Big Brother is watching you watch ‘Big Brother’

The latest series of the ‘reality’ television show ‘Big Brother’ is currently underway within the United Kingdom. Both the format and world-wide popularity of such voyeuristic entertainment mirrors the huge variety of streaming webcams available on the internet.

Somewhat hypocritically then, many of those who enjoy watching others go about their day-to-day lives are keenly concerned about their own privacy, as evident from controversy surrounding the blurring of public and private by recent advances in mapping technology. Together with privacy worries over the increasingly sophisticated use of computerised tracking and profiling of the general public, this reflects a general concern over the perceived rise of a surveillance society.

This ‘doublethink’ has recently been ironically highlighted by consternation over the development of a device that enables a television set to ‘see’ those viewing it, thereby being able to monitor them for audience profiling purposes, and so transforming the watchers into the watchees.

From a social psychology perspective, the ‘Big Brother’ TV programme format is interesting as it is a ‘popular psychology’ take on observational studies of intra-group processes examining phenomena such as successful team formation.

Consequently, the debate over the morality of watching and being watched, and the distinction between public and private, is similarly relevant to academic research design.

If, as with the ‘Big Brother’ house-mates, participants are aware that they are being observed, then there is a risk that their behaviour will be subject to demand characteristics, and so become an ‘unnatural’ performance. Whilst covertly observing unaware participants may therefore result in more accurate findings, however, this can clearly result in studies taking place that are ethically dubious.

Channel 4 ‘Big Brother’ Website

Wittenbaum, G. M. & Moreland, R. L. (2008). Small-Group Research in Social Psychology: Topics and Trends over Time

Strohmetz, D. B. (2008). Research Artifacts and the Social Psychology of Psychological Experiments

Sunar, D. (2009). Suggestions for a New Integration in the Psychology of Morality

Serious games

The latest instalment of the popular America’s Army (AA3) video-game series has recently been released to widespread acclaim. Whilst there are many similar ‘first-person shooters’ currently available, AA3 is unusual in that it is downloadable at no cost since it was developed by the United States (US) military as a recruitment tool.

This reflects an increasing use of combat video-games with ulterior motives, both by the world’s military as well as by those politically opposed to conflict. Indeed, the US army now has a dedicated hi-tech public-relations centre where the wider general public can experience such games for themselves. Since the use of video-games can be seen as specifically targeting children, however, this recruitment strategy has been fiercely criticised as unethical.

Such condemnation raises a number of important questions as to the social role of video-games. For example, the fundamental morality of trivialising an issue as serious as war by treating it as mere entertainment is highly debatable. This is particularly the case as such games rarely attempt to depict the suffering and human cost that is an inevitable consequence of military action, thereby sanitising the true horrors of war. The social consequences of such portrayals of violence within video-games have previously been the subject of much discussion.

Furthermore, a growing number of these games are based on ‘real’ rather than fantasy scenarios, and so can often be seen as rewriting history by presenting a simple dichotomy between ‘good’ and ‘evil’, rather than accurately portraying the complex uncertainties faced by combatants during the actual fighting they claim to represent.

Alternatively, such games could be viewed as useful educational simulations that question the morality of war itself by giving a player the opportunity to experience a historical conflict from the perspectives of all the different parties involved.

Such issues have been the topic of recent heated debate surrounding the announcement and subsequent abrupt cancellation of a video-game based on the controversial battle for Fallujah.

‘America’s Army’ official website

‘US Army Experience Center’ official website

‘Six Days in Fallujah’ press release from Konami

Cancellation of ‘Six Days in Fallujah’ from the Guardian

Li, Z. (2003).The Potential of America’s Army the Video Game as Civilian-Military Public Sphere

Baldwin, M. W. & Dandeneau, S. D. (2009). Putting Social Psychology into Serious Games

‘Thinking outside the Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung’

Brüno, the latest work by British comedian Sacha Baron-Cohen, has just achieved the highest-grossing opening weekend for an 18-certificate (i.e. adult-rated) film in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

This ‘mockumentary’ revolves around the reactions of various celebrities and members of the public to Baron-Cohen’s portrayal of the eponymous flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista. Since those involved believed they were dealing with a genuine rather than fictional character, their responses to his outrageously exaggerated portrayal of stereotypical homosexuality provide a satirical comment on the prejudice and hypocrisy present within a supposedly enlightened modern society.

Extreme reactions provoked by the filming led to Baron-Cohen being both threatened with assault and arrested multiple times, as well as facing subsequent legal action. This mirrors the response to his previous controversial film of the same format, in which he played ‘Kazhakhstani’ Borat. Not only did this similarly result in legal action, but the ensuing furore culminated in an international diplomatic incident.

Whilst such films may claim to provide a revealing insight into homophobia, anti-semitism, and the like, they also raise uncomfortable questions for the audience themselves. For example, it is debatable as to whether they are truly viewed by all cinema-goers as a sophisticated piece of social commentary, or whether they simply allow the ‘politically correct’ an opportunity to laugh at otherwise unacceptable stereotypes.

In terms of their technical approach, many of the humorous scenarios featured within these films echo the ‘breach studies’ of ethnomethodologist Garfinkel, which examined the responses of unsuspecting participants to deliberate violations of social norms.

In a further psychological link, Sacha Baron-Cohen is the cousin of Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge.

(And in case you were wondering, ‘Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung’ is German for ‘speed-limit’!)

Brüno’s official MySpace page

Film review from the Guardian

Smith, J. R. & Louis, W. R. (2009). Group Norms and the Attitude–Behaviour Relationship

‘Spanish practices’

Firstly it was bonus payments for bankers seen as largely responsible for the ‘credit crunch’, and then excessive expenses claims by members of parliament (MPs).

Although these activities were not necessarily illegal, the British public has been enthusiastically encouraged by the press to denounce them as immoral.

This common view that dubious morality is endemic amongst those in positions of power has been highlighted recently by the ironic election success of a Croatian politician with a campaign slogan of ‘All for me, nothing for you’.

From a psychological perspective, such beliefs illustrate the ultimate attribution error, where negative behaviours of individual members are seen as typical of an entire out-group.

On closer inspection, however, this simple moral dichotomy is more complex than it may first appear. For example, MP’s expenses have been likened to so-called ‘Spanish practices’, a derogatory British term that continues to be surprisingly widely-used despite its racist implications. Such practices are questionable non-contractual working arrangements that benefit the employee and have become accepted as normal over time. These typically occur within heavily unionised industries, and have previously been the subject of industrial disputes.

Rather ironically then, many of those claiming the moral high-ground in terms of MP’s expenses commonly take advantage of exactly the same kind of ‘unofficial benefits’, suggesting that morality is a somewhat flexible concept.

Interestingly, the very term (mis-)used to describe these practices is a further example of the ultimate attribution error, being one of a number of historic British slurs attributing negative behaviours to foreign nationality out-groups.

‘Spanish practices’ of MPs from the Mail Online

Sunar, D. (2009). Suggestions for a New Integration in the Psychology of Morality

Giles, D. & Shaw, R. L. (2009). The Psychology of News Influence and the Development of Media Framing Analysis

Germany to ban all violent video-games?

In the wake of the Winnenden school shootings earlier this year, German politicians are proposing a total ban on the production and distribution of violent video-games.

Such a link matches that made following the Columbine school shootings in the United States, where game development companies were subsequently sued by families of the victims.

The widespread public acceptance of this causal relationship mirrors the moral panic over so-called ‘video-nasties’ in the 1980s, famously but incorrectly implicated in the murder of toddler James Bulger.

These ‘common-sense’ attributions are based on Bandura’s social learning theory, which suggests that children can be socialised to become violent simply through witnessing violent behaviour.

Despite numerous studies, however, there is a lack conclusive evidence to support such a connection in the case of violent video-games. Indeed, a recent European Union report suggests that rather than being universally harmful, such games may in fact actually be of benefit to children.

This corresponds with the conclusions of the Byron report, which was comissioned by the United Kingdom government in order to examine technological risks to children.

News of the proposed ban from GamePolitics

The Times links shootings to games

The report of the Byron Review

The European parliament report

Ferguson, C. J. (2009). Research on the Effects of Violent Video Games: A Critical Analysis

Giles, D. & Shaw, R. L. (2009). The Psychology of News Influence and the Development of Media Framing Analysis

Keeping Britain British?

The United Kingdom has just elected its first Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the British National Party (BNP).

This far-right political party, with its ‘whites only‘ membership restriction and goal of ‘keeping Britain British‘, is widely regarded as having policies that promote racial intolerance. Consequently it is condemned both by prominent mainstream politicians, as well as anti-fascism activists, with employers such as the police banning their staff from being members.

The election success of such an extremist organisation is attributed to a public loss of confidence in the major political parties over their handling of concerns such as immigration, the impact of the recession, and the recent expenses scandal involving Members of Parliament (MPs).

The widespread horrified reaction to the BNP’s newly gained credibility mirrors that seen previously when, contrary to the popular stereotype of the violent thug, a number of ‘respectable’ professionals were revealed to be amongst its members.

News report from the BBC

News report from the Guardian

Sapountzis, A. (2007). Towards a Critical Social Psychological Account of National Sentiments: Patriotism and Nationalism Revisited

Krueger, J. I. & DiDonato, T. E. (2008). Social Categorization and the Perception of Groups and Group Differences

Pearson, A. R., Dovidio, J. F. & Gaertner, S. L. (2009). The Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: Insights from Aversive Racism

Reicher, S., Haslam, S. A. & Rath, R. (2008). Making a Virtue of Evil: A Five-Step Social Identity Model of the Development of Collective Hate

State sponsored fear

A recent police-funded counter-terrorism campaign within the United Kingdom has resulted in the appearance of large billboards encouraging members of the public to inform on their neighbours, based on the ‘suspicious’ contents of their dustbin (=trashcan).

As with similar previous campaigns, the appeal to fear made by such billboards has been heavily ridiculed by online commentators as both overly simplistic and having disturbing Orwellian overtones.

By generating a moral panic over out-groups, and so encouraging the view that differences between people should be regarded with suspicion, the campaign is widely regarded as clumsily undermining relationships between the different ethnic and cultural groups making up British society.

The public backlash is such that billboards have been both physically subvertised, as well as virtually parodied. You now even have the opportunity to create your own.

ACPO press release

Louis, W. R. (2009). Terrorism, Identity, and Conflict Management

Greenberg, J. & Kosloff, S. (2008). Terror Management Theory: Implications for Understanding Prejudice, Stereotyping, Intergroup Conflict, and Political Attitudes

Krueger, J. I. & DiDonato, T. E. (2008). Social Categorization and the Perception of Groups and Group Differences

Hornsey, M. J. (2008). Social Identity Theory and Self-categorization Theory: A Historical Review