Parasocial Relationships Flashcards
What is a parasocial relationship?
Resembles a normal relationship, however they are one-sided and unreciprocated
Who is the main scholar for Parasocial Relationships?
McCutcheon
How did McCutcheon develop the levels of parasocial relationship?
McCutcheon developed a Celebrity Attitude Scale describing the forms of celebrity worship
What are the levels of parasocial relationships?
- Entertainment Social
- Intense Personal
- Borderline Pathological
What is ‘entertainment social’?
Celebrities are sources of entertainment and fuel for interaction (Giles confirmed they are a fruitful source of gossip)
What is ‘intense personal’?
Reflects greater personal involvement - frequent thought and intense feelings may be characteristics of this level
What is ‘borderline pathological’?
Includes uncontrollable fantasies, delusional beliefs and extreme behaviours (like stalking and believing it is welcomed by the celebrity)
What is the absorption addiction model?
Explains the tendency to form parasocial relationships in terms of deficiency in the persons life (weak sense of identity and lack of fulfilling relationships).
Absorption means…
Fulfilment in celebrity worship motivates increased attention on the celebrity to become preoccupied and identity with them
Addiction means…
Like a drug - the individual needs to have a closer and stronger involvement to sustain their commitment - may lead to delusion thinking and extreme behaviour
Links to attachment…
Later relationships are a consequence of early childhood attachment types (internal working model). Parasocial relationships are a result of meeting a need. Securely attached individuals are likely to form fulfilling relationships, insecure resistant are likely to have unmet needs therefore parasocial relationships are rewarding without risk of rejection.
Maltby strength - body image
investigated the link between celebrity worship and body image in 14 to 16 yr oldsFocused on females who expressed an intense para social relationship with a celebrity whose body shape they admired. the female adolescents tended to have poor body image. Support the model because it confirms the prediction of a correlation between the level of celebrity worship and poor psychological functioning.
Maltby strength - Extroversions
Found a link between entertainment social and extrovert types, intense personal with neurotic traits and the borderline pathological with psychotic personality types. Support the model because it confirms the prediction of a correlation between the level of celebrity worship and poor psychological functioning.
Weakness Problems with absorption addiction
Criticised for being a better description of a para social relationship than an explanation. It can describe the type of person that it might display absorption addiction but not where it originates.
Weakness Problems with the link to attachment theory - McCutcheon
Measured attachment types and celebrity related attitudes in 299 participants. The researchers found that participants with insecure attachments were no more likely to form parasocial relationships that participants who were securely attached.
