The Colony

In one of Discovery Channels hit shows, The Colony, peoples ability to survive is tested. A group of strangers with differing personalities, backgrounds and skills are stuck together and must attempt to coexist and hopefully thrive. The area that they must stay in is desolate and falling apart. To overcome all of the many obstacles the colonists must deal with both physical and mental challenges.

One occurrence that stuck out to me was where the colonists bathed in the rain. They had been in the colony for about two weeks, and even though they had managed to rig up a shower like structure, they were still very dirty. So when it was pouring down rain they decided to strip down to their undergarments and go out into the rain to get clean. In common society that would not happen. But because they had been in that situation so long the norms of society were gone and they had made their own. They were so comfortable with it that George got totally naked and didn't think anything of it. An evolutionary psychologist would say that all the colonists were worried about, is survival. There was a precious resource available and they didn't want to waste it. Furthermore, their minds were consumed with getting through each day they didn't have the extras to worry about what the others thought.

The second occurrence that stuck out to me was in the last episode we watched a colonist, Becka, was kidnapped. She had decided to go out and collect berries for food, when she was set upon by three men. As soon as the first man came running out Becka's initial response was to run. Again in the view of an evolutionary psychologist, they would say that her "fight or flight" instinct kicked in. She knew that she didn't stand a chance against these three large sized men, so she chose flight. In the view of a behavioral psychologist, it could be said that in past experiences she had witnessed only flight, or if she had seen fight it did not end well. So she learned from watching someone else that she should run and try to escape.