Why don't your grandparents like The Office? Possibly because they can't tell when the characters are doing embarrassing, inappropriate things. How do I know? Because scientists made old people watch The Office and recorded their reactions. Of course. The eternal question about old people, of course, is "Why?" No, sorry, the eternal question is, "Why are they so embarrassing?" Scientists in New Zealand hoping to find out showed several groups of people scenes from the original BBC Office where Ricky Gervais' character David Brent acted in "inappropriate" ways. The subjects were then asked if Brent was acting appropriately.
And, wouldn't you know it, older participants had a more difficult time figuring out whether or not things like "abandoning a wheelchair-bound woman in a stairwell during a fire alarm" were socially okay. Apparently, older subjects also had trouble telling how the other characters were feeling during the scenes.
The researchers say that these results seem to indicate that difficulty identifying social gaffes made by others is related to one's own social awkwardness. Which seems, well, obvious! (If you can't tell what's totally uncool, you will of course perpetrate some party fouls of your own.) But sometimes you need an excuse to watch The Office with a bunch of people, so I don't blame these scientists.
[Telegraph]
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