Parasocial Relationships (relationships) Flashcards
What are parasocial relationships?
When an individual is attracted to another, but that other individual has no awareness of the existence of the individual who has created the relationship
Under what circumstances are parasocial relationships likely to occur?
- If the object of attraction is perceived as attractive
- If the object of attraction is perceived as similar
- If the object of attraction is perceived as real
- The viewer is female
- The viewer is lonely + shy
What was the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS)?
McCutcheon et al - questionnaires asked pps to score 23 items describing aspects of celebrity worship.
-> Higher score = over identification and obsession with celebrities
What are the levels of parasocial relationships?
Entertainment-social = the least intense level, fans are attracted to celebrities, due to their ability to entertain + become social interaction, e.g. friends with an interest in soap operas enjoy discussing about it as a form of gossip.
Intense-personal = intermediate level, fan develops intense and obsessive thoughts about celebrity, e.g. may even consider them their ‘soulmate.’
Borderline-pathological = strongest level, involves uncontrollable fantasies + extreme behaviour, e.g. being willing to perform an illegal act for celebrity
What is the absorption addiction model?
Parasocial relationships formed due to weak sense of identity, follow celebrity for fulfilment.
Two Components:
Absorption - (Entertainment Level) Allows the individual to become preoccupied in the celebrities existence + identify with them.
Addiction - (Intense-personal and Borderline-Pathological) The individual needs to increase ‘dose’ of celebrity to be satisfied. Often linked with poor mental health.
-> May lead to more extreme behaviours, e.g. stalking or delusional thinking.
How does the attachment theory influence parasocial relationships?
Individuals who are deemed anxiously-ambivalent/insecure-resistant are more likely to form parasocial relationships, as they seek to have ‘unrealistic and unmet relational needs’ satisfied, but wish to avoid rejection that real relationships may bring.
Individuals who are insecure-avoidant, tend to avoid rejection even if parasocial.
Strengths:
+ Research Support for Absorption Addiction Model - Maltby et al, assessed boys and girls aged 14-16, they had a particular interest in girls who reported intense-personal relationship with a female celeb who’s body shape they admired.
Found these girls tended to have poor body image, which could contribute to an eating disorder.
-> Supporting models prediction of an association between poor psychological functioning + level of parasocial relationship
+ Not culturally biased - Dinkah et al, compared individualist + collectivist cultures, found that insecure-attachment individuals = most likely to form an intense personal parasocial relationship with a TV personality/character across both cultures.
-> Highlights how attachment may be a universal explanation for formation of parasocial relations.
Limitations:
- (Counterargument for Maltby), Correlation or Causation, the conclusion that an intense-personal parasocial relationship causes girls to have a poor body image is unwarranted, e.g. these girls may have already had poor body image, so methodological issues which may be addressed by a longitudinal study.
- Attachment theory may lack internal validity, McCutcheon et al measured attachment types + celebrity related attitudes in 299 US pps.
Found individuals with insecure-attachments were not more likely to form parasocial relationships than individuals with secure attachments.
-> Highlighting how attachment theory for an explanation of parasocial relationships may not be accurately supported by evidence
