Parasocial relationships Flashcards
What is a parasocial relationship?
- Those which are similar to ‘normal’ relationships but lack a key element.
- They are a one-sided, unreciprocated relationship usually with a celebrity, in which the ‘fan’ expends a lot of emotional energy commitment & time
Who developed the celebrity attitude scale?
- McCutcheon & his colleagues
Who used the CAS to identify three levels within parasocial relationships?
- Maltby et al (2006)
What is the first level of parasocial relationships and what happens here?
- entertainment social
- least intense level of celebrity worship
- Celebrities viewed as a source for social interaction
e.g. gossiping about someone in a workplace or school
What is the second level of parasocial relationships and what happens here?
- intense personal
- an intermediate level which reflects greater personal involvement in a PSR with celeb
- fan may have intense thoughts & feelings about celeb, individuals like to share these thoughts with others who feel a similar way
What is the third level of parasocial relationships ad what happens here?
- Borderline pathological (becomes unhealthy)
- strongest level of celebrity worship
- features uncontrollable & extreme behaviours
- e.g. spending or planning to spend a large sum of money on a celeb related object or being willing to perform illegal acts if they say so
What model does McCutcheon develop to explain why people form parasocial relationships?
- The absorption addiction model
What does the model suggests people pursue parasocial relationships because of?
- McCutcheon linked the levels approach to deficiencies people have in their own lives
- those who form PSR likely to have; a low self esteem, poor psychological adjustment, lack of fulfilment in life
- parasocial relationship allows them to ‘escape from reality’ & feel fulfilled
Explain the first level of the absorption addiction model
- absorption
- lack of fulfilment in own lives motivates an individual to become absorbed & focus their attention on a celebrity for that fulfilment and sense of identity
Explain the second level of the absorption addiction model
- addiction
- sense of fulfilment becomes addictive so they become obsessed with the celebrity
- Can escalate to more extreme behaviours e.g. stalking
(similar to a psychoactive substance individual needs to increase their ‘dose’ in order to increase sense of fulfilment/satisfaction)
What does the attachment theory suggest people pursue parasocial relationships because of?
- attachment difficulties in childhood
What attachment type is most likely to form PSR and why?
- insecure- resistant babies
- frightened of abandonment by an attachment figure
- seek to have there unfulfilled needs met but in a relationship that is not accompanied by the threat of rejection, break-up and disappointment that real-life relationships bring
What research support is there for the levels identified by McCutcheon?
- levels predictions are supported by research
- McCutcheon et al used the CAS to measure level of PSR & assessed p’s problems in their intimate relationships
- P’s who scored as borderline pathological or intense personal tended to experience a high degree of anxiety in their intimate relationships
- people at entertainment social level did not experience this
- theory = high predictive validity > allows us to predict behaviour based on the 3 categories
What research support is there for the absorption addiction model?
- research showing the link between celebrity worship & body image
- Maltby et al > found that teenage girls who had a poor body image reported intense PSR with a female celebrity whose body they admired
- supports models prediction of an association between poor psychological functioning & forming a PSR
What is a strength of the attachment theory?
- it can explain why people in different cultures have a desire to form PSR
- Dinkha et al found that people with an insecure attachment type where most likely to form PSR relationships with TV characters
- this was true for both collectivist and individualistic cultures
- Drive for forming PSR is independent of cultural influences
- therefore attachment theory =universal explanation
