PARASOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTS
PDF 64-74 (Українська)

Keywords

mass communication
media effects
parasocial relationship

How to Cite

Chaplinska, Y. (2020). PARASOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTS. PSYCHOLOGICAL JOURNAL, 6(4), 64–74. https://doi.org/10.31108/1.2020.6.4.5

Abstract

This article generalizes the performed theoretical review of scientific research on the parasocial theory. The author separates key concepts of the parasocial theory such as parasocial interactions and parasocial relationships and gives a brief description of them. She describes phenomenon of parasocial processing, which is studied rarely. This phenomenon is generated while mass-media watching, but does not lead to the formation of neither parasocial interaction nor parasocial relationships; however media consumers demonstrate reactions to media persons or on their certain phrases or actions on the cognitive, emotional and behavioural levels. Basing on the theoretical analysis, by synthesizing and generalizing world scientific achievements, the author presents, within parasocial theory, ten media effects the most common among consumers. The presented media effects demonstrate various options of consequences (from emotional to behavioural) characteristic for the audience with formed parasocial relationships. The author divides media effects on the following groups: the illusory effects, appearing if young people, while watching, experience something that does not actually exist  (the effects of parasocial presence, paraidentification, virtual reversed parasocial projection); the effects of emotional bias, when people immerse emotionally into a relationship with a media figure and starts to think of them as of a real person (when they are not) and, consequently, because of emotions, media consumers stop to look at this media figure objectively or analyze their actions (the effects of paraempathy, parasocial belonging, influenced perception of a media figure); the effects of a changed personal ideology, when people influenced by parasocial relationship change their opinions or values (the effects of parasocial contact, self-concept modification); and behavioural effects when the existing parasocial relations change an individual’s behavioural patterns and add a new ones (the effects of fans’ paracreativity, consumer behaviour, self-concept modification). It is also important to note that each of the described effects cannot be considered as positive or negative as they all depend on personal life circumstances.

 

https://doi.org/10.31108/1.2020.6.4.5
PDF 64-74 (Українська)

References

Adam, A., Sizemoreb, B. (2013). Parasocial Romance: A Social Exchange Perspective. Interpersonal, 7(1), 12–25.

Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books, 576 р.

Bandura, A. (1969). Social-learning theory of identificatory processes. In D. A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of socialization theory and research (pp. 213–262). Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.

Barrick, M. R., Patton, G. K., & Haugland, S. N. (2000). Accuracy of interviewer judgments of job applicant personality traits. Personnel Psychology, 53(4), 925–951.

Blight, M. G. (2016). Relationships to Video Game Streamers: Examining Gratifications, Parasocial Relationships, Fandom, and Community Affiliation Online. PhD Dissertation (Communication). The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, USA. [online]. Available at: https://dc.uwm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2260&context=etd [Accessed 20 March. 2020].

Chaplinska Iu. S. (2016). Model proyavu ya-kontseptsiyi pri parasotsiainiy vzaemodiyi [The model of self-concept manifestation in parasocial interaction]. Naukovi studiyi iz sotsialnoyi ta polItichnoyi psihologiyi: zbirnik statey Inctitutu sotsialnoyi ta politichnoyi psihologiyi NAPN Ukrayini [Scientific Studies in Social and Political Psychology: Collection of Articles of the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine], 37 (40), 289–299 [in Ukrainian]

Cohen, J. (2001). Defining identification: A theoretical look at identification of audiences with media characters. Mass Communication & Society, 4, 245–264.

Cohen, J. (2009). Mediated relationships and media effects: Parasocial interaction and identification. In Nabi, R., Oliver, M. B. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of media processes and effects (pp. 223–236). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Derrick, J. L., Gabriel, S., & Hugenberg, K. (2009). Social surrogacy: How favored television programs provide the experience of belonging. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45 (2), 352–362.

Derrick, J. L., Gabriel, S., & Tippin, B. (2008). Parasocial relationships and self-discrepancies: Faux relationships have benefits for low self-esteem individuals. Personal Relationships, 15 (2), 261–280.

Dibble, J. L., & Rosaen, S. F. (2011). Parasocial interaction as more than friendship: Evidence for parasocial interactions with disliked media figures. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 23 (3), 122–132.

Dibble, J. L., Hartmann, T., & Rosaen, S. F. (2016). Parasocial interaction and parasocial relationship: Conceptual clarification and a critical assessment of measures. Human Communication Research, 42 (1), 21–44.

Eyal, K. & Cohen, J. (2006). When good friends say goodbye: A parasocial breakup study. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 50(3), 502–523.

Eyal, K., & Rubin, A. M. (2003). Viewer aggression and homophily, identification, and parasocial relationships with television characters. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 47, 77–98.

Gardner, W. L., & Knowles, M. L. (2008). Love makes you real: Favorite television characters are perceived as ‘‘real” in a social facilitation paradigm. Social Cognition, 26, 156–168.

Giles, D. (2010). Parasocial relationships. In J. Eder, F.Jannidis, R.Schneider (Eds.), Characters in Fictional Worlds: Understanding Imaginary Beings in Literature, Film, and Other Media (pp. 442–459). Publisher: Walter de Gruyter.

Green, M. C., Brock, T. C., & Kaufman, G. F. (2004). Understanding media enjoyment: The role of transportation into narrative worlds. Communication Theory, 14, 311–327.

Greenwood, D. N. (2007). Are female action heroes risky role models? Character identification, idealization, and viewer aggression. Sex Roles, 57, 725–732.

Greenwood, D. N. (2008). Television as an escape from self: Psychological predictors of media involvement. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 414–424.

Greenwood, D. N., Pietromonaco, P. R., & Long, C. R. (2008). Young women’s attachment style and interpersonal engagement with female TV stars. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 25, 387–407.

Hartmann, T., Schramm, H., & Klimmt, C. (2004). Personenorientierte Medienrezeption: Ein zwei-Ebenen-Modell parasozialer Interaktionen [Person-oriented media exposure: a two-level model of parasocial interactions]. Publizistik, 49, 25–47. [in German]

Have ten, C. E. (2017) Beauty vloggers and their influence on consumer-buying intentions (The case of the Netherlands). Erasmus University Rotterdam. [online]. Available at: https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/39696/Have-Charlotte-ten.pdf [Accessed 20 March. 2019].

Hoffner, C. & Buchanan, M. (2005). Young Adults’ Wishful Identification With Television Characters: The Role of Perceived Similarity and Character Attributes. Media Psychology, 7, 325–351.

Hoffner, C. (1996). Children’s wishful identification and parasocial interaction with favorite television characters. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 40 (3), 389–402.

Horton, D. and Wohl, R. (1956). Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction: Observation on Intimacy at a Distance. Psychiatry, 19, 215–229.

Hu, M. (2016). The influence of a scandal on parasocial relationship, parasocial interaction, and parasocial breakup. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 5(3), 217–231.

Klimmt, C., Hartmann, T., & Schramm, H. (2006). Parasocial Interactions and Relationships. In J. Bryant & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Psychology of entertainment (pp. 291–313). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Knowles, M. L. (2007). The nature of parasocial relationships (Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Northwestern University, Evanston). [online]. Available at: https://arch.library.northwestern.edu/downloads/m900nt463?locale=en [Accessed 20 March. 2020].

Liebers, N., Schramm, H. (2017). Friends in books: The influence of character attributes and the reading experience on parasocial relationships and romances. Рoetics, 65, 12–23.

Lonial, S. C., & van Auken, S. (1986). Wishful identification with fictional characters: An assessment of the implications of gender in message dissemination to children. Journal of Advertising, 15 (4), 4–11.

Manifold, М. (2009). Fanart as Craft and the Creation of Culture. International Journal of Education through Art, 5, 7–21.

Marwick, A. & Boyd, D. (2011). To see and be seen: Celebrity practice on Twitter. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 17 (2), 139–158.

Murray, S. (1999). Saving our so-called lives: Girls fandom, adolescent subjectivity and My so-calle life. In M. Kinder (Ed.) Kid’s media culture. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 221–235

Perse, E. M., & Rubin, R. R. (1989). Attribution in social and parasocial relationships. Communication Research, 16, 59–77.

Pettigrew, T. F. (1998). Intergroup contact theory. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 65–85.

Reeves, B., & Lometti, G. (1979). The dimensional structure of children’s perceptions of television characters: A replication. Human Communication Research, 5, 247–256.

Regan, P. C., Snyder, M., & Kassin, S. M. (1995). Unrealistic optimism: Self-enhancement or person positivity?. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21(10), 1073–1082.

Reysen, S., & Branscombe, N. R. (2010). Fanship and fandom: Comparisons between sport fans and non-sport fans. Journal of Sport Behavior, 33, 176–193.

Rosengren, K. E., Windahl, S., Hakansson, P.-A., Johnsson-Smaragdi U. (1976). Adolescents’ TV relations: Three scales. Communication Research, 3, 347–366.

Rothbart, M., & John, O. P. (1985). Social categorization and behavioral episodes: A cognitive analysis of the effects of intergroup contact. Journal of Social Issues, 41, 81–104.

Schiappa, E., Gregg, P., & Hewes, D. (2005) The Parasocial Contact Hypothesis.Communication Monographs, 72, 92–115.

Schramm, H., & Hartmann, T. (2008). The PSI-process scales: A new measure to assess the intensity and breadth of parasocial processes. Communications, 33(4), 385–401.

Schramm, H., & Wirth, W. (2010). Testing a universal tool for measuring parasocial interactions across different situations and media. Journal of Media Psychology, 22(1), 26–36.

Steinke, J., Applegate, B., Lapinski, M., Ryan, L., Long, M. (2011). Gender differences in adolescents’ wishful identification with scientist characters on television. [online]. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1075547011410250 [Accessed 20 March. 2020].

Stever, G. (2009). Parasocial and Social Interaction with Celebrities: Classification of Media Fans. Journal of Media Psychology, 14 (3), 1–39.

Stever, G. (1991). The celebrity appeal questionnaire. Psychological Reports, 68(3), 859–866.

Sweetser, P., & Wyeth, P. (2005). GameFlow: a model for evaluating player enjoyment in games. Computers in Entertainment, 3 (3), 1–24.

Tesser, A., & Campbell, J. (1982). Self-evaluation maintenance and the perception of friends and strangers. Journal of Personality, 50(3), 261–279.

Tian, Q. & Hoffner, C. (2010). Parasocial Interaction With Liked, Neutral, and Disliked Characters on a Popular TV Series. Mass communication and society. 13 (3), 250–269.

Williams, R. M., Jr., Dean, J. P., & Suchman, E. A. (1964). Strangers next door: Ethnic relations in American communities. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 434 p.

Copyright Notice

Articles in the Psychological Journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License International CC-BY that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. For more detailed information, please, fallow the link - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/