After Scott Kaplan watched a movie that portrayed psychotherapy negatively, he decided to take action.

The unconventional methods of therapy and therapists represented as “unethical, sexualized and incompetent” in television caused Kaplan, graduate student in psychology, to “wonder what this does to people watching.”

Kaplan decided to write a thesis about how television affects public perception of therapy – the first study of its kind.

“Certain genres have more of an influence on others – specifically, comedies and dramas,” Kaplan said.

David Vogel, associate professor of psychology, and Douglas Gentile, assistant professor of psychology, helped conduct the study.

The study began in 2004 when the researchers collected data from shows, such as “The Sopranos,” that portrayed psychologists, and conducted a content and character analysis of 12 shows.

Vogel conducted mass testing through one-time surveys taken by 369 undergraduate students for research extra credit. The survey was concerned with “the effects of views on therapy and those in television who go to therapy,” Vogel said.

Surveys were also sent out to people about their feelings toward therapy and their view of therapists.

Vogel said the study found a positive correlation between the amount of time spent watching TV and both witnessing therapy portrayed negatively and the subjects holding negative attitudes toward therapy.

“They thought if they seeked help, others would view them less positively,” Vogel said. “It seems that what you watch does have an impact on how you view things.”

Kaplan used the term “television cultivation hypothesis” to describe TV’s effect as “we start to believe the world as it is on television.”

“Research has shown that television contributes to a public stigma towards people with mental illness and the decision to seek therapy,” Kaplan said.

This led Kaplan to think television could be used to help counter the bias it has helped create. He is currently working on his dissertation, with the intent of “testing the effectiveness of immediate intervention on attitude change.”

Participants in his study view a video of what Kaplan described as “a more well-rounded portrayal of the therapeutic process” and complete a survey after the viewing. The same group of people went through three rounds of testing during a five-week period, and Kaplan said the data looks “promising.”

Through this research, Kaplan hopes videos like these could, in the future, be shown before movies at theaters, air as a one-minute TV commercial, or be shown through Web sites as a commercial trailer.

“The more shows center around therapists, the more important it is to portray them accurately,” Kaplan said. “The research shows people are getting health care information from the media, television included.”