Parasocial relationships Flashcards
(6 cards)
levels of parasocial relationship
Lynn McCutcheon and his colleagues (2002) developed the Celebrity attitude scale (CAS). This was used in a large-scale survey by John Maltby et al. (2006) who identified three levels of parasocial relationship. Each level describes the attitudes and behaviours linked to ever more extreme forms of celebrity worship.
• Entertainment-social - this is 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 in OK magazine about actors on EastEnders. David Giles (2002) found that parasocial relationships were a fruitful source of gossip in offices.
• Intense-personal - this is an intermediate level which reflects a greater personal 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.
• Borderline-pathological - this is the strongest level of celebrity worship, featuring uncontrollable fantasies and extreme behaviours. 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.
the absorption addiction model
McCutcheon (2002) linked the levels approach (above) to the deficiences people have in their own lives. For example, a person may have a low self-esteem and lack fulfilment in their everyday relationships. Someone who initially has an entertainment-social orientation to a certain celebrity may be triggered into more intense involvement by some personal crisis or stressful life event. The parasocial relationship allows them to escape from reality
As the name implies, the absorption addiction model has two components:
• Absorption - seeking fulfilment 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.
• Addiction - just as with a physiological addiction to a psychoactive substance, the individual needs to increase their ‘dose’ in order to gain satisfaction. This may lead to more extreme behaviours and delusional thinking. For example, stalking a celebrity because they believe that the celebrity really wants to reciprocate their feelings, but someone - the celebrity’s manager perhaps - is stopping the celebrity from getting involved.
the attachment theory explanation
Various psychologists have suggested that there is a tendency to form parasocial relationships in adolescence and adulthood because of attachment difficulties in early childhood. Bowlby’s attachment theory (which was part of your Year 1 studies) suggested such early difficulties may lead to emotional troubles later in life. Mary Ainsworth (1979) identified two attachment types associated with unhealthy emotional development: insecure-resistant and insecure-avoidant.
Insecure-resistant types are most likely to form parasocial relationships as adults. This is because they seek to have unfulfilled needs met, but in a relationship that is not accompanied by the threat of rejection, break-up and disappointment that real-life relationships bring Insecure-avoidant types, on the other hand, prefer to avoid the pain and rejection of relationships altogether, whether they be social or parasocial.
strength-research support for levels
One strength of the levels ‘model’ is that its predictions are supported by research (predictive validity).
For instance, McCutcheon et al. (2016) used the CAS to measure level of parasocial relationships. They also assessed participants’ problems 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).
This suggests that ‘celebrity-worshippers’ can usefully be classified into three categories and that these are predictive of actual behaviour.
S-support for absorption addiction model
One strength of the model 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, John Maltby et al. (2005) 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 female 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.
This supports the model’s prediction of an association between poor psychological functioning and the level (type and intensity) of parasocial relationship.
S-attachment theory-universal tendencies
One strength of attachment theory is that it can explain why people all over the world have a desire to form parasocial relationships.
Juliet Dinkha et al. (2015) 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 (e.g. 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.
This supports the view that attachment type may be a universal explanation for the need to form parasocial relationships.
Counterpoint However, other evidence is not supportive. For example, McCutcheon et al. (2006) 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.
This shows that parasocial relationships are not necessarily a way of compensating for attachment issues.
