'Social Surrogacy': Reseachers Think They Know Why We Keep Rewatching Comfort Shows

The useful part

A screaming Malcolm Tucker isn't exactly what springs to mind when you picture a relaxing rewatch. According to the "social surrogacy" theory, the shows we come back to time and time again might offer a type of comfort that isn't as straightforward as gentle voiceovers or calming scenes. According to research published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the one-sided relationships we form with the people in our beloved episodes can "provide the experience of belonging".

How it works

• The hypothesis suggests that when people aren't getting their social needs met in real life for whatever reason, they might turn to music, books, and TV shows to "belong".
• In this paper, the researchers ran four studies to support that theory in the case of television series.
• The first one showed that people were likelier to turn to their favourite shows when they felt lonely, and that starting yet another binge-watch of their beloved programmes lessened that feeling of isol...