'Mad Men', 'The Good Wife' TV dramas can increase emotional intelligence, study reveals

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TV binge-watchers would be glad to know that there is something healthy to come out of following their favorite TV shows, especially if they happen to be Mad Men or The Good Wife. In fact, a new study published in the journal Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts says that if you watch high quality television dramas, you're more likely to have improved emotional intelligence, Medical Daily reports.

The study was led by researchers Jessica Black and Jennifer Barnes, psychologists from the University of Oklahoma. Black and Barnes referred to a 2013 study of literary fiction that found that reading those material could foster "the ability to interpret the mental states and emotions of others," and make people more emotionally in-tune with those surrounding them. Black and Barnes wanted to test the same theory on television, as it provides a more visual representation of emotion.

The study involved analyzing 100 college students who were divided into two groups. One group watched award-winning dramas such as Mad Men or The West Wing (both were chosen by the researchers due to the "recognition of the quality and complexity of their narratives"), and another group were made to watch a documentary, such as How the Universe Works or Shark Week: Jaws Strikes Back.

After the viewing, participants were given the Theory of Mind test, wherein the ability of a person's awareness of, and ability to interpret the mental states and emotions of others are tested. The Theory of Mind test, which was also used in the 2013 study, involved studying 36 pairs of eyes and selecting the word that best identified the emotions of the person in the photo based on four choices: jealous, panicked, arrogant, or hateful.

Test results showed that both men and women in the group who watched drama shows achieved higher scores than those who watched the documentary.

Researchers repeated the process, this time with 116 participants, with one group watching one episode of The Good Wife or Lost, another group watching documentaries Is Time Travel Possible? or Colosseum: Roman Death Trap, and a third group of 60 participants who did not watch anything. Following the viewing, they took the Theory of Mind test.

Results showed that those who watched drama had significantly higher scores, while those who watched documentaries had similar results with those who did not watch anything at all.

Daily Mail reports that the researchers wrote, "Fictional narratives demand that the audience understand the feelings and intentions of the characters. Without knowing what the people in a story are thinking, it is difficult, if not impossible, to follow the plot."

Researchers also explained that "although documentary-style TV may require that the audience follow the narrator’s train of thought and reasoning, these tend to be spelled out when the purpose of the presentation is to inform the audience. In fiction, on the other hand, part of the pleasure of viewing may be derived from guessing and second-guessing the purposes of the protagonists."