Parasocial Relationships

• Parasocial Relationships:

  • Refers to a one-sided relationship with a celebrity, prominent person in the community or fictional character.
  • The 'fan' wants to know everything about the subject or their adoration & feels very close to them, but there's no chance of reciprocity as the object of their affection knows nothing of their existence.
• Parasocial Relationships:

  • The expansion of mass media like TV & internet can give viewers so much information about an individual that it gives the illusion of a face-to-face relationship.
  • The object of a parasocial relationship becomes an excessively meaningful figure in the person's life & they may expend a lot of emotional energy, interest & time on them- without any reciprocation.
• Levels of parasocial relationships:

  • Giles & Maltby (2006) used the Celebrity Attitude Scale in a large scale survey & classified responses into 3 levels of behaviours & beliefs linked to relationships with celebrities:
  • 1-Entertainment- least extreme, most people engage at this level; person sees the celebrity as a source of entertainment & may speak about them with like-minded friends.
  • 2-Intense-personal- occurs when people connect aspects of the celebrity to own identity, may have strong feeling they should have a real life relationship with the celebrity & believe they share a kinship
• Levels of parasocial relationships:

  3- Borderline-pathological- describes the actions of someone who displays obsessive behaviours relating to a celebrity, may invest a large number of resources into meeting or attempting to befriend the celebrity, eg sending them personal gifts.
• The Absorption Addiction Model:

  • Proposed by mcCutcheon (2002) & refers closely to the 3 levels
  • Proposed that parasocial relationships form due to deficits in people's relationships, eg caused by shyness, loneliness, past trauma etc.
  • Parasocial relationships enable a sense of identity which the individual is otherwise lacking & a form of escapism, by finding fulfillment in the sense of purpose & excitement from celebrity following.
• Absorption- refers to the increased time & energy the individual dedicates to the parasocial relationship (researching facts about them, playing their music, buying tickets to see them live etc).
• Addiction- parasocial relationship becomes addictive & the individual becomes more & more obsessed with the celebrity, often engaging in increasingly risky behaviours, like stalking, in order to increase the sense of closeness to their obsession.
• Attachment Theory Explanation:

  • Cole & Leets researched why some people are more likely to develop parasocial relationships & found attachment style created a significant effect.
  • Insecure-resistant individuals were more likely to enter a parasocial bond possibly as a means of satisfying their unrealistic & often unmet desire for intimacy & parasocial relationships don't have the threat of rejection or abandonment- they are often clingy & needy, but fear rejection too much to engage in normal romantic relationships.
• Evaluation of levels of PSR & Absorption Addiction Model- strength:

  • Research support relating to levels of PSR- Maltby et al assessed the relationship between personality & PSR level.
  • Healthy personality characteristics (sociability) linked to lowest level (entertainment social).
  • However, personality characteristics linked to anxiety & depression were linked to the intense-personal level of PSR, impacting the role of mental health in progression through the levels.
  • Supports the existence of the levels & the proposed methods of progression.
• Evaluation of levels of PSR & Absorption Addiction Model- strength:

  • Research support relating to levels of PSR- Maltby et al measured the link between celebrity worship & body image in teenagers.
  • Found that teenage girls who were at the intense-personal level of celebrity worship tended to have a poor body image, especially if they particularly admired a celebrity's physical appearance.
  • Supports the existence of the levels & the proposed methods of progression.
• Evaluation of levels of PSR & Absorption Addiction Model- weakness:

  • However, Maltby et al measuring the link between celebrity worship & body image in teenagers, is correlational research that cannot establish cause & effect, as it could be that the PSR causes the poor body image rather than the other way round.
• Evaluation of levels of PSR & Absorption Addiction Model- weakness:

  • Limitation of the research on parasocial relationships, is that studies into PSR rely heavily on self-report methods, such as interviews & questionnaires.
  • These methods may not reflect the true picture, as PPs may want to answer in a way that reflects them in a better light (social desirability bias) & may not respond truthfully to the questions.
  • This means that the reasons for developing PSR may be different from those uncovered by research, lowering the validity of these explanations, making less applicable to real life