Para-social Relationships

• What is a para-social relationship?


  Para-social relationships are one sided relationships which one member is heavily invested, while the other has limited/no awareness of their existence
• What is a common example of para-social relationships?


  An example could be the relationship between celebrities and their fans, but it can happen in any situation where the interaction is one sided such as brands and their customers
• What did McCutcheon (2002) say that para-social relationships help make up for?


  It is thought that para-social relationships make up for deficits in real life relationships, and provides a sense of identity that may be missing. They can feel addictive and cause the individual to develop through more intense stages
• What are the three theories explaining para-social relationships?


  Levels of para-social relationships, the absorption-addiction model and Bowlby's attachment theory
• What is the scale called, used to measure levels of para-social relationships?

  Celebrity Attitudes Scale (CAS)
• What was the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS) made to do and who made it?


  The CAS scale was developed by McCutchen and Maltby to classify extent of attitudes and behaviours. There are 3 levels: Entertainment-social: celebrities are discussed for entertainment, Intense-Personal: characterised by obsessive thoughts and emotions, and Borderline-Pathological: extreme uncontrollable behaviours for the celebrity
• Who came up with the Absorption-Addiction Model?

  McCutheon who stated that para-social relationships are an attempt to escape the reality of their own lives and relationships
• What is the Absorption part of the Absorption-Addiction Model by McCutheon? 


  Intense involvement in finding information about the personal life and career of the celebrity, this is an attempt to feel closer to them
• What is the Addiction part of the Absorption-Addiction Model by McCutheon?


  Behaviours escalate similar to a drug addiction, becoming more extreme, may result in an attempt to contact or stalk a celebrity
• What did Bowlby's Attachment Theory suggest?


  It suggested that poor childhood relationships/attachment styles are thought to not provide an effective internal working model, negatively impacting on adult relationships. The insecure resistant attachment style type is thought to be at the most risk of poor attachment
• Outline Maltby's (2006) Yorkshire study and its conclusion

  Maltby did a study which used students from Yorkshire (126 male and 181 female) who filled out two surveys. One being the CAS and the other being a questionnaire that measured aspects of mental health such as anxiety and depression. He found a correlation between poor mental health and higher stages on CAS. This suggests that perhaps obsessions with celebrities are causing depression, or a result of it as predicted by the model
• What's the problem with relying on correlations in the para-social relationships research?


  As the research in this area looks at people who already demonstrate para-social relationships, it is difficult to test objectively, relying on correlation. This means there is an issue with demonstrating a cause and effect relationship
• How did McCutcheon provide evidence against the attachment theory?


  The evidence McCutcheon found showed no links between attachment types and likelihood of forming para-social relationships of 299 participants