Parasocial relationships

• What are parasocial relationships?

  • People form one-sided relationships with celebrities who are unaware of the existence of the person who created the relationship
  • Appealing due to lack of rejection, judgement, few demands, etc.
  • More likely if the celebrity is attractive, the viewer is female, viewer has low self-esteem, lack of social skills
• What are the 3 levels of parasocial relationships?

  • Entertainment social - celebrities are viewed as fuel for social interaction such as gossiping about someone in workplace/school
  • Intense-personal - intense thoughts and feelings are felt about the celebrity that are shared with people who feel a similar way
  • Borderline pathological - features uncontrollable and extreme behaviours like spending large sums of money or willingness to perform illegal acts at the celebrity's demand
  • Identified by the Celebrity Attitude Scale by McCutcheon (2002) by Maltby in 2006
• What is the absorption addiction model?

  • Someone who initially has an entertainment-social orientation to a certain celebrity may be triggered into more intense involvement by some personal crisis or stressful life event
  • Absorption - seeking fulfilment in celebrity worship motivates a person to focus as much of their attention on the celebrity and become preoccupied with them
  • Addiction - like physiological addictions to drugs, people need to increase their 'dose' in order to gain satisfaction, leading to more extreme behaviours and delusional thinking
  • Predicts there is an association between poorer mental health and the strength of parasocial relationships
• What is the attachment theory of parasocial relationships?

  • Insecure-resistant: most likely to form PSRs, seek to have unfulfilled needs met, but in a relationship that is not accompanied by threat of rejection, break up, or disappointment like real-life relationships
  • Insecure-avoidant: least likely to form PSRs, prefer to avoid the pain and rejection of relationships altogether
  • Secure: not likely at all, often have satisfactory real-life relationships and don't need to seek anything additional
• What is one strength of the parasocial relationships theory?

  • Research support for levels: McCutcheon (2016) used the CAS to measure levels of parasocial relationships and assessed problems in their intimate relationships
  • Those who scored as borderline pathological or intense-personal tended to experience high levels of anxiety in their close relationships, when those at entertainment social did not
  • Suggests these categories are predictive of actual behaviour
• What is another strength of the parasocial relationships theory?

  • Research support for absorption addiction model: Maltby et al (2005) investigated the link between celebrity worship and body image in male and females aged 14-16
  • Females who reported an intense-personal parasocial relationship with a female celebrity whose body shape they admired tended to have poor body image themselves -> may be a precursor to development of EDs like anorexia
  • Supports models predictions of a link between poor psychological functioning and the level of PSR
• What is another strength of the parasocial relationships theory?

  • Universal tendency: Dinkha (2019) compared the collectivist culture of Kuwait to the individualist culture of the US - found that people in both cultures with an insecure attachment were more likely to form intense PSRs with TV personalities and characters
  • Shows the 'driver' for forming a PSR is independent of cultural differences, showing that it is a universal explanation
• What is one weakness of the parasocial relationships theory?

  • Contradictory evidence: McCutcheon et al (2006) measured attachment types and celebrity-related attitudes in 299 American participants
  • Found that participants with insecure attachments were no more likely to form PSRs with celebrities than those with secure attachments
  • Shows that PSRs are not necessarily a way of compensating for attachment issues