Parasocial Relationships

• •Parasocial relationships = relationships that resemble normal ones but lack one key element – they are one-sided, unreciprocated relationships where the person expends a lot of time, energy and commitment.
• •Levels:These describe the attitudes and behaviours linked to increasingly extreme forms of celebrity worship


  1.Entertainment-social = least intense form, celebrities = sources of entertainment and fuel for social interaction.2.Intense-personal = intermediate level, the person has a greater personal involvement in the relationship with the celebrity = obsessive thoughts and feelings.3.Borderline pathological = strongest level, uncontrollable fantasies and extreme behaviours, including spending money and crimes.–
• Absorption-addiction Model

  People form parasocial relationships because of deficiencies in their own lives e.g. lack fulfilment in life, poorly adjusted psychologically, weak sense of self-identity
• Parasocial relationship

  Escape from reality/way of finding fulfilment which they can't achieve in real relationships
• Absorption


  Seeking fulfilment in relationship motivates the person to focus their attention as much as possible on the celebrity, identify with them and become pre-occupied by their existence
• Addiction

  The person needs to sustain their commitment to the relationship by feeling a stronger and closer involvement with the celebrity. This leads to more extreme behaviours and delusional thinking
• McCutcheon: 'People form parasocial relationships because of deficiencies in their own lives e.g. lack fulfilment in life, poorly adjusted psychologically, weak sense of self-identity'
• Levels of parasocial relationships and the absorption-addiction model

  •The addictive nature of the relationship means that people escalate through the levels of parasocial relationship.•A personal crisis or stressful life event (linked to the lack of fulfilment in everyday relationships) could result in people escalating through the levels.
• Attachment Theory

  •People form parasocial relationships because of attachment difficulties in early childhood.•Insecure-resistants are most likely to form parasocial relationships.•They need to have unfulfilled needs met, but in a relationship where there is no threat of rejection, break-up and disappointment like in social relationships.•Insecure-avoidants want to avoid pain and rejection of relationships so tend to avoid social and parasocial relationships.