http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/manufacturing_reality/the_omarosa_experiment.php
Good piece on how reality TV shows choose contestants, how the shows are run, and how contestants and failed contestants are affected by the experience. The conclusion seems to be that the producers: (a) don’t actively manipulate people, because they don’t need to—they do put prospective contestants through a lot of tests in a (largely successful) attempt to predict how they’ll behave; and (b) they will selectively edit to highlight aspects of a contestant’s personality. (Also, a psychologist involved in the screening process explained his involvement by saying: “… I saw it as a social-psych experiment, something that’s almost impossible to do now because the experiments might cause people emotional strife or discord. I was given the chance to look at people’s personalities and make predictions about their behavior and perhaps do some good in protecting someone from being put on the show who shouldn’t be.”)