remote lake district locale in England. We
observe them engaging in a host of basic psychological processes, captured
mostly by hidden cameras, and analyzed on-line by psychologists (me and a
British social psychologist) for what the various behaviors of these
individuals, and their groups, represents. For each of the key phenomena
observed in this Reality TV documentary there is a cut away to real world
demonstrations in mini experiments, interviews, and archival footage in
personnel offices, shopping malls, trains, businesses, schools, sporting
events, and with ordinary people in the streets. Some are designed as Candid
Camera- like scenarios.
Among the topics illustrated are: first impressions, impression management
and formation, deviance and rejection, conformity, compliance, group
formation, group dynamics and power, non verbal behavior, bystander
intervention, lie detection, social attraction, the power of physical
appearance, and more. British psychological experts discuss each of the
underlying processes revealed in these behavior modules. The behavioral
changes of the dozen research participants forms the link between the three
programs.
Hope you get a chance to view it and enjoy it.
Phil Zimbardo
Psychology Dept
Stanford University
Nancy Melucci
ELAC
