parasocial relationships Flashcards
(16 cards)
What is the Celebrity Attitude Scale?
Developed by McCutcheon
Maltby survey
Identified levels of parasocial relationship
What are the levels of parasocial relationship?
Entertainment-social
Intense-personal
Borderline pathological
What is the entertainment social level?
Least intense
Sources of entertainment and fuel for social interaction
Source of gossip in offices
What is the intense-personal level?
Intermediate reflecting personal involvement
Obsessive thoughts and intense feelings
What is the borderline pathological level?
Uncontrollable fantasies and extreme behaviour
Spending money on object
Perform illegal act on celebrity’s behalf
What is the absorption addiction model?
Tendency to form parasocial relationships in terms of personal deficiencies
Weak identity, lack fulfilment
Parasocial allows escape from reality, fulfilment
Entertainment social level may be triggered deeper by stressful life event
What is the absorption component?
Seeking fulfilment in celebrity worship motivates them to focus as far as possible on celebrity
Pre occupied with their existence and identity with them
What is the addiction component?
Must sustain commitment by feeling closer involvement
Extreme behaviour and delusional thinking
What is the attachment theory explanation?
Tendency to form parasocial due to childhood attachment difficulties
Describe attitudes of insecure-resistants
Most likely to form parasocial attachments
Need to have unfulfilled needs met without threat of rejection
Describe attitudes of insecure-avoidants
Avoid pain and rejection of relationships whether they’re social or parasocial
Evaluation - support for absorption addiction model
Maltby - investigated link between body image and celebrity worship
Girls with intense personal relationship with celebrity whose body they admired
Poor body image, precursor to development of anorexia
Correlation between poor psychology and celebrity worship
Evaluation - problems with attachment theory
McCutcheon - measured attachment type and celebrity attitude
Insecure no more likely to form parasocial relationships
Evaluation - methodological issues
Self report measures - social desirability bias
Correlational analysis - issue of cause and effect eg body image
Evaluation - problems with absorption addiction model
Description not explanation
Describes those who are borderline pathological
Does not explain how these develop
Evaluation - cultural influences
Tendency to form parasocial relationship with Harry Potter
Schmid and Klimmt - not culturally specific, found in Germany and Mexico
Universal
