Do you believe in love at first sight? If so, chances are you’re not missing an episode of “The Bachelor” or “Millionaire Matchmaker.”
And if seeing a romantic movie is your idea of a good time, you likely believe that “love finds a way,” carrying a couple through any obstacles it might face, according to a new University of Michigan study about how movies and television shows affect our beliefs about relationships and romance.
Romantic ideals that people hold often correlate with the types of media messages they are exposed to, which suggests that “the media may be teaching us what sorts of beliefs we should have about romantic relationships,” says Julia Lippman, a postdoctoral research fellow in the U-M Department of Psychology, and the study’s lead author.
“It is possible that frequent exposure to romance and courtship in this idealized form could lead viewers to adopt equally idealized notions about relationships in the real world,” Lippman says.
Researchers studied the responses of 625 college students — including 392 females — to learn how romantic movies, sitcoms involving relationships, and marriage-themed reality shows might affect their beliefs about relationships.Participants indicated how often they watched each of 93 romantic movies such as 500 Days of Summer, Crazy, Stupid Love, and In Time. They noted the frequency of watching 17 sitcoms that featured dating relationships, such as “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Big Bang Theory.” And they also responded to a survey that assessed their exposure to marriage-themed reality shows, such as “The Bachelor” and “Millionaire Matchmaker.”
The study indicated that higher exposure to romantic movies was associated with a stronger belief that “love finds a way.” Greater exposure to marriage-themed reality TV shows was associated with belief in “love at first sight” and “true love,” which did not surprise the researchers given the genre’s focus on early stages of romance (lavish dates, roses, etc.) and marriage.
However, students who frequently watched sitcoms featuring characters who dated multiple partners had lower levels of idealization — a belief that “true love” will be nearly perfect — and “one and only,” a belief that people have soul mates.
In addition to Lippman, the study’s authors were L. Monique Ward, a professor of psychology, and Rita Seabrook, a doctoral student in psychology and women’s studies.
Douglas Sedon - 1978
thank dog i gave up tv even before i got to ann arbor. (even before i got out of jr high, for that matter.) and i rarely watch movies. i prefer more interactive leisure activities. even staring at a wall is more interactive than tv/movies. ;~)
doug s.
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Richard Matland - 1991
Basic Research Design: Do not only consider if X causes Y but if Y causes X. So watching one kind of romantic movie leads you to believe in one type of romance? Well maybe, but isn’t it just as likely that people who are “hopeless romantics” are the ones that will be drawn to those types of movies? In other words the movie has Zero true effect on people’s view of romance but there is a strong correlation. The arrow,however, runs the other direction….. Hopefully the researchers respond to this alternative hypothesis, but it would be nice if the journalists also considered it.
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