Correlates of Parasocial Interactions Across Various Media Figures

Parasocial interactions are one-sided relationships formed between a media spectator and a media figure. The current study examined the association of this phenomenon with loneliness, social anxiety, and attachment style, hypothesizing positive associations between self-reported parasocial interactions and loneliness, social anxiety, and anxious attachment style. The study also investigated whether these associations are moderated by co-viewing habits (how often someone views and discusses the object of their parasocial interactions and what platform they use to discuss), category of media figure (actor, musician, fictional character, etc.), and romantic relationship status (including cohabitation and length of relationship). N = 307 participants (41.2% female, 22.8% ethnic minority, ages 19-73) provided data via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a crowdsourcing website. Results suggested negative zero-order associations between strength of parasocial interactions and both loneliness and social anxiety as well as a positive partial correlation between strength of parasocial interactions and anxious attachment when other outcome variables were controlled. Significant moderators included cohabitation in a relationship and discussing one's chosen character with others. These results suggest that engaging in parasocial interactions might alleviate distress caused by social deprivation, though further research is needed to clarify directionality. The results are consistent with a complex interplay between how one engages in and balances social and parasocial interactions. CORRELATES OF PARASOCIAL INTERACTIONS 3 Correlates of Parasocial Interactions Across Various Media Figures Parasocial interaction(s), or PSI, was originally proposed as a psychological term in 1956 by Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl, who defined it as “the seeming face-to-face relationship between spectator and performer” (Horton & Wohl, 1956). Early research focused on identifying parasocial interactions as distinctive from face-to-face social interactions as well as separate from identification with a particular performer (Feilitzen & Linne, 1975; Horton & Strauss, 1957; Rosengren & Windahl, 1972). Following the establishment of parasocial interactions as a unique and legitimate phenomenon, the emphasis of psychological research turned to Horton and Wohl’s (1956) original proposal of parasocial interactions as compensation for social deprivation. A new focus on how these interactions worked and how they might be connected to other psychological constructs related to social deprivation, such as loneliness and social anxiety, emerged in the early 1970s. The model of parasocial interactions as compensation for social deprivation remains prominent today. A complementary model emphasizes the cognitive parallels between parasocial and non-mediated interactions (Perse & Rubin, 1989), so that studying parasocial interactions can provide insight into the workings of non-mediated interactions. For example, John Durham Peters notes in a chapter on conversation and media that one-sided conversations have been taking place−for example, with non-verbal infants, or in prayer−since long before parasocial interactions were defined (Peters, 2007). Investigating the relations between attachment style and parasocial interactions is one way that this model has been realized. In addition to gaining insight into non-mediated interactions, studying parasocial interactions also serves to increase understanding and decrease stigmatization of the phenomenon. Even scholarly researchers often fail to distinguish between pathological celebrity CORRELATES OF PARASOCIAL INTERACTIONS 4 worship (e.g., stalking) and parasocial interactions, despite theoretical work suggesting a continuum between the two (Stever, 2009). Perhaps this attitude among scholars has led those among the general population who do not engage in parasocial interactions to adopt a “sneering attitude” (Buonanno, 2008) toward those who do; for those who are already prone to social anxiety or loneliness, this could lead to further social isolation and the development of other mental health problems. In relation to models of social deprivation and non-mediated interaction parallels, the constructs of loneliness, social anxiety, and adult attachment style have been examined in recent parasocial interaction literature. A strong body of evidence exists to support a link between parasocial interactions and loneliness, social anxiety, and anxious attachment; however, it is still not entirely clear whether the relations between parasocial interactions and loneliness and social anxiety are positive or negative. The current study investigated parasocial interactions as they related to these three concepts as well as the two relatively unexplored concepts of co-viewing habits and media figure categorization.