Parasocial Relationships

What are parasocial relationships?

Relationships similar to ‘normal‘ relationships but lack a key element. They are a one-sided, unreciprocated relationship, usually with a celebrity, on which the ‘fan‘ expends a lot of emotional energy, commitment, and time.

What did McCutcheon et al. develop?

The Celebrity attitude scale (CAS), which was used in a large scale study by Maltby et al.

What did Maltby et al. identify?

Three levels of parasocial relationship, with each level describing the attitudes and behaviours linked to ever more extreme forms of celebrity worship.

What are the three levels of parasocial relationship?

• Entertainment social.

• Intense-personal.

• Borderline-pathological.

What is entertainment-social?

The least intense level of celebrity worship. At this level, celebrities are viewed as sources of entertainment and fuel for social interaction. For example, friends with an interest in soap operas might enjoy discussing stories about actors.

What did Giles find?

That parasocial relationships were a fruitful source of gossip in offices.

What is the intense-personal level?

This is an intermediate level, which reflects a greater involvement in a parasocial relationship with a celebrity. A fan of Kim Kardashian might have frequent obsessive thoughts and intense feelings about her, perhaps even considering her to be a ‘soulmate‘.

What is the borderline-pathological level?

This is the strongest level of celebrity worship, featuring uncontrollable fantasies and extreme behaviors. These might include spending (or planning to spend) a large sum of money on a celebrity-related object, or being willing to perform some illegal act on the celebrity’s say-so.

What did McCutcheon link the levels of parasocial relationships to?

The deficiencies people have in their own lives. For example, a person may have a low self-esteem and lack fulfilment in their everyday relationship.

What might someone who initially has an entertainment-social orientation to a certain celebrity be triggered into?

More intense involvement by some personal crisis or stressful life event. The parasocial relationship allows them to ‘escape from reality‘.

What are the two components of the absorption addiction model?

• Absorption.

• Addiction.

What is absorption?

Seeking fulfillment in celebrity worship motivates an individual to focus their attention as far as possible on the celebrity, to become preoccupied with the celebrity and identify with them.

What is addiction?

The individual needs to increase their ‘dose‘ in order to gain satisfaction. This may lead to more extreme behaviors and delusional thinking.

What have various psychologists suggested about the tendency to form parasocial relationships?

That there is a tendency to form then in adolesence and adulthood because of attachment difficulties in early childhood.

What did Bowlby’s attachment theory suggest about such early (attachment) difficulties?

That they may lead to emotional troubles later in life.

What did Ainsworth identify?

Two attachment types associated with emotional troubles later in life: insecure-resistant and insecure-avoidant.

Which attachment type is likely to form parasocial relationships as adults?

Insecure-resistant types.

Why are insecure-resistant types more likely to form parasocial relationships?

Because they seek to have unfulfilled needs met, but in a relationship that is not accompanied by the threat of rejection, break-up and dissapointment that real-life relationships bring.

Why don’t insecure-avoidant types generally not form parasocial relationships?

They prefer to avoid the pain and rejection of relationships altogether, whether they be social or parasocial.

What is the strength of the levels ‘model?‘

• Research support for levels.

How is research support for levels a strength of the levels ‘model‘?

One strength of the levels "model" Is that lis predictions are supported by research (predictive validity)For instance, McCutcheon et al. used the CAS to measure level of parasocial relationships. They also assessed participants problers in their intimate relationships, Participants who scored as borderline-pathological or intense-personal tended to experience a high degree of anxiety in their intimate relationships. People at the entertainment-social level generally did not (although even this level was associated with other relationship problems).

What does research support for levels mean for the levels ‘model‘?

This suggests that celebrity-worshippers can usefully be classified into three categories and that these are predictive of actual behaviour.

What is the strength of the absorption addiction model?

• Support for absorption addiction model.

What is the support for the absorption addiction model?

There is research showing a link between celebrity worship and body image. The addiction-absorption model suggests that a deficiency in a person's life (such as poor body image) would predispose them to forming parasocial relationships. In one study, Maltby et al. assessed boys and girls aged 14 to 16 years. The researchers were particularly interested in girls who reported an intense-personal parasocial relationship with an adult fernale celebrity whose body shape they admired. They found that the girls tended to have a poor body image. They speculated that this may contribute to the development of an eating disorder.

What does the support for the addiction absorption model mean?

It supports the model's prediction of an association between poor psychological functioning and the level (type and intensity) of parasocial relationship.

What is the strength of attachment theory?

• Universal tendency.

How is universal tendency a strength of attachment theory?

It can explain why people all over the world have a desire to form parasocial relationships. Dinkha et al. compared two contrasting cultures - a collectivist one (applies to Kuwait) and an individualist one (applies to the US). The researchers found that people with an insecure attachment type were the most likely to form intense parasocial relationships with TV personalities and characters (eg. Rachel from Friends). This was true in both types of culture. In other words the 'driver' for forming a parasocial relationship is independent of cultural influences.

What does the universal attachment mean for attachment theory?

It supports the view that attachment type may be a universal explanation for the need to form parasocial relationships.

What is the counterpoint to the universal tendency?

Other evidence is not supportive. For example, McCutcheon et al. measured attachment types and celebrity-related attitudes in 299 American participants. The researchers found that attachment security did not affect the likelihood of forming a parasocial relationship with a celebrity. Participants with insecure attachments were no more likely to form such relationships than participants with secure attachments.

What does the counterpoint to the universal tendency mean for attachment theory?

It shows that parasocial relationships are not necessarily a way of compensating for attachment issues.