parasocial relationships Flashcards
what are parasocial relationships?
-one sided unreciprocated RS w a celeb which a fan expends alot of emotinal energy , commitment and time
what did Mcuthen et al say about the levels of parasocial RS
-he developed a celeb atiitude scale to assess the strength of RS
-it was used in a large scale survey by Maltby et al who identfied 3 levels of parasocial RS
what were the 3 levels identified by Maltby?
-entertainment social , intense personal , boderline patholgical
what is the entertainment social stage?
-least intense level of celebrity worship
-viewed as source of entertainment
-topic of gossip
what is the intense personal level?
-immediate lvel w greater personal involvement
-fan may have obssesive thoughts
- intense feeling for celeb
boderline patholgical level?
-strongest level of celeb workship
-uncontrollable fantasies
-extreme behvaiours e.g spending a signficant amount of money on celebrity related objects
what did McCulhean say about the absoption addiciton model?
-explains the tendency to form parasocial RS deficiencies people have in their own lives e.g weak sense of self identity or unfufilling everyday RS
what did the AA model also say about poorly adjusted psycholgical people
-allows them to escape reality and may provide a way of finding fufilment thats not achieved in their actual RS
-enetertainment social orietntation to a certain celeb may be triggered into more intense involvement by some personal crisis or stressful event.
what are the 2 components in the AA model?
absorption and addiciton
what is absorption
-attention focused on celeb
-pre occupied and identify w them
what is addiciton
-their need to sustain their commitment to the RS and lead to extreme behaviour and delusional thinking
what is the attachment theory?
-parasocial RS may form bc of attachment difficulties in early childhood
what was ainsworth unhealthy emotional development components
-insecure, insecure resistant types, insecure avoidant
what is insecure?
-resistant and insecure avoidant
what is insecure resistant types
-more likely to form parasocial RS as adults
-need unfuffiled needs met
to avoid rejection, break up or disappointment that can occur in IRL RS.
whats insecure avoidant
-look to avoid the pain and rejection of both social and parasocial RS
strengths of this theory
(reseatch support for levels)
-Mcutheon et al carried used the CAS to measure level of parasocial RS
-predciitons were accuarate
-people who were intense persoanl or boderline pathological actually had experince high anixety in actual RS
-people with entertianment social did not(but may have had other RS issues)
(research support for absorption addiciton model)
-relationship between poor psycholgical functioning and liklihood of developing addciiton to celeb worship supported
-maltby found teens 14-16 yrs w poor body image were likely to develop addicitons to celebs
(universal tendency)
-applied to all cultures regardless of wether its individualistic or collectivist
-those w insecure attachment type still likely to form paarsocial RS
-supported by DInkha et al who looked at collectivist KUWAIT and indivualist US.
weakness of theory
(counterpoint universal tendency)
-McCuheon measured attachment types and celebrity related attitudes
-found attachment type didnt effect the liklihood of forming parasocial RS
-PS w insecure attachment no more likely to form parasocial RS than those w secure attachment
-parasocial RS dont always compensate attachment issues
(methological issues w the CAS and studies that use this)
-shows correlations e.g poor attachment likely to form parasocial RS
-but does show a cause
-may be other varibales not accounted for e.g finicial issues
