Up until this point, in relationships, we have considered a relationship as being a reciprocal interaction between two people. This subtopic takes a slightly different turn as it is more about an individuals perspective of a relationship they have with a person they have never met.
KEY TERM & DEFINITION: Parasocial Relationships refer to one-sided relationships with celebrity, a prominent person in the community or a fictional character, when a fan knows everything about the subject of their adoration and feels very close to them, but there is no chance of reciprocity.
This subtopic considers the classification of Parasocial Relationships and two explanations for this behaviour (Absorption- Addition model and Attachment Theory).
The Levels of Parasocial Relationships
Giles and Maltby (2006) identified three levels of celebrity worship, using the Celebrity Attitude Scale in a large-scale survey:
Stage 1 Entertain – Social: celebrities are seen as a source of entertainment and as a topic for lighthearted gossips with friends.
Stage 2 Intense – Personal: Intense interest in the celebrity’s personal life, such as their dress sense, food they like and entertainment in which they take part.
Stage 3 Borderline pathological: At this level, a person has obsessive fantasies about the celebrity, spends large sums of money to obtain memorabilia and may engage in illegal activities such as stalking.
See below a copy of the Celebrity Attitude Scale used to determine a level;
Having read through the questions and layout, what do you notice about it? There is every possibility that you might be asked to evaluate the levels of Parasocial Relationships and the way this is assessed.
Evaluation of Levels of Parasocial Relationships
Supporting Research: Maltby (2003) linked types of personality (extravert, psychotic and neurotic) to levels of parasocial relationships. He found that extraverts were more likely to be at the entertainment-social level, neurotics at the intense-personal level and psychotics at the borderline-pathological level, supporting the absorption-addiction model. Maltby et al. (2005) also measured the relation between celebrity worship and body image in teenagers. They found that teenage girls who were at the intense-personal level of celebrity worship tended to have a poor body image, especially if they particularly admired a celebrity’s physical appearance.
Scientific?: Most research into celebrity worship/parasocial relationships is correlational. This means that cause and effect cannot be clearly established, lowering the scientific explanatory power. For example, while a significant correlation was found between poor body image and intensive celebrity worship in teenage girls (Maltby et al., 2005), this does not mean, however, that intense celebrity worship causes poor body image. It may as well be that girls who already have a poor body image tend to engage in a more intensive level of parasocial relationships to enhance their self-esteem. Additionally, they rely heavily on self-report methods, such as interviews and questionnaires. These methods may not reflect the true picture, as participants may want to answer in a way that reflects them in better light (social desirability bias) and may not respond truthfully to the questions. This means that the reasons for developing parasocial relationships may be different from the ones uncovered by research, which lowers the validity of these explanations, making them less applicable to real life.
Usefulness: Research also supports a link between loneliness and engaging in parasocial relationships. For example, Greenwood and Long (2009) found some evidence that people may develop celebrity worships as a way of dealing with a recent loss or loneliness. By having a scale which can identify which level of Parasocial Relationship an individual is in, this can help professionals to work with the individual to overcome any loneliness they might be experiencing.
Culturally Universal: Schmid and Klimmt (2011) studied levels of parasocial relationships with characters from the Harry Potter books in different cultures, and found similar levels of worship in Germany (individualist culture) and Mexico (collectivist culture). This suggests that the levels of Parasocial Relationships described above are similar across cultures and can be categorised the same around the world.
Social Sensitivity: perhaps not useful as a main PEECC, but could be a helpful challenge, the labelling of people as borderline pathological might cause people to feel more negative about themselves and retreat further into their Parasocial Relationship, this is even more likely given the explanations below.
Absorption Addiction Explanation of Parasocial Relationships
McCutcheon (2002) proposed the Absorption-Addiction Model to explain Parasocial Relationships (PSR). She suggested that people engage in celebrity worship to compensate for some deficiencies in their life, such as difficulty forming intimate relationships, poor psychological adjustment and lack of identity.
Forming parasocial relationships with a celebrity allows them to achieve the fulfilment they lack in everyday life and adds a sense of purpose and excitement.
Absorption: McCutcheon explains that looking for satisfaction in celebrity worship makes a person focus intensively on parasocial relationships and achieving a sense of fulfilment motivates them to become even more intensely attached to the celebrity.
Addiction: This sense of fulfilment then becomes addictive for the person, leading them to engage in more risky behaviour such as stalking, in order to get mentally, and sometimes physically, closer to the celebrity they worship.
Evaluation of the Absorption Addiction Model
Supporting Research: Maltby et al. (2005) measured the relation between celebrity worship and body image in teenagers. They found that teenage girls who were at the intense-personal level of celebrity worship tended to have a poor body image, especially if they particularly admired a celebrity’s physical appearance. This suggests that the deficiency they are experiencing is poor body image, leading to the develop of a PSR and the development in to a higher level due to the addiction they have formed.
Scientific?: Due to the nature of PSR assessment, the research results tend to be correlational and therefore we cannot be certain of cause and effect. It could be, in the case of the research above, that low self esteem predated the PSR or that low self esteem is a result of PSR. In uncontrollable contexts, it is difficult to conclude confidently which therefore brings into question the accuracy of the explanation these types of research support.
Alternative Explanation: Kienlen et al. (1997) investigated the experiences of stalkers and found that 63% of their participants experienced a loss of a caregiver in early childhood while 50% experienced emotional and physical abuse. Stalker behaviour is characteristic of the borderline- pathological level of PSR, suggesting that childhood attachment could be a better predictor and explanation of the behaviour.
Usefulness: Research also supports a link between loneliness and engaging in parasocial relationships. For example, Greenwood and Long (2009) found some evidence that people may develop celebrity worships as a way of dealing with a recent loss or loneliness. This research not only supports this explanation but it also might help to identify and support more underlying issues that aren’t as pronounced or obvious. In addition, building an understanding of PSR might allow professionals to use it to help individuals to overcome the areas in their life that are lacking.
Determinism: This is suggesting that people do not have any choice over developing a PSR, this is a result of a deficiency and PSR is a maladaptive coping strategy. This can be seen as a strength due to identifying a cause which might be treatable (linked to usefulness point) or a weakness as being labelled borderline- pathological might add to any existing feelings of negativity towards themselves or result in an exacerbation of PSR behaviour (self fulfilling prophecy).
Gender Bias: Wang, Fink & Cai (2008) found gender differences when men and women engage in parasocial relationships, see results in table below;
| Women | Men | |
| + Family Loneliness | greater PSR | less PSR |
| + Romantic Loneliness | Slight more PSR | Less PSR |
| + Chronic Loneliness | less PSR | greater PSR |
As a result, this suggests that by not acknowledging the differences between gender and PSR, this theory is beta biased and therefore is potentially going to be inaccurate when explaining PSR in both men and women, making the usefulness of it limited.
Attachment Theory of Parasocial Relationships
A second explanation of PSR is linked to a topic you have previously studied, attachment. Hopefully you haven’t forgotten the different attachment types, Secure, insecure resistant and insecure avoidant. On way to help you remember these is to think of insecure resistant – they resist the Primary caregiver leaving whereas avoidant will avoid the love.
According to this theory, people who have/had an insecure- resistant attachment type with their parents are more likely to form a PSR as an adult. This is because they have a fear of rejection, breakups and disappointments. If you think back to Ainsworth’s study, the children who had this type of attachment were in constant fear of their caregiver leaving them and were inconsolable when they returned. This theory states that a PSR is better for this type of attachment as they do not have to worry about the person they are in a PSR with leaving them- you can’t leave someone if you don’t know they exist! Someone with this attachment type defer to having a PSR because it feels like a safer option than a real life relationship where that person can disappoint and/ or leave you.
Evaluation of Attachment Explanation of PSR
Supporting Research: Kienlen et al. (1997) supported the idea that disturbed attachment in childhood may lead to the development of borderline-pathological level of Parasocial relationships. They investigated the experiences of stalkers and found that 63% of their participants experienced a loss of a caregiver in early childhood while 50% experienced emotional and physical abuse. Cole and Leets (1999) investigated parasocial relationships that adolescents developed with TV personalities, and found that teenagers with insecure-resistant attachment types were more likely to develop
Opposing Research: McCutcheon et al. (2006) examined the correlation between attachment type and celebrity worship levels using 229 participants, and found no link between insecure-resistant attachment and more intense levels of parasocial relationships
Scientific? Another weakness of studies into parasocial relationships is that they rely heavily on self-report methods, such as interviews and questionnaires. These methods may not reflect the true picture, as participants may want to answer in a way that reflects them in better light (social desirability bias) and may not respond truthfully to the questions. This means that the reasons for developing parasocial relationships may be different from the ones uncovered by research, which lowers the validity of these explanations, making them less applicable to real life.
Deterministic: Similar to above, this can be argued to be deterministic because the theory is arguing that attachment type is a predictor of PSR. Attachment type is out of your control as this is a response to the interactions with caregiver which then works as an internal working model for future relationships. This can be written as a strength, as it can be used as a starting point to overcome PSR tendencies in therapy or treatment, however it can also be viewed as a weakness due to a blame culture on parents and potential powerlessness felt by being labelled as borderline pathological.
CGS Psychology Blog: Mrs Harris 