ABSTRACT
Television is an im portant socializing agent tha t shapes and creates viewers’ attitudes and behavior (Bandura, 1994). W ith an estim ated 10 million viewers a day, 750,000 of whom are under 13 years old (Mifflin, 1995), talk shows function as socializing agents tha t expose viewers to very distinctive and nonnorm ative patterns of public disclosures. M uch of talk shows’ increasing popularity is due to their increase in the controversial and sensational nature o f guests’ disclosures (H eaton & Wilson, 1995). Talk shows are “public confessionals” that encourage private revelations o f intim ate personal infor m ation (Priest, 1995). Private disclosures are then transform ed into televised disclosures. Priest (1994) conceptualizes a televised disclosure as “the tele vised outpouring o f personal inform ation usually revealed only to one’s close friends, family, rabbi, m inister or therapist” (p. 75).
