Levels Of Para social Relationships Flashcards
What are parasocial relationships
One sided relationship with a celebrity, a prominent person in the community, or a fictional character. The lover will knows everything about the subject of their adoration and feels very close to them but there is no chance of reciprocity or even the celebrities knowing they exist
The more parasocial encounters a person has, the more stronger the feelings of intimacy
Giles and Maltby identified three levels of parasocial relationships using the celebrity attitude scale in a large scale survey. What are these three levels
Entertainment social: most people engage in parasocial relationships at some point in their lives, but must stay at this first level. Celebrities are seen as a source of entertainment and as a topic for light hearted gossiping friends. This is the least intense level of celebrity worship
Intense personal: this is desperate level of parasocial relationships. At this level, a person has a more intense relationship with a celebrity. For example, they may see them as a soulmate and have an intense interest in the celebrities personal life, such as dress sense, food they like and entertainment they take part in
Borderline Pathological: this is the most intense level of parasocial relationships. At this level a person takes celebrity worship to an extreme level. They have obsessive fantasies Abu the celebrity, spends large sums of money to get merch and engage in illegal activities like stalking. At this level, it is also usual to believe that if only they were given a chance to meet their favourite celeb irl that their feelings would be reciprocated
Strengths parasocial relationships
Schiappa et al found a significant positive correlation between the amount of television participants watched and the degree to which participants perceived a TV character as ‘real’ and their level of parasocial relationships
There is research support for the claim that attractiveness increases the likelihood of a parasocial relationship; the attractiveness of a celeb influenced the development of the three levels of parasocial relationships from members of the public
Weakness
Educational levels of individuals need to be taken into account, highly educated individuals may perceive the majority of celebs as less educated than themselves and less likely to engage in parasocial relationships
It was recommend that training should occur in schools to highlight the dangers of parasocial relationships as it often results in an individual having unrealistic goals to be more similar to celebrities. For example, one may develop an eating disorder in order to obtain the slim body of a media star.
- Research into the levels of parasocial relationships was conducted via questionnaires. These can be affected by socially desirable and idealised answers, thus, lacking validity.
