This paper proposed an integrated theory of the parasocial, drawing from both communications studies and social sciences in order to describe three levels of the parasocial: parasocial interaction, parasocial relationships, and parasocial... more
This paper proposed an integrated theory of the parasocial, drawing from both communications studies and social sciences in order to describe three levels of the parasocial: parasocial interaction, parasocial relationships, and parasocial attachment. It then linked parasocial attachment to classical attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969; Ainsworth, 1978) and also adult romantic attachment theory (Hazan & Shaver, 1994). Psychology literature in fan studies is described and two points of view on fandom are presented. The clinical perspective (Maltby et al, 2005) suggested that fandom leads to pathology, while the newer developmental perspective (author, 2010) suggested that mentally ill fans were mentally ill before they ever became fans, and that fandom more usually plays a normal part in development over the lifespan.
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Research Interests: Sociology and Psychology
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Parasocial theory is an area of inquiry that has been principally pursued in communication studies, although work in psychology, sociology, and related disciplines has been done as well. The concept originated in 1956 with the article... more
Parasocial theory is an area of inquiry that has been principally pursued in communication studies, although work in psychology, sociology, and related disciplines has been done as well. The concept originated in 1956 with the article “Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction” by Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl wherein the authors suggested that television specifically, but also media in general, had put people in contact with those who were previously unknown and unknowable before the existence of visual media. Celebrities/famous people had existed before television, but what changed with the advent of televisions in the living rooms of people’s homes was that now it was possible to have a parasocial interaction in a face-to-face way with someone whose image and personality had invaded the privacy of one’s own home. Horton and Wohl focused in their discussion on the evening talk shows where a host brought celebrity guests onto the show and conducted informal conversations with those guests in a format that made the viewer feel like part of the conversation. The format encouraged the viewer to “interact” with the participants on the program, even though they were unable to really be part of the conversation. Creating a semicircle seating configuration on the show that implied that the circle was completed by the viewers at home added to the sense that one was part of a conversation. Such parasocial interaction (PSI) was defined by the one-sidedness of the interaction with the viewer knowing the television celebrity quite well while being completely unknown in return. PSI thus led to a parasocial relationship (PSR), which was the continuation of the feeling of knowing the celebrity long after the program had actually ended. In a small percentage of cases, the celebrity became a source of felt security and safe haven such that a parasocial attachment (PSA) was created. An attachment relationship is one in which a person seeks proximity to another in order to feel safe and secure. Traditionally infant/caregiver relationships and adult romantic relationships have been recognized for their attachment properties, but the idea that television personalities or other public entertainers can afford a sense of security and safety is one that has been explored in the parasocial research literature.
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The United Nations’ sustainable development goals cover a broad range of global problems and reaching those goals will require effort and education. Lifelong learning has become an essential part of modern life with rapidly changing... more
The United Nations’ sustainable development goals cover a broad range of global problems and reaching those goals will require effort and education. Lifelong learning has become an essential part of modern life with rapidly changing technology, globalization, and increased urbanization, as well as environmental changes and the rise of green careers. Given the importance of sustainable development and global changes, it is important to identify effective ways of educating toward the UN’s goals. Lifelong learning, whether formal through programs and institutions or informal through self-direction, is increasingly important as a way of providing education for change, but also as a force for social justice and can be an important support for reaching these goals. The rise of the Internet and social media provides a conduit for delivery of lifelong learning that can transcend time and place, and harnessing its power can support the UN’s goals for sustainable development. This paper will identify various ways that social media can support lifelong learning in relation to sustainable development. Using a four-stage model of self-directed learning, the authors will outline how social media can support each stage. In addition, the authors will provide suggestions for application of social media for lifelong learning within the social movements of environmentalism and gender equality, two aspects of sustainable development.
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Parasocial interaction (PSI) describes nonreciprocated audience interactions with media personae. These interactions are, in many ways, like face-to-face interactions with the caveat that the response normally expected from a social... more
Parasocial interaction (PSI) describes nonreciprocated audience interactions with media personae. These interactions are, in many ways, like face-to-face interactions with the caveat that the response normally expected from a social partner is missing. Parasocial theory describes and attempts to explain imagined social relationships and interactions with people who are distant from us and who do not reciprocate individual communication or interest. Early articles on parasocial theory discussed PSI and parasocial relationships (PSRs) without making much distinction between the terms, but more recent studies have focused on the differences, with PSI being the illusion of interaction during viewing and PSRs being the ongoing perceived connection the audience members experience with the media personae over a longer period of time. Parasocial attachment occurs when the viewer seeks regular proximity to the mediated experience in order to experience an affective bond with a selected media persona. Keywords: attachment; audience studies; involvement; media psychology; parasocial; sociology of culture and media; television theory; uses and gratifications
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Forming attachments to those people proximal to the individual was the only option prior to mass media. In an era of mass media, individuals become acquainted with media personae, expanding greatly the pool of available attachment... more
Forming attachments to those people proximal to the individual was the only option prior to mass media. In an era of mass media, individuals become acquainted with media personae, expanding greatly the pool of available attachment objects. This increases the possibility of a parasocial attachment, defined as a nonreciprocated attachment to a familiar other, and from whom one derives safe haven and felt security. This paper addresses 2 questions: From an evolutionary perspective, what is the expected way that viewers should perceive and react to attractive and familiar media personae? Second, as human beings evolve socially in a mediated environment, will parasocial attachments be adaptive or will they encourage, as a result of confusion over “real” versus parasocial relationships, some measure of dysfunction? Based on data collected during participant observer ethnography within active fan groups, parasocial attachment to celebrities would be a likely outcome of repeated exposure to those celebrities in visual media. The Media Equation (Reeves & Nass, 1996) states that human perceptions do not differentiate between those that emanate from the real world and those that come from media, helping explain the strong feelings that some media viewers develop for personae only encountered through media. The conclusion is that attachment to celebrities and even celebrity worship itself is to be expected, rather than being an abnormal and an aberrant manifestation of human behavior. Although most case examples of parasocial attachment appeared to support positive functioning, in some cases parasocial attachments can be problematic.
Research Interests: Psychology and Mass media
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While every individual person is different and there are many people of mixed ethnicities, this chapter deals with both quantity and quality of representation for each of a number of major groups that have been marginalized in the United... more
While every individual person is different and there are many people of mixed ethnicities, this chapter deals with both quantity and quality of representation for each of a number of major groups that have been marginalized in the United States. When evaluating the impact of either stereotypical depictions of minorities or simply the invisibility of minorities, consider cultivation theory where authors learned that what is depicted on television and through other media is often the world view of “the way things are” that is accepted by viewers. Early television research showed that exposure to positive portrayals of various ethnic and racial groups increased children’s acceptance of those other groups. Early television in the United States in the 1950s was almost exclusively the portrayal of White people.
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Research Interests: Psychology and Narrative
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This article describes the methods and materials used in my various studies of fan cultures in the years from 1988 to 2018. It delineates a mixed methods/multi-perspectivist approach and describes the process by which fan groups were... more
This article describes the methods and materials used in my various studies of fan cultures in the years from 1988 to 2018. It delineates a mixed methods/multi-perspectivist approach and describes the process by which fan groups were selected and studied. Contrary to the concept of "aca-fan," an academic who studies a fan group of which she or he is already a part, this article describes the engagement of a number of fan groups with whom I was not already involved. I traveled throughout North American and Europe in order to observe fan behavior across the lifespan and across a number of different cultures . Both pop star musicians' fans and television fans were included. Immersion in the fan culture was the goal in each case with each study lasting anywhere from four to twelve years.
Research Interests: Psychology and Fandom
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The United Nations’ sustainable development goals cover a broad range of global problems and reaching those goals will require effort and education. Lifelong learning has become an essential part of modern life with rapidly changing... more
The United Nations’ sustainable development goals cover a broad range of global problems and reaching those goals will require effort and education. Lifelong learning has become an essential part of modern life with rapidly changing technology, globalization, and increased urbanization, as well as environmental changes and the rise of green careers. Given the importance of sustainable development and global changes, it is important to identify effective ways of educating toward the UN’s goals. Lifelong learning, whether formal through programs and institutions or informal through self-direction, is increasingly important as a way of providing education for change, but also as a force for social justice and can be an important support for reaching these goals. The rise of the Internet and social media provides a conduit for delivery of lifelong learning that can transcend time and place, and harnessing its power can support the UN’s goals for sustainable development. This paper will identify various ways that social media can support lifelong learning in relation to sustainable development. Using a four-stage model of self-directed learning, the authors will outline how social media can support each stage. In addition, the authors will provide suggestions for application of social media for lifelong learning within the social movements of environmentalism and gender equality, two aspects of sustainable development.
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In the last two to three years, social media have proliferated on the Internet. Web sites like MySpace, Facebook, and LiveJournal made it possible for people who had minimal Internet skills to set up personal pages wherein they could... more
In the last two to three years, social media have proliferated on the Internet. Web sites like MySpace, Facebook, and LiveJournal made it possible for people who had minimal Internet skills to set up personal pages wherein they could share a daily posting of thoughts, philosophies and ideals, photographs, web links and other items of interest with an audience. Celebrities also have availed themselves of social media, but in each of the above cases, in order to give access to audience members or fans, the application often gave away an undesirable level of access to personal information. MySpace is a good example of this. On one's MySpace page are a list of friends and their pages, personal photographs, and other potentially sensitive information. Some celebrities got around this problem by setting up MySpace fan pages where only public information was included, but such sites were mostly run by assistants and a personal touch was often missing. In late 2008, a new social media w...
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As the Internet matures and progresses, more and more universities are seeking to increase their online offerings. ASU East Education has integrated an online hybrid course format into its graduate offerings where students seeking post... more
As the Internet matures and progresses, more and more universities are seeking to increase their online offerings. ASU East Education has integrated an online hybrid course format into its graduate offerings where students seeking post baccalaureate teacher certification can take their first semester of courses in a mostly on-line format. The ASU East “TeachMe” program offers Math and Science Theory, Adolescent Psychology, and Special Education in a three course online hybrid block.
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The United Nations’ sustainable development goals cover a broad range of global problems and reaching those goals will require effort and education. Lifelong learning has become an essential part of modern life with rapidly changing... more
The United Nations’ sustainable development goals cover a broad range of global problems and reaching those goals will require effort and education. Lifelong learning has become an essential part of modern life with rapidly changing technology, globalization, and increased urbanization, as well as environmental changes and the rise of green careers. Given the importance of sustainable development and global changes, it is important to identify effective ways of educating toward the UN’s goals. Lifelong learning, whether formal through programs and institutions or informal through self-direction, is increasingly important as a way of providing education for change, but also as a force for social justice and can be an important support for reaching these goals. The rise of the Internet and social media provides a conduit for delivery of lifelong learning that can transcend time and place, and harnessing its power can support the UN’s goals for sustainable development. This paper will ...
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The article proposes a theoretical model of the development of parasocial relationships (PSRs) building on Knapp’s model of relationship development. Through synthesis of research across disciplines, the model conceptualizes the... more
The article proposes a theoretical model of the development of parasocial relationships (PSRs) building on Knapp’s model of relationship development. Through synthesis of research across disciplines, the model conceptualizes the relational goals and parasocial interactions (PSIs) specific to the PSR. The model identifies variables that predict engagement at that level, describes the stage’s outcomes/effects, and considers the utility of existing measures to assess these stages. The conceptualization of PSRs as a dynamic process rather than intensity of a monolithic experience offers new directions worthy of empirical examination.
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Before the advent of mass media, the pool of available people to whom one could develop attachments was limited to those proximal to the individual. In an era of media saturation, individuals become acquainted with media personae in some... more
Before the advent of mass media, the pool of available people to whom one could develop attachments was limited to those proximal to the individual. In an era of media saturation, individuals become acquainted with media personae in some detail while those people will never be met face-to-face. This paper addresses two questions: From an evolutionary perspective, what is the expected way that viewers should perceive and react to attractive and familiar media personae? Second, as human beings evolve socially in a mediated environment, will such parasocial attachments be adaptive or will they encourage, as a result of confusion over “real” vs. parasocial relationships, some measure of dysfunction? Using data collected during participant observer ethnography in active fan populations, this paper concludes that parasocial attachment to celebrities would be the expected outcome of repeated exposure to those celebrities in visual media. The Media Equation (Reeves & Naas, 1996), a theory that posits that human perceptions do not differentiate between those that emanate from the real world and those that come from media, is explored to help explain the strong feelings that some media viewers develop for personae only encountered through media. The conclusion is that attachment to celebrities and even celebrity worship itself is predictable and to be expected, rather than being an abnormal and an aberrant manifestation of human behavior. While most case examples of parasocial attachment appeared to support positive functioning, in some cases parasocial attachments can be problematic.
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... more
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.