parasocial relationships Flashcards
what is a parasocial relationship?
those which are similar to normal relationships by are one-sided and unreciprocated, usually a celebrity, on which the ‘fan’ expends a lot of emotional energy, commitment and time
what did mccutcheon et al. (2002) develop?
- celebrity attitude scale (CAS)
- used to objectively evaluate an individual’s level of interest or obsession with celebrities
what did maltby et al. (2006) do?
- used CAS in a large-scale survey
- identified 3 levels of PSR
what does each level of PSR describe?
attitudes and behaviours linked to ever more extreme forms of celebrity worship
what are the 3 levels of celebrity worship?
- entertainment-social
- intense-personal
- borderline-pathological
describe the entertainment-social level
- least intense level
- celebrities are viewed as sources of entertainment and fuel for social interaction
entertainment-social (giles 2002)
PSRs were a fruitful source of gossip in offices
describe the intense-personal level
- intermediate level
- reflects a greater personal involvement in a PSR with a celebrity
- frequent obsessive thoughts, intense feelings, considering them a ‘soulmate’
describe the borderline-pathological level
- strongest level
- features uncontrollable fantasies and extreme behaviours
- spending or planning to spend a large sum of money on a celebrity-related object
- being willing to perform an illegal act for the celebrity
links of levels of PSR and certain personality characteristics (maltby 2003)
- entertainment-social = extraversion (sociable, lively)
- intense-personal = neuroticism (tense, emotional, moody)
- borderline-pathological = psychoticism (antisocial, egocentric)
mccutcheon (2002) and levels of PSRs
linked the levels approach to the deficiencies people have in their own lives
how can levels of PSR be linked to the deficiencies people have in their own lives?
- person may have low self-esteem and lack fulflment in their everyday relationships
- someone who initially has an entertainment-social orientation to a certain celebrity may be triggered into more intense involvement by personal crisis or stressful life event
- PSR allows them to escape from reality
describe the ‘absorption’ component of the absorption addiction model
seeking fufilment in celebrity worship motivates an individual to:
- focus their attention as far as possible on the celebrity
- become preoccupied with the celebrity
- identify with them
describe the ‘addiction’ component of the absorption addiction model
- individual needs to increase their ‘dose’ to gain satisfaction, just as with a physiological addiction to a psychoactive substance
- leads to more extreme behaviours and delusional thinking eg. stalking
attachment theory explanation of PSRs (bowlby)
early attachment difficulties may lead to emotional troubles later in life
attachment theory explanation of PSRs (ainsworth 1979)
identified 2 attachment types associated with unhealthy emotional development: insecure-resistant and insecure-avoidant
why are are insecure-resistant types most likely to form PSRs as adults?
seek to have unfulfilled needs met, but in a relationship unaccompanied by the threat of rejection, break-up and disappointment that real-life relationships bring
how do insecure-avoidant types view relationships?
prefer to avoid the pain and rejection of relationships altogether, whether they be social or parasocial
attachment theory support (cole and leets 1999)
those with an insecure-resistant attachment style turn to TV characters as a means of satisfying their ‘unrealistic and often unmet’ relational demands
evaluation: research support for levels (mccutcheon et al. 2016)
- used CAS to measure level of PSRs
- also assessed ps’ problems in their intimate relationships
- ps who scored as borderline-pathological or intense-interpersonal tended to experience a high degree of anxiety in their intimate relationships whereas people at the entertainment-social level generally did not
- ‘celebrity-worshipper’ can usefully be classified into 3 categories which are predictive of actual behaviour
evaluation: support for absorption addiction model showing a link between celebrity worship and body image (maltby et al. 2005)
- assessed boys and girls aged 14-16
- researchers were particularly interested in girls who reported an intense-personal PSR with an adult female celebrity whose body shape they admired
- girls tended to have poor body image, which may contribute to the development of an eating disorder
- supports model’s prediction of an association between poor psychological functioning and the level (type and intensity) of PSR
evaluation: attachment theory explains universal desire to form PSRs (dinkha et al. 2015)
- compared collectivist (kuwait) and individualist (US) cultures
- in both types of culture, people with an insecure attachment type were most likely to form intense PSRs with TV personalities and characters
- driver for forming a PSR is independent of forming cultural influences
evaluation: PSRs cannot be explained by attachment theoy (mccutcheon et al. 2006)
- measured attachment types and celebrity-related attitudes in 299 american ps
- attachment security did not affect the likelihood of forming a PSR with a celebrity
- ps with insecure attachments were no more likely to form PSRs than ps with secure attachments
evaluation: correlational analysis (eg. mccutcheon et al. 2016)
- findings don’t show causal relationships between variables
- eg. cannot conlcude that anxiety in relationships causes borderline-pathological parasocial involvement as relationship could be in other direction
- 3rd factor, not measured in the study, could be the cause of both variables
