Parasocial Relationships

• Parasocial relationships are a type of relationship where there is little to no rejection, allowing the individual to make a secure base to explore other relationships in a secure way.
• Proximity seeking is a behaviour where an individual attempts to reduce the distance between themselves and their attachment figure.
• Cultural similarities in parasocial relationships can be observed in studies comparing Germany, an individualist culture, and Mexico, a collectivist culture.
• The universal influence of mainstream media characters and the commonalities between individuals’ own lives and relationships and those portrayed in films and books are demonstrated in parasocial relationships.
• Fans from Mexico and Germany displayed very similar patterns of parasocial relationships with Harry Potter and other characters in the franchise.
• Fans exhibit many proximity seeking behaviours as part of their parasocial relationship, such as collecting trivia about their fav celebs or contacting them through fan letters.
• A secure base is when an attachment figure provides a sense of security for the individual, allowing them to explore the world.
• With a parasocial relationship, the individual is able to make a secure base to explore other relationships in a secure way.
• Protest at disruption is a behaviour that indicates the presence of prolonged distress following separation or loss of attachment figure.
• Cole and Leets found that a person’s willingness to form a parasocial bond with their fav TV personality is related to their attachment beliefs.
• Individuals with an anxious ambivalent style are most likely to enter parasocial relationships with their fav TV personality, as they have a negative view of themselves and often turn to TV characters as a means of satisfying their often unmet relational needs.
• Avoidant individuals are least likely to enter into parasocial relationships with TV personalities, as they find it difficult to develop intimate relationships and are less likely to seek real-life relationships or parasocial relationships.
• Securely attached individuals are engaged in a moderate level of parasocial interaction, particularly likely to turn to parasocial interaction when they found it hard to trust their relational partner.
• People may form parasocial relationships due to a lack of real relationships in their own life, shyness and loneliness creating a void in a person’s life that can be filled by a parasocial relationship.
• Parasocial relationships are more likely to happen with characters who are considered attractive by the viewer and seen as similar to the viewer.
• If the level of absorption is high enough, fans may progress to higher levels of parasocial interaction, where motivational forces driving this absorption may become additive, leading to more extreme behaviors in order to sustain satisfaction with the parasocial relationship developed with the celebs.
• Absorption is the effortless focusing of attention that motivates fans to learn more about the object of their attention.
• Viewers expecting to lose their favorite characters anticipated negative responses similar to those experienced after the loss of close personal relationships, with reactions related to the intensity of the parasocial relationship with the fav character.
• Neuroticism is related to anxiety and depression, providing a clear explanation of why higher levels of parasocial relationship are associated with poorer mental health.
• Eyal and Cohen found evidence that parasocial relationships can lead to loneliness following a parasocial breakup, with a sample of 279 students who were fans of the popular TV series Friends.
• Maltby used the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire to assess the relationship between parasocial relationship level and personality in a sample drawn from students and the community, finding that the entertainment-social level was associated with extraversion and the intense-personal level was associated with neuroticism.
• Research support for factors involved in parasocial relationships is provided by a meta-analysis, which found support for the assumption that people with higher levels of parasocial relationships also watched more TV and that there was a significant relationship between the degree to which a person perceives TV characters as being real and their tendency to form parasocial relationships.
• Anxious-ambivalent viewers anticipating the most negative responses.
• An Israeli study lends support to the claim that viewers would show the same negative response to loss of a parasocial relationship as they would to the loss of a real relationship, with a sample of 381 adults answering questions about how they would react if their favorite TV characters were taken off the air and also questions about their attachment style.
• McCutcheon suggests that for some adolescents, an introverted nature, especially difficult social circumstances, and a lack of meaningful relationships may lead to an increasing absorption in the lives of parasocial friends.
• A borderline-pathological level of parasocial relationship is reached when the relationship becomes addictive as of progressively stronger involvement that is now required to remain connected with the celeb.