Parasocial interaction: A review of the literature and a model for future research.

We propose a model of Vicarious Social Connection to organize the field of study commonly known as parasocial research. Whereas the study of parasocial or one-sided relationships is among the most common approaches in the field, audience connections with media figures may be construed in a variety of ways. These include both as a merging of the self and the media figure, and as a separation of the self and figure. The Vicarious Social Connection model highlights imaginal aspects of sociality including self-other merging, a concept central to Cohen's definition of identification. This model integrates recent advances in our understanding of collective social experiences and the dynamic nature of the way we connect. This broader conceptualization has a number of advantages including addressing repeated criticisms from key scholars, disambiguating related concepts, and sharpening the field's connection with a variety of broadly applicable social psychological phenomena.

The relationships viewers develop with media figures have received substantial attention in the scholarship of entertainment. The present research proposes an original four-dimension classification scheme of media figures theoretically based on authenticity across dimensions of depiction (live action vs. animated), story (fiction vs. nonfiction), form (human vs. nonhuman), and traits (super vs. normal). This classification addresses limitations from previous parasocial interaction (PSI) models and creates an exhaustive taxonomy of the types of media figures with whom viewers can develop PSIs. Implications for how the classification scheme informs identity formation, social comparisons with media figures, perceptions of social reality, maintenance of PSIs, and media enjoyment will be discussed.

Linking back to D. , the present approach conceptualizes and empirically examines viewers' parasocial interaction experience with a TV performer. Causes and outcomes of parasocial interaction experience are examined. To this end, a new Experience of Parasocial Interaction (EPSI) scale is introduced. In a 2 (Bodily Addressing) × 2 (Verbal Addressing) between-subjects experiment (N = 198) viewers reported a more intense parasocial experience if they were addressed by a TV performer on a bodily and verbal level. In addition, the more viewers perceived the performer to be attractive and the stronger their perspective-taking ability, the more intense their parasocial experience. Stronger parasocial experience resulted in higher commitment to social norms and a greater enjoyment of the exposure situation.

2008

This article explores how the celebrity discourse of the self both presages and works as a pedagogical tool for the burgeoning world of presentational media and its users that is now an elemental part of new media culture. What is often understood as social media via social network sites is also a form of presentation of the self and produces this new hybrid among the personal, interpersonal and the mediated -what I am calling 'presentational media'. Via Facebook, MySpace, Friendster and Twitter individuals engage in an expression of the self that, like the celebrity discourse of the self, is not entirely interpersonal in nature nor is it entirely highly mediated or representational. This middle ground of self-expression -again partially mediated and partially interpersonal (and theoretically drawing from Erving Goffman's work) -has produced an expansion of the intertextual zone that has been the bedrock of the celebrity industry for more than half a century and now is the very centre of the social media networks of the internet and mobile media. The article investigates this convergence of presentation of the self through a study of social network patterns of presentation of celebrities and the very overcoded similarity in the patterns of self-presentation of millions of users. It relates these forms of presentation to the longer discourse of the self that informed the production of celebrity for most of the last century.

Communications, 2015

This article provides insight into one form of audience involvement with celebrities: parasocial relationships (PSR). To address several shortcomings in PSR research – focus on TV, confusion between PSI (parasocial interaction) and PSR, use of student samples, neglect of socio-demographic variables – a representative online survey was conducted with 1000 Flemish adults who indicated 382 celebrities as favorites. A new scale reveals that PSR contain two important elements: emotional connections and an analogy with social relationships. Confirming previous research, most favorite celebrities are male, and cultural proximity is especially important for older respondents. In one combined model, respondents’ and celebrities’ (socio-demographic) characteristics are included as potential PSR predictors. This model nuances previous research and reveals that people who are male, older, more lowly-educated, and interested in celebrity news have stronger PSR. Further, stronger PSR are found fo...

2020

The main purpose of this study is to understand the nature of the parasocial interaction with media characters, to have knowledge about the causes, and to review important previous researches on parasocial interaction. In this way, it is aimed to have information about the premises of the parasocial interaction and the variables it is associated with and to determine the possible effects of these variables on social life. Considering the previous studies, it is seen that the focus is on the relationships with the character in the series. For this reason, this study focuses mainly on the interaction with characters of series. In the study, firstly, the nature and premises of the concept of parasocial interaction are mentioned, and then the similarities of this interaction with interpersonal relations are mentioned. Finally, some researches and some suggestions were made about this subject, in which parasocial interaction was examined, especially in terms of age, gender, loneliness, a...

Springer eBooks, 2019

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

In Susan Drucker and Gary Gumpert, (Eds.), Heroes in a Global World, Hampton Press, 2008, 99-128.

In this chapter, Meyrowitz analyzes the new sense of intimacy with strangers that has been created by those modern media that simulate the sights and sounds of real-life interactions. This sense of intimacy, drives the attachment to “media friends”—those celebrities, actors, newscasters, politicians, talk show hosts, singers, sports figures, and so on, who become part of an extended network of social ties. Meyrowitz explains how new technologies reduce the distance between us and our media friends, blurring our response to their skills and talents with our response to their personalities. He suggests that the “unreal” relationships with media friends are, ironically, often deeper and longer-lasting than many real-life ties. He then explores these “intimate” relationships to the point of loss and shows how new forms of grief have been developed to cope with the death of media friends.