Parasocial relationships

• What is a parasocial relationship?

  It is a one - sided relationship, like fans may feel with a celebrity through movies, concerts etc and the celebrity doesn't know of their existence.

  
• 3 levels of parasocial relationships

  Entertainment social

  Intense personal

  Borderline pathological.
• In 2002, what did McCutcheon create in order to test the level of parasocial relationships?

  A celebrity attitude scale
• Entertainment Social


  This is the least intense version of celebrity worship. People in the entertainment social level tend to view their favourite celebrities as entertainment for social interactions for example some people may ask questions like "did you hear Beyonces new song?"

  
• Intense personal


  This is an intermediate level of parasocial relationships. People in this level may consider their favourite celebrity their soulmate.

  
• Borderline pathological


  This is the highest level of parasocial relationships, which shows many fantasies and extreme behaviours. People in this level would spend massive sums of money on celebrity labelled products and may even go as far as comitting illegal acts for their favourite celebrity.

  
• What is the absorption addiction model and what can it offer for people in parasocial relationships?

  Absorption addiction model suggests that people form a parasocial relationship when their own relationships are unpleasant or absent. This can offer people an escape from reality and can allow them to gain a sense a fulfilment.
• What are the two components of the absorption addiction model?

  absorption - seeking fulfillment in celebrity worship.

  addiction - just like an addiction to a substance, people tend to have the need to sustain their commitment in order to keep the relationship strong. This can lead to a lot more delusional thinking. e.g. looking them up online, then that's not enough so they find out more about their family but that's not enough. they constantly need to know more to make the relationship feel strong.
• What does Bowlby state in relation to parasocial relationships?


  If attachment issues occur in your early childhood, then it may lead to emotional troubles later in life and can be a cause to parasocial relationships.
• What 2 types of attachment types are more likely to be related to a parasocial relationship and why?

  resistant

  avoidant

  This is because there is a less chane that they will be let down. No one can cheat, fall out of love etc
• Research support for levels of parasocial relationships

  McCutcheon used the CAS to measure the levels of parasocial relationship while also assessing ppt intimate relationship problems. McChutcheon found that those in intense personal or borderline pathological, experienced higher levels of anxiety and instability in their intimate relationships, where as people at entertainment social level generally didn't.
• Counterargument for levels of parasocial relationships?

  Instead of celebrities causing relationship problems, it could be the other way round in which relationship problems cause celebrity obsessions and seek fulfilment in the celebrity obsession to fill the gap in their intimate relationship.
• Support for absorption addiction model

  Maltby et al found interesting that some females aged 14-16 reported an intense personal level with a female celebrity whose body shape they admired.They found that these teens tended to have poor body image and may develop an eating disorder. this suggests that people with poor identity and self identity can make you more likely to be in a parasocial relationship.
• Universal tendency (evaluation)


  Dinkha conducted a study in Kuwait and the US in which he found that both countries have a tencency to form parasocial relationships. They found that people with resistant attachments are likely to form a parasocial relationship.
• Universal tendency counterargument


  McCutcheon found that there wasn't a link between attachment types and parasocial relationships which therefore means that your working model doesn't impact parasocial relationships.