L11 - Parasocial Relationships: Attachment Theory Flashcards
Attachment theory
Other psychologists use Bowlby’s attachment theory and Ainsworth’s types of attachment to
explain celebrity worship. Bowlby’s theory predicts that individuals who didn’t form a strong
bond with a primary caregiver in early childhood will try to find an attachment substitute as
adults, and engaging in parasocial relationships allows them to do so.
What did Ainsworth say?
Moreover, according to the description of attachment types described by Ainsworth suggest
that individuals who formed insecure-resistant relationships with their caregiver in early
childhood will be more likely to form parasocial relationships, as they are too afraid of the
criticism and rejection that are a part of real life relationships. As was demonstrated by
Ainsworth’s findings in Strange Situation study, insecure-resistant children were very clingy to
their mothers, showed less explorative behaviour than children of other types, as they didn’t
feel safe enough to leave a parent, and showed great distress when their mother left the room.
What did Hazan & Shaver say
According to Hazan and Shaver, this behaviour translates into clingy and jealous behaviour in
adulthood, ( due to internal working model formed)making it difficult for such people to developed committed and lasting romantic relationships. Intensive celebrity worship allows them to engage in fantasy about the perfect relationship, without heartbreak and rejection
Evaluation of attachment theory
strengths
- research support
- adolescents parasocial relationships
- universal explanation
weaknesses
- studies don’t support
- cause & effect
Research support
Attachment theory explanation is also supported by research studies. Kienlen et al. (1997) supported the idea that disturbed attachment in childhood may lead to the development of borderline-pathological level of parasocial relationships. They investigated the experiences of stalkers and found that 63% of their participants experienced a loss of a caregiver in early childhood while 50% experienced emotional and physical abuse.
Adolescents parasocial relationships
Cole and Leets (1999) investigated parasocial relationships that adolescents developed with TV personalities, and found that teenagers with insecure-resistant attachment types were more likely to develop. This study supports the attachment theory and as a result and can be used as a predictor for insecure resistant individuals developing parasocial relationships.
Universal explanation
Attachment theory can also explain why people all over the world have a desire to form parasocial relationships. For example Dinkha et al (2015) compared two contrasting cultures - a collectivist one - Kuwait and an individualistic one - US. The researchers found that people with an insecure attachment type were the most likely to form intense parasocial relationships with TV personalities and characters (e.g. Rachel from Friends). This was true in both types of culture. In other words the ‘driver’ for forming parasocial relationships is not based on cultural influences - this supports the view that attachment theory may be a universal explanation for the need to form parasocial relationships.
Studies don’t support
However, other studies do not support attachment theory explanations. McCutcheon et al.
(2006) examined the correlation between attachment type and celebrity worship levels using 229 participants, and found no link between insecure-resistant attachment and more intense levels of parasocial relationships. This contradicts the claim made by attachment theory explanations and suggests that there is no link between attachment type and parasocial relationships.
Cause & effect
One final issue with the attachment theory explanation of porasocial relationships is that much of the supporting research is correlational this means that these studies do not show cause and effect but rather they show a relationship between the variables such as type of attachment and likelihood of forming an intense parasocial relationship. Therefore we cannot be sure that an insecure attachment type causes an intense parasocial relationship. There could be a third factor involved. For instance, McCutcheon et al (2004) argue that low levels of education are associated with high levels of parasocial relationships education is related to intelligence, and thus more intelligent people are better able to see the inadequacies of worshipping media personalities. Therefore attachment theory is not conclusive in explaining parasocial relationships.
