parasocial relationships Flashcards
who developed the celebrity altitude scale?
McCutcheon
what is the celebrity attitude scale?
levels of parasocial relationships
what are the levels of parasocial relationships?
•entertainment-social
•intense-personal
•borderline-pathological
what is entertainment social?
•the least intense level of celebrity worship
•celebrities are viewed as sources of entertainment and fuel for social interaction
what is intense-personal?
•the person has greater involvement in the parasocial relationship with the celebrity
•would have frequent obsessive thoughts and intense feelings about them
•perhaps even considering them their ‘soulmate’
what is borderline-pathological?
•uncontrollable fantasies and extreme behaviours
•these might include spending (or planning to spend) a large sum of money on a celebrity-related object
•stalking/ obsessing
what type of person might develop a parasocial relationship?
one who has low self esteem or has inadequacies in their personal life/ everyday relationships. they may want an ‘escape from reality’
what is the absorption addiction model?
explains parasocial relationships as total preoccupation in a celebrities life, plus an addictive striving after a stronger involvement
what is the absorption component?
seeking fulfilment in celebrity worship motivates an individual to focus their attention as far as possible on the celebrity, to become preoccupied with the celebrity and even identify with them
what is the addiction component?
•the individual needs to increase their ‘dose’ to gain satisfaction
•this may lead to more extreme behaviours and delusional thinking
•they may begin stalking and engaging in antisocial behaviours
what attachment type is most likely to form a parasocial relationship?
insecure resistant
•they seek to have unfulfilled needs met , but in a relationship that is not accompanied by the threat of rejection, break up or disappointment
what did bowlby’s attachment theory suggest?
bowlbys attachment theory suggested that early difficulties may lead to emotional troubles later in life
strength: research support for levels
•it’s predictions are supported by research (predictive validity)
•McCutcheon used the CAS to measure levels of parasocial relationships
•they also assessed participants problems in their intimate relationships
•participants who scored as borderline-pathological or intense-personal tended to experience a high degree of anxiety in their intimate relationships
•people at the entertainment-social level generally did not
•this suggests that ‘celebrity-worshippers’ can usefully be classified into three category and that these are predictive of actual behaviour
strength: support for the absorption addiction model
•research showing a link between celebrity worship and body image
•Maltby studied boys and girls aged 14-16 (particularly girls who reported an intense- personal parasocial relationship with a female celebrity whose body shape they admired)
•they found that the girls tended to have a poor body image and speculated that this may contribute to the development of an eating disorder
•this supports the models prediction of an association between poor psychological functioning and the level of parasocial relationship
strength: it can explain why people all over the world desire to form parasocial relationships
•researchers found that people with an insecure attachment type were the most likely to form intense parasocial relationships with TV personalities and characters
•this was true of both collectivist and individualist cultures
•the ‘driver’ for forming parasocial relationships is independent of cultural influences
•this supports the view that attachment type may be a universal explanation for the need to form parasocial relationships
counter evidence to the attachment theory explanation:
•McCutcheon measured attachment types and celebrity related attitudes in american participants
•researchers found that attachment types did not affect the likelihood of forming a parasocial relationship
•participants with insecure attachments were no more likely to form such relationships than participants with secure attachments
•this shows that parasocial relationships are not necessarily a way of compensating for attachment issues
