Relationships: Parasocial Relationships

Question 1

What are the three levels of parasocial relationships?

Answer 1

Level 1 - Entertainment social

Level 2 -Intense Personal

Level 3 - Borderline Pathological

Question 2

Outline entertainment social as the first level of parasocial relationships.

Answer 2

Least intense

Celebrity is only viewed as entertainment

Celebrity is just a conversation with friends

Question 3

Outline the intense personal level of parasocial relationships

Answer 3

Intermediate level

Person becomes obsessed

Strong feelings for the person - inline with a real relationship

May copy the person

Believe the person is their soul mate

Question 4

Outline the borderline pathological level of parasocial relationships.

Answer 4

Strongest level

Uncontrollable fantasies about the person

Show extreme behaviour e.g. stalking

Spend time and money trying to meet and befriend celebrity

Question 5

How does the absorption addiction model explain celebrity worship?

Answer 5

Person has poor psychological health

Focus on celerity to escape their reality

Use celebrity worship to increase personal identity

Can be triggered by high personal stress

Question 6

Identify the level of parasocial relationship

Marcus has celebrity worship for Madonna. He believes that they would be perfect together and he has been sending her gifts. He was arrested last week for breaking into her house and leaving a present on her kitchen table.

Answer 6

Borderline pathological

Question 7

Identify the level of parasocial relationship

Liza is a huge fan of Harry Styles. She loves to listen to his music and tries to see him in concert whenever he can with her friends. She enjoys reading articles about him in magazine and on YouTube.

Answer 7

Entertainment social

Question 8

Identify the level of parasocial relationship

Tasmin can’t get enough of Margot Robbie. She knows everything about her from her birthday to where she grew up. She goes to every movie she is in the day it is released. She has started copying her outfits and her hair style. She believes that no-one is as good as Margot Robbie.

Answer 8

Intense Personal

Question 9

In the absorption-addiction model, what is meant by absorption?

Answer 9

Person has issues with their own identity

Absorbed with celebrity to give self worth and identity

Identify with celebrity’s life not their own

Linked to intense personal level

Question 10

In the absorption-addiction model, what is meant by addiction?

Answer 10

Sustaining the relationship to celebrity leads to more extreme and delusional behaviour e.g. stalking and criminal activity

Leads to borderline pathological level

Question 11

What did Maltby find on adolescents to support absorption addiction model?

Answer 11

14-16 year old with poor body image

Formed intense personal relationships with female celebrity who had a body image they admired

Question 12

What are two problems with the research methods used to study absorption addiction model?

Answer 12

Self Report

Correlational

Question 13

Define the term internal working model

Answer 13

the attachment you have with your primary caregiver in infancy acts as a mental representation of how all relationships will be in the future

Question 14

Those with a secure attachment are less likely to seek parasocial relationships because

Answer 14

are able to develop loving two-way relationships in real face-to-face relationships

Question 15

Those with an insecure-avoidant attachment are less likely to seek a parasocial relationship because

Answer 15

have difficulty trusting others and therefore indulge in behaviours designed not to create intimacy, therefore are less likely to foster close emotional ties

Question 16

Those with an insecure-resistant attachment are most likely to seek a parasocial relationship because

Answer 16

these individuals have a need for close emotional relationships and parasocial ones do not bring a fear of rejection, fear of abandonment, break-up and disappointment that real relationships do.

Question 17

What did Dinkha find that strengthens the attachment theory of parasocial relationships

Answer 17

It is universal

In Kuwait and USA those with insecure attachment were more likely to develop parasocial relationships

Question 18

Research into attachment theory requires recalling early experiences. Why is this a problem?

Answer 18

Retrospective data

Question 19

What is the problem with the research method used to study attachment theory

Answer 19

Self report