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TV shows such as Hannah Montana reflect shifting values, with fame taking center stage as the most important value, researchers say.
While popular TV shows of past generations, such as
Happy Days, focused on values including benevolence, self-acceptance and tradition, today's shows emphasize fame as the No. 1 value, according to a new study.
Researchers reviewed the values of characters in
popular television shows for 9- to 11-year-olds, from 1967 to 2007, with two shows per decade evaluated. (For example, the researchers evaluated
The Andy Griffith Show and
The Lucy Show in 1967,
Laverne & Shirley and
Happy Days in 1977, and
American Idol and
Hannah Montana in 2007.)
The shows were evaluated for 16 values, including community feeling (being part of a group), spiritualism, tradition and popularity. Although community feeling was the No. 1 value in 1967, 1977 and 1997, by 2007, it had fallen to No. 11. In 2007, the top five values were fame, achievement, popularity, image and
financial success.
"The rise of fame in preteen television may be one influence in the documented rise of narcissism in our culture," study researcher Patricia M. Greenfield, a psychology professor at UCLA, said in a statement. "Popular television shows are part of the environment that causes the
increased narcissism, but they also reflect the culture."
