PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

HOW DOES AINSWORTH EXPLAIN PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS IN TERMS OF ATTACHMENT?

- Children who formed IR attachment styles (too clingy, high separation anxiety)
- More likely to form PSR
- As they are too afraid of rejection and criticism

WHAT IS A PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIP? (5)

- One-sided
- With a celebrity
- 'Fan' knows a great deal about the other
- Intense affection
- No chance of reciprocity

WHAT IS THE ABSORPTION-ADDICTION MODEL?

Absorption = lack of personal identity
Addiction = feeling a sense of fulfillment, purpose and excitement when engaging with PSR behaviour
salience (feel fulfilled when engaged and unfulfilled when not engaged)

WHAT ARE THE 3 LEVELS OF PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS?

1. Entertainment-social
2. Intense-personal
3. Borderline pathological

WHAT ARE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ENTERTAINMENT-SOCIAL LEVEL OF PSR?

- Least intense
- Source of entertainment
- Light-hearted gossips with friends

WHAT ARE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INTENSE-PERSONAL LEVEL OF PSR?

- Deeper level
- See them as a soulmate
- Intense interest in their personal life
- Typical for teenagers

WHAT ARE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BORDERLINE PATHOLOGICAL LEVEL OF PSR?

- Most intense level
- Celebrity worship
- Willing to sacrifice large sums of money
- Willing to engage in illegal activity
- If there was a chance then feelings would be reciprocated

WHAT ARE THREE THEORISTS THAT CAN EXPLAIN PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS USING ATTACHMENT THEORY?

- Bowlby
- Ainsworth
- Hazen & Shaver

HOW DOES BOWLBY EXPLAIN PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS IN TERMS OF ATTACHMENT?

- Children who did not form a strong bond with their PCG
- They will try to find a substitute as adults
- More likely to engage in PSR

HOW DOES HAZEN & SHAVER EXPLAIN PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS IN TERMS OF ATTACHMENT?

- IR behaviour translates to adulthood
- Clingy and jealous
- Difficulty forming long-lasting, committed relationships
- Intensive celebrity worship allows to have a perfect relationship - without heartbreak or rejection.

WHO CONDUCTED RESEARCH INTO THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND POOR BODY IMAGE?

Maltby et al

WHAT DID MALTBY ET. AL FIND?

- Teenage girls were more likely to have
- Those with PSR were more likely to have poor body image issues
- Particularly if they admire the celebrity's physical appearance

DISCUSS MALTBY'S RESEARCH

- Only correlational evidence found
- Difficult to establish cause-and-effect
- Teenage girls may have developed poor body image as a result of intense admiration of physical appearance

WHO CONDUCTED MULTI-CULTURAL RESEARCH INTO PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS?

Dinkha

WHAT DID DINKHA FIND?

- Compared attachments and parasocial relationships in two cultures
- Kuwait (collectivist) and America (individualistic)
- Insecurely attached = more likely to form a parasocial relationship with TV show characters

AO3 - IAD - applicable globally

R2S - D

WHAT DOES DINKHA'S RESEARCH SUGGEST ABOUT PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS?

- PSR is culturally independent
- Increases credibility of attachment theory as an explanation for parasocial relationships

DISCUSS DINKHA'S RESEARCH?

- R2C from McCutcheon
- Conducted a similar study to Dinkha
- Found that insecure attached ppts were no more likely than securely attach ppts to have PSR
- Reduces validity of attachment theory as an explanation for PSR

WHO CONDUCTED R2S BETWEEN ATTACHMENT THEORY AND PSR?

Kienlen et al.

WHAT DID KIENLEN ET. AL FIND?

- Children with disturbed attachments = more likely to have borderline pathological PSR
- Investigated stalkers
- 63% = loss of caregiver
- 50% = experienced physical or emotional abuse

DISCUSS KIENLEN

- RLA
- R2S allows us to understand that childhood attachments immpact prevalence of PSR
- Intervene early
- With child support services
- To prevent criminality in later life