parasocial relationships

• Parasocial relationships refer to one-sided relationships with celebrity, a prominent person in the community or a fictional character, but there is no chance of reciprocity.
• Giles and Maltby (2006) – Assessed behaviours and feelings towards celebrities using the Celebrity Attitude Scale.
• Stage 1: Entertainment – social

  •Celebrities are seen as a source of entertainment and fuel for social interaction

  •Most people engage in parasocial relationships at some point but stay in this first level
• Stage 2: Intense - personal

  •Deeper level of parasocial relationship

  •You become more personally involved with a celebrity and this may include obsessive thoughts

  •Typical for teenagers who seem to be obsessed with every detail of their favourite celebrity
• Stage 3: Borderline pathological

  •Most intense level of parasocial relationships

  •Fantasies are uncontrollable and behaviour is more extreme e.g. spending large amounts of money or illegal activities such as stalking

  •People may believe that if given the chance to meet the celebrity, their feelings would be reciprocated
• There are 2 explanations of parasocial relationships:

  •Absorption addiction model

  •Attachment theory explanation
• Absorption

  •Seeking fulfilment in celebrity worship motivates becoming absorbed in their life
• Addiction

  •Like a psychological addiction, an individual needs to increase their ‘dose’ of involvement to gain satisfaction. This may lead to more extreme behaviours
• McCutcheon (2002)

  •Parasocial relationships make up for personal deficiencies e.g. lack of fulfilment

  •They provide an escape from our mundane lives

  •People may be pushed towards the intense-personal level by stressful events e.g. bereavement
• Bowlby

  •Attachment theory suggests early difficulties in attachment may cause difficulties in forming successful relationships in later life

  •Parasocial relationships may be used to replace a social circle as they don’t require the same social skills
• Ainsworth

  Identified 2 attachment types associated with unhealthy emotional development.

  •Insecure-resistant: most likely to form parasocial relationships as they want to have their unfulfilled needs met in a relationships with no risk of rejection

  •Insecure-avoidant: Prefer to avoid pain and rejection of any types of relationship (social or parasocial)
• Strength

  Maltby (2005) studied teenagers who had an intense personal relationship with a female celebrity whose body shape they admired. They found the female adolescents had a poor body image and suggested adsorption addiction may contribute to the development of the parasocial relationship.
• Weakness

  Most of the research into parasocial relationships uses self-report techniques to collect data and these may be influenced by social desirability bias, particularly due to the sensitive nature of the topic of parasocial behaviour.
• Strength

  Research has compared attachment and parasocial relationships in contrasting cultures (collectivistic and individualistic) and in both cultures, people with insecure attachments were most likely to form intense parasocial relationships with TV characters
• Weakness

  Some research has found that participants with insecure attachments were no more likely to form parasocial relationships with celebrities than participants with secure attachment types.