Entertainment media, TV shows and movies, may provide misinformation about love and romance in 2 ways. Blatant misinformation involves the presentation of unfounded notions as scientific facts. Subtle misinformation comes in the form of unhealthy models for building and maintaining relationships.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X2400040X

From the linked article:

KEY POINTS

– Entertainment media serve as a mirror, reflecting societal attitudes and generally held beliefs.

– Blatant misinformation involves the presentation of unfounded notions as scientific facts.

– Subtle misinformation comes in the form of unhealthy models for building and maintaining relationships.

Landrum and Sharabi point out that entertainment media provide misinformation about love and romance in two different ways. In the case of blatant misinformation, media presents certain ideas as “scientifically proven” facts, which viewers willingly accept as true and often share with others. In the case of subtle misinformation, ideas embedded in the stories themselves are picked up by viewers as models for romantic behaviors. In their paper, the researchers provide an example of each kind of misinformation.

Because we spend so much of our daily lives consuming entertainment media, we are easily influenced by the messages they send us, whether blatant or subtle. However, we need to keep in mind that the stories we watch of love and romance are not necessarily good models for happy, secure relationships in our own lives. Reality TV may be entertaining, but it’s far from real life.