Why do people go on reality television shows?

Professor Marc Wilson from Te Kura Mātai Hinengaro—School of Psychology gives us an answer:

"Research from the US suggests that one motivator is narcissism.

"For example, US celebrity therapist Drew Pinsky surveyed everybody appearing on his show and reported that reality television participants were more narcissistic than other groups of guests. But local research shows that New Zealand reality television participants are no more narcissistic than anyone else. But they do demonstrate higher levels of two of the five pillars of personality—extroversion and openness to new experiences. And this is consistent with what we know about the New Zealand personality. This is, after all, the home of the bungee jump.

"Reality TV may be increasingly superseded, however, by our ability to promote ourselves via social media platforms, allowing us to completely bypass mainstream media. There’s research that suggests that the more narcissistic a person is, the more they engage with social media, the more friends they have on social media, and the more time they take to curate their persona and their friendships online."

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