The Colony

OK.  For this weeks blog, you are to comment on the psychology of The Colony based upon what we have viewed so far.  In doing this you must discuss two examples from the series and explain their behavior from a psychological point of view.  Make certain you indicate which psychological view you are using with the appropriate vocabulary.  This will be due by November 6th.


     Thom Beers is the producer of The Colony and other various reality TV shows. So, based on the shows he produces, I would have to say that he most adheres to the views of a functionalist. This is because a functionalist main focus is how mental and behavioral processes enable the organism's to adapt, survive, and flourish. The Colony is a social experiment based on the psychology school of functionalist. I believe The Colony is an example of the functionalist school because 10 colonist are told there has been  a global catastrophe and those ten strangers are to rebuild and live together in the aftermath of the catastrophe. The colonist are placed together in a ten acre lot and have to use their mental and physical abilities to survive in this desolate area. Since, the colonist are strangers and come from all different back grounds their behavior also effects the way they survive. Their behavior will affect the colonist because in order to survive they will have to corporate and work together and if they don't the colony as a whole will suffer.
     The experimental aspect of The Colony is not only in the functionalist point of view but also in Darwin's natural selection aspect. Darwin believed that nature selects those that best enable an organism, in this case the colony, to survive and reproduce in a particular environment. In order for the colony to thrive the colonist have to survive in a harsh environment and "out smart" nature and figure out what to do in order to make livable conditions for not only themselves but also their new "family." Nature will eventually "select" the strongest colonist and those colonist will be crucial to the colony's living conditions. For example, Reno was able to build a windmill out of scraps which would help the colony  to generate electric. If nature hadn't "selected" Reno then the colonist wouldn't have power. This was an example of nature selecting someone to succeed. Nature also selects the "weak link" in the chain in hopes to make the chain stronger. An example of this is when Becka, the model, was kidnapped. Becka really didn't do anything in the colony to help it succeed so she was the weak link in the chain. Becka's being kidnapped helped strengthen the colony in a way because in order to get Becka back all of the colonist had to work together and it also opened Becka's eyes that the colony was a team effort. If she hadn't of wondered off by herself she would not of got kidnapped. Since, the colonist are now a family any thing one does affects the outcome of the colony as a whole.
     The final thing I am going to talk about is the ethical principles. One question that invades my mind when i watch this show is 'is this experiment on humans ethical.' In 1992 the American Psychological Association said it was OK to experiment on humans as long as the researcher obtain the informed consent of potential participants, protect them from harm and discomfort, treat information about individual participants confidential, and fully explain the research afterwards. Before the colonist are selected to be on the show they have to sign legal documents that state the participant knows what they are getting into and they give their written and verbal consent to anything that's involved in the show. However, I have troubles believing that the participants are kept out of harms way. During the show the colonist are confronted face to face several times with a hostile group of people. The others are also apart of this experiment and are told to "fight" with the colonist and take their supplies making in harder for the colonist to survive. In order to achieve their mission the others use pepper spray and other "weapons" which eventually harms the colonist. Some of the colonist's get extremely sick because of this so I have to think that they took this part of the experiment to far and endangered the lives of the colonists.