General A03

• Poor mental health and difficulties with relationships are the strongest predictors of parasocial relationships
• Neither of these theories is adequate to explain low intensity parasocial relationships (especially Level 1)
• Stalking behaviour is most predicted by early attachment problems, recent relationship loss and severe mental disorders
• The vast majority of parasocial relationships aren't like this - very few people are stalkers in general
• The 2 theories are useful for explaining the pathological end of celebrity relationships but not ordinary interest in celebrities
• Level 1 is better explained by the positive view and/or evolutionary explanations and social learning/mere exposure therapy - level 1 interest in celebrities is probably harmless and arguably good for us

  Many people don't even reach level 1 - this kind of interest in celebrities is clearly harmless, trivial and lacking in intensity
• Even pathological interest in celebrities may sometimes be harmless

  Only sometimes is it dangerous
• Taken together, evidence suggests that adolescent interest in celebrities serves a number of positive functions, especially when it's at Level 1
• Level 2 seems best explained by the absorption-addiction model and there's evidence that some psychological deficits/problems underlie it
• Attachment theory isn't a good predictor of interest in celebrities at all

  However, it's a decent predictor of who will stalk and whether or not a person thinks that stalking is acceptable
• Evidence indicates that poor mental health is linked to Level 2 interest in celebrities

  Level 3 is, in addiction, underpinned by much more severe mental health problems including psychosis, delusional problems, impulsivity, anti-social tendencies and dissociations
• It seems highly unlikely that all parasocial relationships are pathological and so both theories are inadequate
• Both theories leave out important individual differences and a lot of relevant individual differences still need to be researched: for example

  • Faulty perception of reality (Maltby) - especially at Level 3
  • Intelligence and educations - the higher the level of education, the lower the interest in celebrities (r= -0.4)
• Methodological problems:

  Absence of clear definitions and the use of Likert scale introduces validity issues - is my 'strongly agree' the same as yours?

  This is always a problem with ordinal scales

  Self-report is also prone to social desirability bias

  Parasocial research is socially-sensitive
• Much of the evidence is correlational:

  Correlation is not causation
• There are other theories that compete with absorption-addiction and the attachment theories

  For example: social learning theory/mere exposure - this is a non-pathological theory

  It is quite hard to avoid celebrities these days, some level of interest is almost inevitable
• There are other theories that compete with absorption-addiction and the attachment theories

  For example: evolutionary theories

  It's reasonable to assume that our attraction to celebrities is underpinned by some genetic predispositions and ancient evolutionary mechanisms
• There are other theories that compete with absorption-addiction and the attachment theories

  For example: the positive view

  This is a non-pathological theory - there are a variety of ways in which celebrity relationships could be helpful
• Current available research fails to consider the interactive nature of celebrity attraction, it's now possible for fans to interact with their favourite celebrities

  Parasocial relps aren't parasocial as they once were

  Interest in celebrities is more complex than previously thought
• No single theory can be unequivocally supported- we need different explanations for different levels of interest
• All of these conclusions are somewhat speculative and can't be said to be established fact

  Reliability and validity of findings is an issue

  Much more research is needed