In a parasocial relationship, one person devotes emotional energy, attention, and time, while the other participant, the persona, is utterly oblivious to the other's existence. The most typical parasocial relationships are with public figures, groups (like sports leagues), or television personalities.
Ø Parasocial Relationships History
When Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl published their influential paper "Mass Communication and Para-Social Relationships: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance" in the journal Psychiatry in 1956, it marked the beginning of the idea of parasocial interactions.
In contrast to parasocial connections, which go beyond a single media interaction and behave psychologically a lot like a relationship in real life,
Only while communicating with an online identity do parasocial interactions occur, which cognitively resemble face-to-face encounters.
An illustration of a parasocial connection would be if you saw the Friends cast hang out at the Central Perk and felt like you belonged to the group. You've developed a parasocial relationship with that Friends character if you keep thinking about Rachel, Chandler, Monica, or one of the other cast members after you've completed watching an episode or if you even make references to their actions as seen on the show.
Despite the distinctions between these ideas, researchers frequently employed the concepts of parasocial ties and interactions interchangeably, which caused some misunderstanding in the research literature. However, more recently, researchers have concluded that although parasocial ties and interaction are related, they are separate ideas.
Ø What Creates a Parasocial Relationship?
Parasocial connections begin when a media user meets and learns to know a media persona, just like in-person interactions do. Parasocial contacts might result in a parasocial relationship if the persona leaves an impression that prompts the media user to consider them after the interaction.
Further parasocial encounters can deepen parasocial relationships, which can sometimes result in parasocial attachment.
Additionally, a parasocial breakup can occur if the parasocial connection terminates due to the death of the media figure, the conclusion of the television or film series in which they feature, or the media user's decision to stop engaging with the media persona.
According to research, when a parasocial relationship ends, people react in ways that are comparable to how they would if a social relationship ended. For instance, individuals who had the strongest parasocial ties to one of the characters on the television show Friends exhibited the most sadness when it ended.
parasocial relationships definition
Ø Why Do We Create Parasocial Relationships?
The formation of parasocial interactions by media users despite the lack of reciprocity may initially seem odd, but it's vital to keep in mind that people are social beings by nature. In contrast, the social traits that have developed to ensure that we build interpersonal interactions have been extended to media use, despite the fact that media is a very early development in human history and has not yet had a significant impact on our evolution.
Humans prefer to pay great attention to the voices and looks of other humans. For centuries, the only voices and faces we frequently heard were those of the people we interacted with on a daily basis. With the introduction of radio and motion pictures in the early 20th century that began to change, and by the time television became widely accessible the variety of faces and voices that might be familiarized through media had multiplied dramatically.
Our brains, however, have not evolved to be able to tell the difference between those we see and hear in the media and those we see and hear in our daily lives. As a result, we interpret and react to these encounters in the same way, which results in parasocial phenomena in all of their manifestations.
As a result, while psychology study has occasionally tried to diagnose parasocial relationships as disorders, the majority of academics now concur that making parasocial connections is natural and something that most media users do. The majority of individuals also are aware that their interactions with media characters are unreal, despite the fact that they nonetheless behave as if they are.
Ø Being fan versus parasocial relationships
Someone who supports someone or something, such as a movie or sports team, is known as a fan. A fan may be devoted, devoted, and loyal to a person and their work. A famous person may motivate a follower to produce significant work or advocate for a cause. Fan, on the other hand, does not feel that they have a relationship with the media personality, unlike someone in a parasocial relationship.
parasocial relationships definition
Ø Conclusion
Parasocial connections are quite normal and sometimes even beneficial to a person's health. Parasocial interactions, on the other hand, work best as a complement to or addition to one's social relationships and requirements. Although having parasocial ties is acceptable, they shouldn't take the place of genuine, in-person conversations and relationships.
