Parasocial Relationships Flashcards
What is parasocial relationship?
Similar to normal relationships but lack a key element, one- sided and unreciprocated like one between a fan and a celebrity.
What are the three levels of parasocial relationship?
- Entertainment- social
- Intense- personal
- Borderline- pathological
What is entertainment- social?
Least intense level of celebrity, sources of entertainment and fuel for social interaction. Giles found that it was a source of gossip in the office.
What is Intense- personal?
Intermediate level great personal involvement with a celebrity, frequent obsessive thoughts and intense feelings
What is Borderline- pathological?
This is the strongest level of celebrity worship, featuring uncontrollable fantasies and extreme behaviours. May include illegal behaviours.
What is the absorption addiction model?
McCutcheon(2002)- Linked the levels above to deficiencies people may have, the Parasocial relationship may provide an escape from reality.
What are the two components of the absorption addiction model?
Absorption- seeking fulfilment in celebrity worship motivates an individual to focus their attention on the celebrity, they become preoccupied and identify with them
Addiction- just as with a physiological addiction to a psychoactive substance, they need to increase their dose to gain satisfaction. For example, stalking a celebrity as it has led to delusional thinking.
What is the attachment theory of parasocial relationships?
Tendency to form parasocial relationships in adolescence and adulthood because of attachment difficulties in early childhood. Bowlby suggested early difficulties may lead to later emotional struggles.
Ainsworth identified two unhealthy attachments: insecure-resistance and insecure-avoidance. Resistance are most likely to form parasocial relationships they seek to have unfulfilled needs met without heartbreak, resistance enjoy the pain and rejection of relationships
What is brief AO3 of parasocial relationships?
- McCutcheon et al has support for levels
- Maltby et al has support for absorption addiction model
- Universal tendency BUT, parasocial relationships aren’t necessarily a way of compensating for attachment issues
What is the in depth AO3 for Parasocial?
McCutcheon et al- Used CAS to measure level of parasocial relationships. Assessed p’s problems in intimate relations, those scoring as borderline-pathological or intense-personal had high anxiety in intimate. This suggests that “celebrity worshippers” can useful be classified into three categories these are predictive of actual behaviour.
Link between celebrity worship and body image. Maltby et al assessed m + f 14 to 16 years. They were interested in females with intense-personal relationship with an adult female celebrity whose body they admired, girls tended to have poor body image, contributing to EDs. Model supports prediction of association between poor psychological functioning and the level of parasocial rel.
Attachment theory can explain why people have a desire to form parasocial relationships. Dinkha et al compared collectivist and individualist insecure attachment types most likely to form intense PS rel. True in both cultures. BUT, McCutcheon et al measure attachment types in 299 and celeb related attitudes and found attachment security did not effect likelihood of forming PS rel. Not necessarily a way of compensated for attachment issues
