According to a study conducted at Central Michigan University: “exposure to the nasty relational aggression in reality shows can increase aggression in viewers even more than exposure to violent media, like crime dramas.

Psychotherapist Aparna Samuel Balasundaram blames it on the body’s response mechanism and explains: “In a hospital’s intensive care unit, if one baby cries, all the others start crying one by one. Similarly, watching aggression can trigger aggression. All this is because of the mirror neurons in the body that may prompt you to mirror or copy the behaviour of your on-screen idols.”

“Repeated exposure to a particular stimulus can desensitize you towards it,” explains Dr Samir Parikh, psychiatrist and director, Department of Mental Health and Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare in Delhi.

This simply means that when you witness the celebrities in their so-called “real” avatars constantly fighting and hurling abuses at each other–all seven days of the week–you might just begin to think that it’s okay to behave this way.

Moreover, watching your on-screen idol being totally out of line on national television could make it easier for you to justify your bad behaviour–in your head, at least.