Is All Fair in Love and War? Fairness and Anti-Social Behavior in Love Island

Emma Taylor

doi:10.7273/000003780

Economics is the study of how people respond to incentives, or the study of decision making. The field provides a framework through which scholars can analyze complex human behaviors and interactive systems. In this Honors Thesis, I apply the paradigms of economics to evaluate decisions made in the complex social system of a reality-dating television show. This show, called Love Island, is notable for its large cast of “Islanders” who must navigate friendship and relationship obstacles all while convincing an audience of millions that they are deserving of the cash prize. They are players in an economic game who compete for £50,000 and a chance at being a minor celebrity. The competition inevitably leads to conflict, because players are cognizant of the fact that there can only be one winning couple. Some contestants make choices that could be perceived as mean, unfair, and anti-social in pursuit of this goal, while others prioritize a positive group dynamic in their strategy. Given the heterogeneous approaches to competition, I wondered if reality-dating shows encourage pro-social or anti-social behavior. More specifically, does anti-social behavior on Love Island reduce a contestant’s probability of winning the show? To answer this question, I surveyed literature in behavioral economics, with particular interest in how individuals value fairness in competitive situations. The scholarly consensus is that individuals do value fairness, and that people are motivated to punish those who violate fairness norms. Following that, I hypothesized that people who engage in anti-social behavior are less likely to win Love Island. I collected data on the frequency of anti-social behavior on four seasons of Love Island, as well as data on the characteristics of contestants, audience voting patterns, and the outcomes of each studied season. For my analysis, I used an econometric technique called Cox Proportional Hazard Regression, which creates models that incorporate both time-based variables and other relevant variables. Using this regression, I found that anti-social behavior does decrease a contestant’s likelihood of winning Love Island. Somewhat surprisingly, I also found that the physical characteristics of a Love Island contestant do not make them more or less likely to win the show. While Love Island is certainly a show that emphasizes superficial physical qualities in its contestants, there is no set of characteristics that make a contestant more likely to win. Finally, I found that audiences displayed a strong distaste for anti-social behavior, while Islanders’ opinions on anti-social behavior were less clear.

Is All Fair in Love and War? Fairness and Anti-Social Behavior in Love Island

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