Issue date: March 25, 2001

Ask Dr. Drew a question!

Spare us from this "reality"

TV shows like "Survivor" might corrupt our character and culture, Dr. Drew argues. The networks, and viewers, need to exercise some discipline.

When I hear people talk about the most recent crop of TV "reality" shows -- "Survivor", "Temptation Island" -- I think of social critic Christopher Lasch's classic 1979 book "The Culture of Narcissism". Astutely, almost clairvoyantly, Lasch predicted that people would become increasingly self-absorbed, less able to empathize with one another. But I doubt even he imagined it would go this far. One recent offering included videotape of spouses caught cheating.

What's next? Televised gladiator fighting?

Normally, empathy is the final step of our psychosocial development: First, we learn to identify others, then we get attached to others, then we use others to help nourish ourselves. As we gain an independent sense of ourselves, we develop empathy.

Right now, though, that process is fundamentally skewed. Too many adults were not given what they needed growing up, so they have inadequate attachments and are unable to empathize.

While I know of no concrete proof that reality shows worsen the situation, I'm still uncomfortable with them. These programs glorify and romanticize our lack of attachment. Because we don't empathize adequately with others, we don't mind seeing them taken advantage of and betrayed.

Renowned developmental psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg has a theory that people go through predictable stages of moral development. Without adequate intellectual and emotional development, moral development suffers. We live in a time of deficient moral development. We can't live with integrity, because we can't even take the first step in distinguishing right from wrong.

Instead, we opt for experiences that arouse us and provide relief in the moment -- like watching titillating TV shows -- ultimately reinforcing our deficient emotional world.

I have three suggestions. First, if television can be such a force for ill, it has to be equally as strong a positive force. I call on the people who work in TV to use their wonderful abilities to create shows that would not just hold up a mirror to societal ills, but confront them and move things in a different direction. Second, we should discipline our viewing to prevent unhealthful programs from succeeding. Finally, parents must do their job. We need to instill empathy in our kids so they don't grow up interested in this kind of television in the first place.

Contributing Editor Drew Pinsky, M.D., co-hosts radio's "Loveline" and TV's "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus".