No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Social surrogacy: How favored television programs provide the experience of belonging
Abstract
The current research examines the Social Surrogacy Hypothesis: parasocial relationships in favored television programs can provide the experience of belonging. Four studies support the hypothesis. Study 1 demonstrated that people report turning to favored television programs when feeling lonely, and feel less lonely when viewing those programs. Study 2 demonstrated that experimentally activating belongingness needs leads people to revel longer in descriptions of favored (but not non-favored) television programs. Study 3 demonstrated that thinking about favored (but not non-favored) television programs buffers against drops in self-esteem and mood and against increases in feelings of rejection commonly elicited by threats to close relationships. Finally, Study 4 demonstrated that thinking about favored television programs reduces activation of chronically activated rejection-related words. These results yield provocative preliminary evidence for the Social Surrogacy Hypothesis. Thinking about valued television programs appears to yield the experience of belongingness.
... Besides the potential benefits of thinking about "real-life" relationships, a large body of research investigated the role of parasocial relationships (PSRs)-intimate non-reciprocal relationships with media personae (Horton & Wohl, 1956)in coping with ostracism (for an overview, see Gabriel & Valenti, 2017). The most commonly studied personae in this field are musicians (Paravati, 2020), celebrities (Iannone et al., 2018;Timeo et al., 2020), and favorite characters portrayed in books or movies (Derrick et al., 2009). These studies have shown that even the cognitive activation of PSRs (i.e., thinking or writing about personae) benefits socially excluded individuals. ...
... However, they did not explore whether applying these strategies actually leads to higher levels of belongingness. Second, although some studies explicitly measure coping effectiveness, this does not apply to both strategies: For PSRs, research points to effective coping regarding belongingness need restoration and emotion regulation (i.e., well-being; Derrick et al., 2009). However, OSRs were only associated with effective emotion regulation (e.g., Ahn & Shin, 2013), whereas their potential for belongingness need restoration was rarely investigated (for a recent exception, see Paravati et al., 2021). ...
... However, OSRs were only associated with effective emotion regulation (e.g., Ahn & Shin, 2013), whereas their potential for belongingness need restoration was rarely investigated (for a recent exception, see Paravati et al., 2021). Third, the studies mentioned above (Ahn & Shin, 2013;Derrick et al., 2009; tested the effects of either PSRs or OSRs but not their (potentially) differential effects by directly comparing these coping strategies. ...
Being socially excluded seriously threatens individuals’ need to belong and emotional well-being. This article investigates to what extent different coping strategies help overcome these detrimental effects: thinking about real-life friends/enemies (i.e., orthosocial relationships, OSRs) and thinking about (dis)liked media characters (i.e., parasocial relationships, PSRs). Across three experiments (NPilot = 129, NStudy1 = 132, NStudy2 = 855), we first induced social exclusion using a virtual ball-tossing game. Afterward, we manipulated different relationship types and valences and compared them to non- or less-relational control conditions. As hypothesized, belongingness and emotional well-being increased from pre- to post-coping. This effect was fully mediated by perceived relationship closeness to the respective person(a). Highlighting that PSRs represent more than surrogates (i.e., secondary replacements of OSR), both relationship types did not differ in coping effectiveness. Moreover, positive relationships were more effective in fulfilling both coping goals than negative ones.
... Furthermore, a study by Wen et al. (2017) [64] found that feelings of loneliness can lead to pessimistic thoughts in consumers. This can cause them to pay more attention to negative information presented in advertisements and prefer a defensive message a framing style to avoid risks [65]. The emotional state of consumers affects their cognitive evaluation and purchasing behaviour [31]. ...
... Previous research has demonstrated that individuals' attitudes, intentions, and online shopping behaviour are significantly influenced by important people in their lives [24]. The social surrogacy theory posits that when consumers experience loneliness, it triggers their social needs, leading them to seek social substitutes through consumption behaviour to satisfy those needs and alleviate their loneliness [65]. Loneliness has been found to increase consumers' willingness to watch popular TV shows [65] and use social media applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and Weibo [66]. ...
... The social surrogacy theory posits that when consumers experience loneliness, it triggers their social needs, leading them to seek social substitutes through consumption behaviour to satisfy those needs and alleviate their loneliness [65]. Loneliness has been found to increase consumers' willingness to watch popular TV shows [65] and use social media applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and Weibo [66]. However, some studies suggest that lonely consumers may perceive a lack of control and tend to avoid risks, resulting in a reduced preference for uncertain consumption [67]. ...
The trend of male celebrities endorsing female products is increasing. However, research is lacking on whether this influence is due to the positive emotions generated by the male celebrity's attractiveness or the peer pressure due to mass purchases by the celebrity's fans, and how these effects differ across products with different attributes. This study aims to fill the gap in the existing literature by investigating the influence of male endorsers on female consumers purchase intention, and to deepen the understanding of the mechanisms by which attractiveness and conformity jointly influence purchase decisions. This study used a mixed-design text experiment to investigate the impact of male endorsers' attractiveness and conformity on female college students' positive product attitude and purchase intention for gender-neutral product, female skincare product, and female intimate product, based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). The data collected from 456 female college students were analyzed using bootstrap analysis. The study found that both male endorsers' attractiveness and conformity can enhance female college students' positive product attitude and promote their purchase intention for gender-neutral product. However, for female skincare product, male endorsers' attractiveness affects their positive product attitude and purchase intention. Nevertheless, when conformity was present, attractiveness no longer had an effect. Furthermore, for individuals with high levels of loneliness, attractiveness had a detrimental effect on their positive product attitude. On the other hand, conformity had a positive effect by promoting positive product attitude and increasing purchase intention. For female's intimate product, attractiveness did not affect positive product attitude and purchase intention, but the positive effect of conformity remained significant, and both relationships were not moderated by loneliness. It enhances our comprehension of the intricate dynamics underlying the influence of male celebrity endorsements on consumer purchasing decisions, and also offers theoretical justification for the selection of male endorsers for diverse female product.
... Sebuah studi yang dilakukan di Amerika Serikat menemukan bahwa orangorang dengan need to belong tinggi cenderung membentuk hubungan parasosial yang lebih intens dibandingkan dengan mereka yang memiliki need to belong rendah (Knowles, 2007). Sejumlah penelitian lainnya di Amerika Serikat juga menemukan bahwa hubungan parasosial dapat memberikan pengalaman belongingness ketika seseorang merasa kesepian (Derrick et al., 2009;Rosaen & Dibble, 2015 ...
... Mengacu pada hasil uji hipotesis pertama, ditemukan bahwa need to belong merupakan prediktor yang signifikan dari hubungan parasosial. Hasil ini sesuai dengan sejumlah penelitian sebelumnya yang juga melihat pengaruh need to belong terhadap hubungan parasosial (Knowles, 2007;Derrick et al., 2009;Rosaen & Dibble, 2015). ...
... Meskipun need to belong secara konseptual lebih diutamakan sebagai aspek internal, sejumlah penelitian juga menemukan bahwa terdapat situasi-situasi yang lebih bergantung pada aspek relasional yang dapat berpengaruh pada dorongan tersebut. Sebagai contoh, dalam penelitianDerrick et al., (2009) ditemukan bahwa ketika partisipan diberikan manipulasi akan penolakan sosial yang dapat mengancam belongingness mereka, partisipan juga dengan segera melakukan hal-hal yang dapat membantu mereka menggantikan kebutuhan tersebut melalui hubungan parasosial.Menyambung hasil penelitianDerrick et al., (2009), hasil dari penelitian kali ini dapat ditelaah melalui tuntutan perkembangan usia dewasa muda dan keterkaitannya dengan need to belong yang semakin terancam. Bagi para dewasa muda, relasi sosial memainkan peran yang sangat penting bagi kehidupan sehari-hari dan mereka dituntut untuk membentuk suatu ikatan intim dengan orang-orang di sekitarnya(Papalia & Martorell, 2015). ...
Parasocial relationship refers to a phenomenon whereby audiences feel an inkling to long-term and meaningful social relationship through a one-sided, mediated interaction with certain media personae. Through the previous framework, the current study utilizes parasocial relationship as a mechanism which could potentially help the audience at large in fulfilling or substituting their need for meaningful social relationships. In response to this, numerous studies have established the relationship between the need to belong and parasocial relationship. However, most of those studies were conducted in the United States while using college students as its sample. The current study aims to re-investigate the effect of the need to belong on parasocial relationship in Indonesia, while utilizing a broader range of participants, demographic-wise. Furthermore, this study also aims to investigate the effect of perceived social support on parasocial relationship. Participants were 18-25-year-old Indonesians (N=345) who identify themselves as anime fans. The Parasocial Relationship Scale (PSR), the Need to Belong Scale (NTBS), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were administered to analyze the effects of the need to belong and perceived social support on parasocial relationship. An analysis using the multiple linear regression method found that there was a positive and significant effect between the need to belong and parasocial relationship.
However, there was no significant effect between perceived social support and parasocial relationship. These findings suggest that other providers of perceived social support—such as the audience’s favorite character—should be incorporated in future research. Nevertheless, evidently, anime might be a useful source to fulfil the audience’s belongingness needs.
... In the case of PSR, research exploring how individuals are able to fulfill socio-emotional needs by engaging with media, offers insight on PSR as a moderator of negative feelings. For example, individuals watch their favored television programs when feeling lonely, and evoking these programs buffer against drops in self-esteem, bad moods, and rejection feelings (Derrick, Gabriel, & Hugenberg, 2009). Other studies suggest that through PSR individuals fulfill the need to belong (Gardner, Pickett, & Knowles, 2005), increase life satisfaction and positive mood (Gabriel & Young, 2011), experience movement to the ideal self (Derrick, Gabriel, & Tippin, 2008), moderate negative body images in both women (Young, Gabriel, & Sechrist, 2012) and men (Young, Gabriel, & Hollar, 2013), and restore affect (Lakey, Cooper, Cronin, & Whitaker, 2014). ...
... This is exemplified by PSI behavior in which people fuel the illusion of intimacy with mediated figures by "talking" to them or by imagining conversations, as if the mediated other were an acquaintance or a friend. Another set of behaviors linking attachment theory and PSR is using the mediated figure as a safe haven, given that they can be used for finding solace when distressed (Derrick, Gabriel, & Hugenberg, 2009), regulating affect (Lakey, Cooper, Cronin, & Whitaker, 2014), restoring self-control in the same way individuals use attachment figures as a source of safety (Derrick, 2012), and for reducing anxiety after abrupt, unintentional changes in standard social routines (Bond, 2021). Secure base behaviors, commonly associated with attachment behavior in infancy and adulthood, have also been documented in PSR (Blumberg et al., 2017). ...
... Second, a similar approach advanced by Derrick, Gabriel, and Hugenberg (2009) sees PSR as a surrogacy mechanism through which individuals satisfy the need to belong regardless of the quality of their social relationships. They concluded that viewing or thinking about favored television programs buffers against feelings of loneliness, drops in selfesteem, mood changes, and increases in feelings of rejection. ...
While research on parasocial relationships (PSR) suggests that social and parasocial relationships are analogous, there is no clear understanding of what might be the underlying psychological mechanisms regulating PSR. Given the importance of attachment theory in the formation of interpersonal bonds, studies have suggested that attachment theory is also important for the formation of PSR. However, this line of research has focused mainly on attachment styles as predictors of PSR formation, barely exploring the role of the attachment behavioral system in the formation of PSR. To close this gap, this investigation argues that PSR is an attachment process, a biosocial process by which individuals form emotional bonds with mediated figures just as emotional bonds are formed in social relationships. It starts by categorizing empirical evidence of the presence of attachment behaviors in PSR. Then, it argues that attachment theory helps to answer three pressing research questions at the center of PSR studies: why do individuals establish PSR, when do they establish it, and what is the goal of doing so. By considering PSR as an attachment process, this investigation concludes that PSR occurs naturally given the familiarity of the mediated figure, that individuals establish PSR throughout the lifespan, and that its formation contributes to the biological goal of protection.
... As such, the taxonomy provides a more nuanced understanding of different coping efforts and therefore allows us to systematize previous findings. Recent research revealed several devices, types of applications, and branded applications that can serve as coping tools following social exclusion, such as television (Derrick et al., 2009), video games (Bowman et al., 2015;Tamplin-Wilson et al., 2019), instant messengers (Gross, 2009), or Facebook (Utz & Lin, 2018. However, in some cases, media use was measured in a feature-unspecific fashion (e.g., "frequency of Facebook use;" Knowles et al., 2015), thus providing only information regarding the tool, not respective the performed coping strategy. ...
... Previous research already investigated whether using media as a coping tool can prevent socially excluded individuals from entering this so-called resignation stage. These studies either focused on need restoration (e.g., Knowles et al., 2015;Schneider et al., 2017) or indicators of emotion regulation such as distress (Chiou et al., 2015), mood (Knausenberger & Echterhoff, 2018), and affect (Derrick et al., 2009;Gross, 2009;Lin et al., 2017;Tamplin-Wilson et al., 2019). ...
... Some of these activities (e.g., going to movies, watching TV, using the internet, reading, or playing games) were explicitly mentioned as a means "to distract oneself" (Van Ingen & Wright, 2016). Engaging in thoughts that are unrelated to the exclusion experience can manifest in a variety of activities: Watching whatever was on television (Derrick et al., 2009), listening to anything that was played on the radio (Paravati, 2020), casual gaming without being highly involved and bonded with other users (Snodgrass et al., 2018), or exposing oneself to humorous media content (e.g., comedy videos and memes; Cauberghe et al., 2021). Turning to nonsocial media content -such as pictures of trees (Knowles et al., 2015) or texts about migrating birds ) -can also serve as a distraction and thus represent a cognitive avoidance strategy. ...
Socially excluded individuals often use media to cope with their feelings of loneliness, restore threatened needs, and regulate their emotions. However, social exclusion experiences have often been studied from a social-psychological perspective, with little consideration of media-specific characteristics. Thus, this paper aims to identify which different media applications individuals use to overcome social exclusion experiences and how effective this is in terms of need restoration and emotion regulation. A systematic review yielded 119 studies investigating 274 coping tools and 134 underlying strategies. Results indicated that media represent multifunctional tools that enable behavioral approach, behavioral avoidance, cognitive approach, and cognitive avoidance coping. Overall, using these tools was effective in 59% of all cases, with different strategies being linked to more or less effectiveness. By highlighting the theoretical implications of these findings, this paper provides six suggestions that can guide future research within this field.
... These connections can act as substitutes for real social relationships. Thereby fulfill their belongingness needs (Derrick et al., 2009). ...
... Building on the preceding discussion, this research aims to examine the relationship between parasocial relationships and zest for life, with belongingness as a mediator, among K-Pop fans in the emerging adulthood age group. While previous studies have explored the connection between parasocial relationships and belongingness (Derrick et al., 2009), and indicated that zest for life may diminish when the need for belongingness remains unmet (George et al., 2020). There is a gap in the literature regarding the relationship between parasocial relationships, belongingness, and zest for life among emerging adulthood-aged K-Pop fans. ...
... Research, however, shows that robots with human-like features appear less uncanny if they avoid heavily mimicking a human [35]. In addition to the Uncanny Valley Theory, Social Surrogate Theory states that people can find social interaction partners in surrogates that do not fulfill all criteria of sociability like another human being does [36]. However, since social surrogates such as social robots do not display as much (natural) sociability and "human-like" features as humans, one can infer that they show less social presence in interaction situations. ...
... This novelty requires people to seek new knowledge but also provides them opportunities for exploration and learning, making it intrinsically motivating [15,55]. Consequently, besides social presence, which, according to Social Surrogate Theory, is lower in interactions with robots [36], other psychological mechanisms, such as novelty, might influence people's perceptions of and reactions towards robots. ...
Social, anthropomorphic robots are increasingly used in professional work environments to collaborate with humans. However, little is known about how these robots affect human workers in performance-critical aspects, such as feedback. The present study investigates differences between the effects of a robot and a human feedback giver on self-esteem, intrinsic motivation, and psychophysiological reactions. Using a mixed model design for subjective data and a between-subject design for psychophysiological data, we tested 72 participants who performed a cognitive task on working memory, namely the 3-back task. The results indicate that people are more motivated to perform the task when receiving feedback from a robot, but their electrodermal activity and heart rate are higher after receiving positive feedback from a human. There is no difference in electrodermal activity following negative feedback from a human or a robot. Additional analyses show that individuals report feeling less comfortable and perceiving less social warmth when receiving feedback from a robot compared to a human. Furthermore, individuals exhibit higher skin conductance responses when perceiving greater social warmth in their interactions, regardless of whether their interaction partner is a human or a robot. The results suggest that social robots may serve as surrogates for social interaction. However, they seem to have less social presence, which leads to reduced psychophysiological reactions. This knowledge may be used to calibrate arousal in feedback situations.
... ruling out the potential role of emotional closeness to celebrities Previous research demonstrates that neural representations of people in midline cortical structures are organized according to their psychological closeness 20,42 , and some evidence suggests that lonelier individuals are more likely to seek the experience of social connection from watching TV and may therefore be more likely to form parasocial attachments to media figures 48,49 . Therefore, we also examined ratings of closeness with celebrities to assess whether any associations between loneliness and more idiosyncratic neural representations of celebrities were attributable to greater emotional attachment to celebrities. ...
... Loneliness is also associated with internally-focused thinking removed from "the here and now" social environment, such as reminiscing about the past 75 and imagining social interactions, including with non-human others 76 . This increase in internally focused thinking is theorized to be an attempt (not necessarily conscious) by lonely individuals to compensate for their perceived lack of meaningful connection with members of their real-life social networks 48,69 . One proposed function of the default network is to integrate incoming extrinsic information with existing intrinsic information in order to make sense of the world 77 . ...
The word zeitgeist refers to common perceptions shared in a given culture. Meanwhile, a defining feature of loneliness is feeling that one’s views are not shared with others. Does loneliness correspond with deviating from the zeitgeist? Across two independent brain imaging datasets, lonely participants’ neural representations of well-known celebrities strayed from group-consensus neural representations in the medial prefrontal cortex—a region that encodes and retrieves social knowledge (Studies 1 A/1B: N = 40 each). Because communication fosters social connection by creating shared reality, we next asked whether lonelier participants’ communication about well-known celebrities also deviates from the zeitgeist. Indeed, when a strong group consensus exists, lonelier individuals use idiosyncratic language to describe well-known celebrities (Study 2: N = 923). Collectively, results support lonely individuals’ feeling that their views are not shared. This suggests loneliness may not only reflect impoverished relationships with specific individuals, but also feelings of disconnection from prevalently shared views of contemporary culture.
... In Studies 1-2, people believed their PSRs could be effective in regulating their emotions, and indeed believed they could be more responsive than weak two-sided relationships (i.e., acquaintances). This builds on previous work which suggests that people do engage with PSRs when they are experiencing certain emotions (e.g., loneliness; 11 ). However, this previous work does not account for the psychological mechanisms behind why people engage with PSRs this way. ...
... However, unlike in past research on close twosided relationships, people with low self-esteem (LSE; − 1 SD) did not engage in self-protection by perceiving less responsiveness from PSRs in the threat condition, relative to those who were not threatened, b = − 0. In other words, when people feel threatened in their in-person social world, both LSEs and HSEs believe their PSRs are equally responsive. On the other hand, when their in-person social world appears to be capable of responding to their needs, people with low self-esteem perceive their PSRs as more responsive to their needs than people with higher self-esteem, consistent with past research finding that LSEs more consistently engage with PSRs (e.g., 11,34 ). ...
People regularly form one-sided, “parasocial” relationships (PSRs) with targets incapable of returning the sentiment. Past work has shown that people engage with PSRs to support complex psychological needs (e.g., feeling less lonely after watching a favorite movie). However, we do not know how people rate these relationships relative to traditional two-sided relationships in terms of their effectiveness in supporting psychological needs. The current research (Ntotal = 3085) examined how PSRs help people fulfil emotion regulation needs. In Studies 1 and 2, participants felt that both their YouTube creator and non-YouTube creator PSRs were more effective at fulfilling their emotional needs than in-person acquaintances, albeit less effective than close others. In Study 3, people with high self-esteem thought PSRs would be responsive to their needs when their sociometer was activated, just as they do with two-sided relationships.
... Reflecting on the reality that parasocial experiences are assumed to be similar to everyday interactions and relationships between two "real" individuals, this is rather obvious. Nowadays, the influence of social psychology can be seen in various ways, from the integration of social psychological theories (see also the previous section "The Integration of Other Theories to Advance the Understanding of Parasocial Experiences" in this chapter) to studies investigating parasocial experiences in the context of media users' broader social environment (e.g., Derrick et al., 2009;Schiappa et al., 2006). ...
... One way is the investigation of how parasocial experiences can support individuals during certain stages of life, such as during adolescence (e.g., ; see also Chapter 8) or in the retirement age (e.g., Bernhold & Metzger, 2020; see also Chapter 9). Another possibility is to research how parasocial experiences can provide feelings of relatedness (e.g., Derrick et al., 2009; see also Chapter 10) or can shape perceptions of self (e.g., Eyal & Te'eni-Harari, 2013; see also Chapter 11). In conclusion, we also note a trend toward investigating how parasocial experiences influence identity processes within individuals whose social groups tend to be underrepresented within media contexts, such as people of color (e.g., Hall, 2022; see also Chapter 18) or members of the LGBTQA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, asexual, and other identities) community (e.g., Woznicki et al., 2021; see also Chapter 13). ...
This chapter provides an overview of the evolution of parasocial research. To begin, the origin of parasocial research in the 1950s is described, followed by milestones in the development of theoretical perspectives on parasocial experiences. In the next step, the growing interest in empirical research concerning parasocial experiences is explained. After explaining the development and milestones of parasocial research, the chapter takes a look at today’s scope of parasocial research by addressing its diversification and current research trends. In doing so, this chapter offers meaningful insights into parasocial research from a meta-perspective and, in turn, can be seen as a kind of foundation for the following chapters of this handbook.
... A variety of work has shown that the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of parasocial bonds tend to mimic the cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of real-life relationships (Giles, 2002;Perse & Rubin, 1989;Rubin & McHugh, 1987). For example, parasocial relationship partners can provide the experience of belonging, much like real life friends can provide feelings of inclusion (Derrick et al., 2009;Paravati et al., 2021). Greater investment and satisfaction with parasocial relationships predicts commitment to the relationship much like it does for real friendships (Eyal & Dailey, 2012). ...
... Desire to Seek Out Celebrities were measured using two versions of a 13-item modified social surrogate questionnaire (Derrick et al., 2009); one for positive celebrities (α = .92) and one for ambivalent (α = .91). ...
The recent exponential increase in information available online has not only increased access to information about celebrities, but also decreased the degree to which that information is unambiguously positive. In the current work, we examined how positive celebrities (i.e. celebrities who are primarily admired) versus more ambiguous celebrities (i.e. celebrities about whom people have mixed feelings) differentially affect feelings about the self. Across three studies, we found that high attachment anxiety was associated with assimilating positive celebrities to feel better about the self, whereas attachment avoidance was associated with contrasting ambivalent celebrities to feel better to feel better about the self. Implications for parasocial relationships, social comparison, and attachment are discussed.
... However, this survey study cannot support causal inferences. In a different study, Derrick et al. (2009) instructed another set of participants to write about a fight with someone close to them, then asked them to describe either their favorite show or whatever was on television. Only writing about the favorite shows restored fight-primed people's deteriorated moods. ...
... Studies of social surrogacy suggest that thinking about favorite programs improves the deteriorated moods of people who need to regulate their mood, but not those of people without such needs (Derrick, 2013). Writing about favorite programs (as opposed to whatever is on), which provide a social world with which people interact, repairs the negative moods of participants under relationship threats, though not those who are not facing any such threats (Derrick et al., 2009). In addition, participants with traumatic experiences, compared with those without, are more likely to engage in social surrogate activities (e.g., watching television; Gabriel et al., 2017). ...
This article seeks to explain the mood repair process that sad viewers undergo and the mood enhancement process that happy viewers adopt when they watch drama series with varying levels of likability and familiarity. Building on the idea that drama enjoyment can regulate moods, the authors test three possible processes: transportation path (involving transportation and enjoyment), meaning path (involving transportation, moved feelings, thought reflections, and enjoyment), and parasocial support path (involving transportation, parasocial interactions, identification with drama characters, and enjoyment). The findings identify likability as crucial and also show that the processes vary for happy versus sad viewers. For a free copy, please click: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/IJGEG6ADIH8UAIQRIEUU/full?target=10.1080/08838151.2022.2146692
... Social presence refers to the ability of a medium to allow consumers Research has shown that spatial and social presence in virtual environments enhances people's sense of connection and enjoyment in social activities (Szita et al., 2024). Video content, in particular, can foster a sense of belonging (Derrick et al., 2009). As a form of video media, documentaries offer a narrative experience that temporarily immerses viewers in social presence (Valenzuela et al., 2023). ...
Religious food plays a key role in conveying religious culture, transcending religious values due to its everyday and universal nature. With the growth of digital media, film and television, particularly documentaries, have become valuable tools for promoting religious food culture. While religious food is often viewed as a niche for the faithful, non-religious consumers now dominate the halal food market. This study explores how religious food documentaries influence non-religious individuals' purchase intentions, focusing on narrative transportation theory and awe in religious experiences through the lens of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). A survey of 381 non-Muslim viewers of halal food documentaries revealed that documentary narratives and religious experiences significantly impact purchase intentions. Telepresence and social presence in the narratives affect perceived behavioural control, attitudes, and subjective norms, while awe directly influences subjective norms. All three intermediate variables positively contribute to purchase intentions. The findings offer insights and recommendations for religious food marketers and scriptwriters.
... ال�صع ـة ـ ـ مقاوم ـى ـ ـ عل ـرد ـ ـ الف املاراثونية امل�صاهدة ة ّ ـادي ـ االعتي ـدة ـ ـ امل�صاه أو ا ـام ـ ـ ـ الطع ـاول ـ ـ ـ تن أو ا ـت ـ ـ ـرن ـ إنت اال ـح ـ ـ ت�صفُّ أو ا ـى ـ ـ ـ املو�صيق ـى ـ إل ا(Sung et al., 2015) ووجد .(Derrick, Gabriel and Hugenberg, 2009) ـون ـ ـزي ـ ّلف للت يف املاراثونية، وامل�صاهدة إحباط واال الوحدة بني ا ًّ إيجابي ا ا ً ارتباط (Wheeler, و)5102 ـم ـ ل ّها ولكن ـاط، ـ ـ إحب باال ـور ـ ـ بال�صع إمارات اال ـي ف ـة ـ املاراثوني ـدة ـ امل�صاه ارتبطت حني .(Ahmed, 2017) ـدة ـ ـ ـ ...
هدف الدّراسة: تتناول الدراسة عادات المشاهدة الماراثونية Binge-Watching بين عيّنة من الإماراتيّين. يشير هذا المصطلح إلى ميل الفرد إلى مشاهدة حلَقات متتالية من البرنامج أو المسلسل نفسِهما لأكثر من 4 ساعات في جلسة واحدة عبر مواقع الإنترنت. تبحث الدّراسة النتائج الّتي يتوقّعها الإماراتيون من هذا النوع من المشاهدة، واحتمالات شعورهم بالنّدم بعد قضاء ساعات طويلة في المشاهدة. المنهجيّة: طَبّقت الدّراسة المنهج الوصفي، واستَخدمت استمارة استبيان لجمع البيانات من (229) إماراتيًّا. كما أُجْريَتْ مقابلات متعمّقة مع عشرين إماراتيًّا في إمارة أبو ظبي. النّتائج: توصّلت الدّراسة إلى ارتباط المشاهدة الماراثونيّة إيجابيًّا بوجود توقُّعات إيجابية للمشاهدة، وعدم القدرة على التّنظيم الذّاتيّ، وسلبيًّا بالشّعور بالنّدم بعد المشاهدة. كما كشفت النّتائج أن معظم المبحوثين يمارسون المشاهدة الماراثونية بمفردهم، وعدم اختلاف المبحوثين وَفْقًا للنوع والحالة الاجتماعية ودرجة التعليم في درجة المشاهدة الماراثونية، والنّدم بعد المشاهدة والنّتائج المتوقعة من المشاهدة، وثبت أنّه كلّما قلَّ العمر قلّت قدرة المبحوث على التوقُّف عن المشاهدة؛ أي: عدم القدرة على تنظيم الذّات. الخلاصة: خلصت الدّراسة إلى ميل الإماراتيّين إلى تفضيل المشاهدة الماراثونيّة عبر الإنترنت وخاصة الموادّ الدّراميّة غير العربيّة بين مختلف الفئات العمريّة والتعليميّة.المصطلحات الأساسية: المشاهدة الماراثونيّة، التّنظيم الذّاتيّ، المُخرجات المتوقّعة من المشاهدة الماراثونيّة، الشّعور بالنّدم.
... The more episodes a person watched, the lonelier and more miserable they were. According to Derrick et al. (2009), watching beloved television programs buffered against feelings of loneliness more than many other activities such as eating, surfing the web or listening to music. ...
... For example, individuals who engage in novel and exciting activities tend to experience more self-expansion [45]. Additionally, watching a television show, reading a brief story, or interacting with a cell phone can all be self-expansive activities [40,46,47]. Prior work has not considered whether companion animals provide a self-expanding relationship, and if so whether this is linked to well-being benefits. ...
Research into the impact of companion animals on well-being has been both extensive and inconclusive, with studies finding both positive and negative relationships. The present research explored three previously unexamined relationship science concepts that may help clarify whether companion animals provide well-being benefits: self-expansion (the process of adding positive content to the self through incorporating new resources and perspectives into one’s identity or engaging in novel, exciting activities), perceived pet responsiveness, and perceived pet insensitivity; as well as attachment. We focused on dog and cat owners’ depression, anxiety, positive and negative affect, and loneliness through an online survey with a large sample population (N = 1359). We found that perceived pet insensitivity is a significant positive predictor of depression, anxiety, negative affect, and loneliness; that attachment is a significant positive predictor of depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and a significant negative predictor of positive affect; and that self-expansion is a significant positive predictor of positive affect, and a significant negative predictor of loneliness. Loneliness emerged as a mediator in the relationship between perceived pet insensitivity, attachment, self-expansion, and all mental well-being outcome variables. These findings indicate that perceived pet insensitivity, attachment, and self-expansion may play an important yet neglected role in well-being outcomes.
... Yet television can improve daily structure and social integration for elderly by supporting daily routine 19 . Furthermore, the "social surrogacy hypothesis" suggests that television can also provide emotional support for people suffering from social stress 20 www.nature.com/scientificreports/ However, most of these assumptions are not based on robust data and are discussed controversially 21 . ...
In this randomized controlled intervention trial, we investigated whether intense visual stimulation through television watching can enhance visual information processing and motor learning performance. 74 healthy young adults were trained in a motor skill with visual information processing demands while being accommodated in a controlled environment for five days. The experimental manipulation (n = 37) consisted of prolonged television watching (i.e., 8 h/day, + 62.5% on average) to induce intense exposure to visual stimulation. The control group (n = 37) did not consume visual media. The groups were compared by motor learning performance throughout the study as well as pre/post visual attention parameters and resting-state network connectivity in functional MRI. We found that the intervention group performed significantly better in the motor learning task (+ 8.21% (95%-CI[12.04, 4.31], t(70) = 4.23, p < 0.001) while showing an increased capacity of visual short-term memory (+ 0.254, t(58) = − 3.19, p = 0.002) and increased connectivity between visual and motor-learning associated resting-state networks. Our findings suggest that the human brain might enter a state of accentuated visuomotor integration to support the implementation of motor learning with visual information processing demands if challenged by ample input of visual stimulation. Further investigation is needed to evaluate the persistence of this effect regarding participants exposed to accustomed amounts of visual media consumption.
Clinical Trials Registration: This trial was registered in the German Clinical Trials Register/Deutsches Register klinischer Studien (DRKS): DRKS00019955.
... Specifically, the increasing binge-watching tendencies are found to be an important factor causing loneliness and the aroused need for belongingness [6]. Television programs can be regarded as a type of social surrogate since they can provide viewers with a sense of belonging [7]. Moreover, a lifestyle of high television viewing can greatly increase the risk of heart disease and result in a low degree of cognitive function [6]. ...
Netflix and binge viewing have gained increasing popularity among the new generation of TV and movie viewers since they are more convenient and can provide customized watch-ing services. This paper is focused on the unique business model of Netflix and seeks to find out why it once became popular among Chinese viewers. A crucial reason is that Netflix has made a committed effort to create and promote original content. It keeps a keen eye on viewers needs by creating a tailored and remarkable TV viewing experience. However, the negative impacts of binge-watching behaviour cannot be ignored. It is now considered an important reason for loneliness and a low degree of cognitive function. Overall, the paper employs secondary data analysis, which offers a critical review of previously collected data in the new research area.
... The relationship with a social robot may provide a certain sense of power and promote well-being improvement. Indeed, when consumers' psychological needs are not fulfilled, they rely on technologies to compensate for their selfdeficits (Alabed et al., 2022;Belk, 1988;Derrick et al., 2009). As such, our work extends the stream of research on how consumers psychologically relate to or integrate intelligent machines into their perceptions of themselves (Alabed et al., 2022;Delgado-Ballester et al., 2017;Groom et al., 2009;Valor et al., 2022). ...
Adapting the design and configuration of robots to human social needs is a challenge for the future. Individuals may be caught in social structures in which they feel dominated, which triggers their need to regain a sense of power. Feeling powerless is painful and leads consumers to compensatory consumption behaviour. We seek to ascertain whether powerless consumers may view social robots as a way of improving their well-being. In Study 1, we used an online scenario-based experiment to manipulate robot autonomy through a comic strip panel. Results show that powerlessness increases the anticipated improvement of well-being associated with robot ownership and thus the adoption intention, but only when the robot has a low (vs. high) level of autonomy. In Study 2, an online survey was conducted to understand better the psychological mechanism underlying these effects. The results reveal that powerlessness positively influences the anticipated improvement of well-being because the consumers perceive an enhancement of their sense of power induced by the domination exerted over the robot. Study 3 replicated the central findings on a larger and more diverse sample. Further, it suggests that robot autonomy and age play crucial roles in understanding the mechanism underlying the effects. Our research contributes to the literature on human-robot interaction, psychological power, and compensatory consumption. We also contribute to an emerging body of research investigating how intelligent products (social robots) can change people's lives in unexpected ways.
... Desires for social engagement may be motivations for immersing in free-time activities, such as reading or watching television series (Derrick et al., 2009;Mar et al., 2011). In social virtual reality spaces, the most typical activities are related to socializing, learning, and entertainment (Sykownik et al., 2021). ...
Virtual reality cinemas offer computer-generated screening environments that resemble physical-world movie theaters for avatar-based viewers. Reflecting on virtual spectatorship in the context of social isolation, the present study investigates whether VR cinemas could provide an alternative for collective movie watching and whether they could facilitate an engaging experience similar to other, physical-world co-viewing environments. To measure these effects, we designed a behavioral experiment in which participants watched a feature film sequence either in VR or a physical screening room in the presence or absence of viewing companions. After viewing, participants’ experiences—including emotional engagement, narrative empathy, presence, social experiences, and physical and mental well-being—were recorded using survey methods. We observed that VR viewing can produce an equally enjoyable film experience, as well as similar levels of emotional engagement and narrative empathy, while it leads to increased comprehension of characters’ feelings and sense of narrative engagement. In addition, social viewing may mean less engagement and more distractions depending on the screening environment. We also found that even though previous virtual reality exposure negatively correlates with comfort and well-being during viewing, early adopters of technology and VR supporters are more likely to have an enjoyable and engaging film experience.
... Music has shown to help individuals cope with isolation or confinement measures during the pandemic by serving as a social surrogate [1,18,36,[39][40][41][42][43][44]. When direct social interaction is not possible, music can evoke memories of significant others which provides comfort and a sense of belongingness. ...
Social interactions were limited due to COVID-19 restrictions resulting in a high prevalence of loneliness and social isolation. The purpose of this systematic review is to investigate the impact of engaging in music on the experience of loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. We included nine articles with a total of 16,176 participants, all of which reported upon the impact of musical engagement in the form of music listening or music-related activities on loneliness. The average age of participants was 43 ± 15 years, and 37% were male. Eight studies (88.9%) reported that music engagement reduced loneliness. This systematic review demonstrates that music may have had a beneficial impact on loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that the use of music is an accessible method to cope with feelings of loneliness and improve overall wellbeing during times of social isolation.
... In para-social relationships, a person has affinity for (or closeness with) another entity, even though that entity does not reciprocate (e.g., in the case of a celebrity) or cannot reciprocate those feelings (e.g., in the case of a fictional person, like a TV character). Despite the one-way nature of these "relationships," evidence shows that they can ease thoughts of loneliness and buffer people from social belonging threats (e.g., Derrick et al., 2009). Of relevance to this work, people can have para-social feelings of connection to vast entities, such as nature (e.g., Nisbet et al., 2011). ...
The current work examined whether awe fosters social connections to either large or small collectives and, if so, if such connections predict lower loneliness. In two studies, participants watched a video designed to elicit awe or amusement and then reported their feelings of social connections to humanity, social connections to close friends, and loneliness. Findings in both studies showed that awe had an indirect effect on loneliness via social connections with humanity, such that awe (compared to amusement) triggered greater social connections to humanity, which predicted less loneliness. Implications for the awe and loneliness literatures are discussed.
... People respond to being ostracized in various ways. Some responses are intrapersonal in nature such as prayer (Aydin et al., 2010), watching TV shows (Derrick et al., 2009) or eating comfort foods (Troisi & Gabriel, 2011). Other responses are interpersonal in nature such as aggression (Ren et al., 2018), seeking reaffiliation (Maner et al., 2007), or withdrawing from social interactions (Ren et al., 2016). ...
Ostracism triggers negative emotions such as sadness, anger, and hurt feelings. Do targets of ostracism truthfully share their emotions with the sources of ostracism? Drawing on past research on social-functional accounts of emotions and interpersonal emotion regulation, we investigated the possibility that targets may misrepresent their emotions (i.e., gaming emotions). We conducted three experiments (N = 1058; two pre-registered) using an online ball-tossing game, in which participants were randomly assigned to be included or ostracized. Consistent with the literature, we found that ostracized individuals were more hurt, sad, and angry than included individuals. However, we found little and inconsistent evidence that ostracized (vs included) individuals misrepresented their emotional reactions to the sources. Further, Bayesian analyses offered more support against misrepresentation of emotions. These findings suggest that targets of ostracism truthfully communicated their social pain to the sources.
... ال�صع ـة ـ ـ مقاوم ـى ـ ـ عل ـرد ـ ـ الف املاراثونية امل�صاهدة ة ّ ـادي ـ االعتي ـدة ـ ـ امل�صاه أو ا ـام ـ ـ ـ الطع ـاول ـ ـ ـ تن أو ا ـت ـ ـ ـرن ـ إنت اال ـح ـ ـ ت�صفُّ أو ا ـى ـ ـ ـ املو�صيق ـى ـ إل ا(Sung et al., 2015) ووجد .(Derrick, Gabriel and Hugenberg, 2009) ـون ـ ـزي ـ ّلف للت يف املاراثونية، وامل�صاهدة إحباط واال الوحدة بني ا ًّ إيجابي ا ا ً ارتباط (Wheeler, و)5102 ـم ـ ل ّها ولكن ـاط، ـ ـ إحب باال ـور ـ ـ بال�صع إمارات اال ـي ف ـة ـ املاراثوني ـدة ـ امل�صاه ارتبطت حني .(Ahmed, 2017) ـدة ـ ـ ـ ...
Objective: The study investigates Marathon watching habits, also known as binge-watching, among a sample of Emiratis. The term indicates that an individual tends to watch consecutive episodes of the same program or series for more than 4 hours at a time via the Internet. The study examines the expected outcomes Emiratis seek to gain from this type of viewing and their likelihood of remorse after spending long hours watching. Methods: A questionnaire was constructed to collect data from (229) Emiratis. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty Emiratis living in Abu-Dhabi. Results: Marathon-watching was found to be associated with having positive expectations. It was found to be associated with the inability to self-regulate and the feeling of remorse after watching. The results revealed that most respondents practice marathon-watching alone. They did not differ according to gender, marital status, and educational level in marathon-watching, regret after watching, and the expected outcomes. There was a positive correlation between age and the respondent's self-regulation. Conclusion: Emirates often prefer online marathon-watching, and non-Arabic drama is the favorite among different age and education groups.
... Despite their lack of mutuality, parasocial interactions (PSIs; situational interactions with a media character during reception, such as watching television or reading a book) and PSRs (overarching relationships with a media character that are not limited to a specific situation) are considered to be similar to real-life social interactions and relationships. This similarity manifests not only through similar predictors such as attractiveness (e.g., Liebers & Schramm, 2017) and impacts such as an enhanced feeling of social relatedness (e.g., Derrick et al., 2009) but also through parallels in the development of parasocial phenomena. In line with real-life interactions and relationships, PSIs and PSRs are interdependent: PSIs shape the crosssituational relationship with a media character in the form of the PSR; PSRs influence the extent to which an individual engages in subsequent media reception situations (Gleich, 1997). ...
Parasocial relationships can improve the effectiveness of persuasive messages such as advertising. However, little is known about the role of parasocial relationships in the processing of fear appeals—a communication strategy that, despite its popularity, often evokes unwanted responses such as reactance. Perceived self-efficacy is one key variable that determines whether a fear appeal improves attitudes/behavior or has unwanted boomerang effects. In a two-level between-subjects experiment (N = 91), we show that a COVID-19-related fear appeal promoting anti-coronavirus measures from a familiar communicator (compared to an unfamiliar communicator) evokes more perceived self-efficacy explained by media users’ parasocial relationship with the familiar communicator. A second two-level between-subjects experiment (N = 239) replicates these findings and shows that perceived self-efficacy inhibits reactance responses (message derogation and perceived threat to freedom) and fosters positive attitudes and behavioral intentions toward anti-coronavirus measures.
... Likewise, Derrick, Gabriel, and Hugenberg (2009) specified that belongingness cannot be attained through just personal association, but other important aspects also play very important role in developing the sense of belongingness such as a child's blanket that used for safety and the feelings of child can develop the sense of belongingness. Following the other statement is given by Baumeister and Leary (1995) that sense of belongingness prevails when the non-intimate associations occurs like political/occupational motivations. ...
... Targets could also turn to religion (Aydin et al., 2010), resort to eating comfort foods (Troisi & Gabriel, 2011) or watching favorite tv shows (Derrick et al., 2009) to name a few options. Future work can build on our findings and incorporate more coping responses (e.g., C. Carver et al., 1989) to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of coping with workplace ostracism. ...
Using both correlational and experimental designs across four studies (N = 1251 working individuals), the current project aimed to contribute to the understanding of workplace ostracism by studying two research questions. First, we tested whether the subjective experience of targets reflects the current theorizing of ostracism. Second, drawing from the transactional theory of stress and coping, we investigated whether this subjective experience impacts targets' coping responses. Findings based on exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the current theorizing of workplace ostracism such that perceived intensity, intent, and ambiguity were reflected in how targets appraised being ostracized at work. The appraisals were also related to coping responses. Perceived intensity predicted more approach-oriented (e.g., confrontation) and less avoidance-oriented coping responses (e.g., minimization).
... PSP can lead to "several cognitive and affective consequences, such as greater engagement, enjoyment, identification, and loyalty" (Chan-Olmsted & Wang, 2020, p. 15; Perks & Turner, 2019) and can be used to countervail social deficits (Derrick et al., 2009;Jarzyna, 2020). For example, when dealing with social chal-Full Paper lenges like anxiety or loneliness, engaging in parasocial behavior has been shown to significantly improve measures of well-being (Cole & Leets, 1999;Greenwood & Long, 2009). ...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a podcast with Christian Drosten, a German virologist, gained millions of listeners. Building on literature on science communication skills and first insights showing that exposure to virologists is related to cognitive, affec-tive, and behavioral outcomes and pointing to parasocial phenomena (PSP) as an underlying mechanism, we conducted a qualitative content analysis of comments on the podcast on YouTube to explore relevant perceived skills for effective science communications, positive effects on listeners and the role of PSP as a possible driver for the effects. We found that next to Drosten's expertise, also communicative and personality traits were observed as relevant factors for the podcast's success. Additionally, the podcast can mainly benefit listeners through its affective effects like calming or reducing fear to cope with the situation. Engaging in PSP was observed as an underlying supporting process. With this study, we open new perspectives for science communication research regarding essential perceived skills for effective communication and positive affective effects as an addition to knowledge or behavioral effects.
... Such relationships can be seen as safer than relationships in the real world ( with the absence of a real other person to interact with). The research suggests that when we bond with characters in this way, we can become quite attached to them and have the sense that they are our friends, which helps fulfil our need to belong ( Derrick, Gabriel, and Hugenberg 2009). For instance, in the context of crime drama, Semmler, Loof, and Berke ( 2015) suggest that even narratives formulated by morally ambiguous individuals are associated with parasocial relationships, and that receivers of these narrations may respond to parasocial friends by " acting on their political advice [...], supporting their social causes [...], and purchasing products that they offer" ( Semmler, Loof, and Berke 2015, 69). ...
This chapter examines the relationship between emotional competence in literary translation students and the quality of their translatum, using the Geneva Emotional Competence Test (GECo). The findings seem to indicate a positive correlation between performance in the literary translation task and some emotional competences from the GECo test, therefore indicating that workplace emotional competence and literary translation performance could somehow be connected. More specifically, the sub-competences of emotion understanding and emotion recognition have been found to have the most important bearing on the pre-defined translation quality criteria. Results add to recent evidence that emotions may be involved in the perception and creation of text material, impact the translation process, and affect translation performance.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9781003140221/psychology-translation-s%C3%A9verine-hubscher-davidson-caroline-lehr
... Individuals who experience chronic ostracism can fulfil their need for belonging by forming and maintaining PSRs (Iannone et al., 2018), and the use of social media can support this behaviour. Just by considering the mediated relationship, individuals can reduce feelings of threat to belonging (Derrick et al., 2009), and impairments on cognitive tasks caused by exclusion are diminished (Knowles, 2007). Research findings have suggested that individuals used Twitter more and followed more parasocial targets if they were in high need of belonging (Iannone et al., 2018). ...
With the rise in accessibility of media personae and celebrities through social media sites, parasocial relationships (PSRs) can offer a meaningful alternative for individuals who experience obstacles in forming real-life relationships. Existing research suggests that PSRs are multidimensional. Building on this, we considered how social media and social anxiety factors relate to the dimensions of PSRs. We examine whether social media engagement, social media addiction, and social interaction anxiety predict parasocial-love and parasocial-friendship. Participants (N = 239) responded to a questionnaire assessing multiple elements of PSRs, social interaction anxiety, social media engagement, and social media addiction. Results revealed social media addiction to be a significant predictor of parasocial-friendship and emotional aspects of parasocial-love. However, physical aspects of the parasocial-love were predicted by social media engagement. Social interaction anxiety was only associated with aspects of parasocial-love but did not predict this type of PSR. These findings suggest that developing a PSR may be strongly linked to social media use and foster social media addiction, whilst face-to-face social interaction anxiety may be less relevant to PSRs with celebrities. The current results also support the suggestion that PSRs with media personalities are multifaceted.
Parasocial relationships can impact real life relationships both positively and negatively. The current study aims to understand how parasocial relationship affects real-life relationship, work efficiency, emotional bonds and social interactions. The study consisted of 10 participants aged between 18-40, 5 males and 5 females who greatly admired celebrities. Data was collected through interview method. The findings revealed that parasocial relationships provide emotional fulfilment through mood management, consolation, and inspiration from admired figures. However, it can also lead to procrastination, escapism from reality, and reduced productivity. Social impacts include increased fan community engagement but reduced face-to-face interactions. Regarding relationships, participants reported tensions due to unrealistic expectations, unfavourable comparisons to idealized media figures, and perceived neglect. Overall, parasocial relationships demonstrate both beneficial and detrimental effects on emotional well-being, work-life balance, social dynamics, and romantic satisfaction.
We propose that much of modern human behavior can be understood as the outcome of a primitive and implicit desire for social embeddedness (i.e., a desire to belong to a larger, societal-level collective). Research from our lab suggests that people watch television, follow celebrities, and go to concerts and sporting events, at least in part, to fill this need. Connections to other research and implications for understanding human behavior are discussed.
Background
Binge-watching is the habit of watching television or series for extended periods, often involving consecutive viewing of multiple episodes from the same series. This phenomenon is prevalent among adolescents and young adults, often likened to addiction due to its pervasive nature. It is intertwined with detrimental effects on physical health, mental well-being, social engagement, and academic performance. Neither the International Classification of Diseases, eleventh revision nor the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition have acknowledged binge-watching as a disorder.
Aim
The aim of the study was to study the association of anxiety, depression, and sleep quality with binge-watching behavior in college students.
Methodology
This is a cross-sectional study conducted on students belonging to medical, dental, engineering, and arts. Sociodemographic details were taken. Binge-watching Engagement and Symptoms Questionnaire, Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were applied. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. The Chi-square test and analysis of variance were used.
Results
In our study, which included 400 students from various academic specialities, 364 (91%) displayed binge-watching behavior. A significant association was found between binge-watching and measures of anxiety (BAI, P = 0.02), depression (BDI, P = 0.01), and sleep quality (PSQI, P = 0.03).
Conclusions
A large proportion of students exhibited binge-watching behaviors. These findings highlight the importance of addressing binge-watching behaviors in promoting overall well-being among students. There is a need to monitor this behavior due to its deleterious effects.
People are inundated with readily accessible entertainment media choices. Recommender systems are frequently utilized to support people's media selection and engagement. The psychological factors that influence people's engagement with recommender systems and entertainment content is an under-explored area. This paper reports the findings of an exploratory study where users’ explicit experiences of audiovisual media services (e.g., Netflix, TikTok, YouTube, HBO Max) and their recommender systems were examined through an online survey (n = 339). Thematic analysis, factor analysis, and path analysis were used to evaluate the data. The results indicate that (1) recommender systems influence users’ emotions and media use, (2) people prefer personalized compared to generic recommendation lists, (3) the temporal length of recommended content influences people's interest, and (4) perceived utility leads to the endorsement of recommender systems and may influence users’ well-being. The findings point to wider psychological implications associated with user awareness of recommender systems.
Fans may experience significant upset and distress when a television series ends. However, grief and loss reactions to the end of a fictional series have seldom been investigated. It is likely that the degree to which such reactions are felt is influenced by viewing motives (e.g., pleasure, meaning making), connection to the series and its fan community, relationships formed with characters, including parasocial bonds and experiences of empathy, and tendency to engage with others’ perspectives and emotions, including fictional characters. The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of fans’ grief and loss reactions to the end of the television series Neighbours, which aired from 1985 to 2022. Fans (n = 1289) completed an online survey shortly after the screening of the final episode. The survey measured grief emotions and cognitions, acceptance that the series had ended, distress at the loss of a parasocial relationship with a favourite character, feelings of closure, and expressions of gratitude for the series. Predictors of these grief and loss reactions examined in the survey were viewing motives, fan identity, strength of a parasocial relationship formed with a favourite character, empathy towards that character, and tendency to take others’ perspectives, experience empathic concern and personal distress, and tendency towards engagement with fictional characters. Greater grief and loss reactions were experienced by fans whose motives for watching involved being entertained and exposed to different lifestyles, who felt a stronger fan connection to the series, and who formed stronger parasocial empathic relationships with their favourite character. Factors such as gender, age, and empathic tendencies predicted various types of grief reactions. Understanding fan experiences when a long-running series ends advances theory and research on viewer parasocial relationships and engagement with media, as well as providing evidence that the loss of a series or favourite character can be viewed as a type of grief experience.
This academic inquiry systematically analyzes the cognitive processes that impact the perception of authenticity in human-virtual entity interactions, covering domains such as empathy, emotional involvement, social presence, anthropomorphism, as well as the influence of visual and auditory aesthetics. Drawing from a broad spectrum of recent research and foundational literature, the study explores how these elements fortify the trustworthiness of virtual agents across various fields including education, healthcare, entertainment, and customer service. The primary discoveries underscore the importance of emotional intelligence, encompassing empathy and the capacity to adjust reactions based on user emotions, as vital in heightening the perceived authenticity of virtual entities. Additionally, the analysis reveals that achieving a balanced integration of human-like qualities and functional capabilities, while avoiding the uncanny valley, is crucial in nurturing confidence and involvement. The paper also addresses ethical issues concerning the authenticity and potential manipulation of virtual entities, underscoring the need for robust ethical standards in this rapidly advancing area. The review identifies several gaps in the literature, like the necessity for more extensive research on the dynamics of human-virtual entity relationships and exploration into cross-cultural differences in authenticity perceptions. It recommends that forthcoming studies incorporate a variety of methodologies, including physiological gauges and longitudinal analyses, to enhance our comprehension of these interactions. The implications for the layout and execution of virtual entities are examined, emphasizing the necessity for developers to prioritize emotional intelligence and user-centered design to craft genuinely captivating virtual agents. The inquiry advocates for interdisciplinary cooperation to tackle the ethical dilemmas and ensure that progressions in virtual entity technologies enhance human encounters and engagements.
p>Social media has become integral to education and learning because it provides a platform for access to information and resources beyond traditional classroom settings, enabling students to expand their knowledge and skills in a more interactive and personalized manner. The relationships that are formed with on-screen characters or personas (parasocial relationships) can improve understanding of the material and engagement with media content. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of parasocial relationships on a child's learning ability and test performance. The experiment, conducted as an exploratory case study with a typically developing 10-year-old child, included a parasocial condition with prior exposure to personal TikTok content of some educational video creators and other creators presented as novel (control); control conditions were further split into visible and non-visible video presenters. Performance was assessed using tests specialized by the subject and knowledge category, and an interview on the parasocial relationship was administered. The findings demonstrate that performance correlated with the presenter ratings obtained through the interview and not with the amount of previous exposure to the content created by the presenter.</p
This paper focuses on the role of social media in guiding the socialization of celebrity fans through qualitative research. Specifically, we explore fans’ choices of social media platforms and the navigating role of fan communities on fans’ personal identity, group identity and emotional labor. Through the analysis of social media platforms as well as in-depth interviews with fans, we find that the various features and functions of social media platforms have different impacts on the socialization of fans in China. At the same time, fan communities can also provide a place for fans to communicate and identify with each other, promote interaction and emotional exchange among them, and enhance the sense of belonging and pride. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for understanding the role of social media in guiding the socialization of celebrity fans.
In consideration of sport mediatization, mobile media, and fandom, this work introduces and outlines the phenomenon of parasocial pretend play. This is achieved by examining the popular television show Ted Lasso , which chronicles the activities surrounding fictional English football club AFC Richmond. Viewer involvement with the show, parasocial interaction with its characters, and social media use by connected fans combine to facilitate this new opportunity for playful collective engagement. By connecting concepts from parasocial interaction and play, the assessment theorizes about and documents how parasocial pretend play transpires. It also identifies factors that may disrupt parasocial pretend play, discusses the potential for its misuse, and details apparent variations of the practice.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted loneliness as a major risk factor for mental health difficulties among parents. Shared musical experiences may be an effective way to create social bonds. We adapted Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project to a remote format. Parents experiencing loneliness were enrolled in the study ( N = 40) and completed assessments at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up. Participation was associated with significant improvement in self-reported loneliness, self-reported sense of belonging, implicit sense of belonging, self-reported depression, and self-reported anxiety. However, the difference between implicit belonging and rejection did not significantly change over time, and there was no evidence for change in self-reported parent–child connection. In contrast to the quantitative findings, the qualitative responses suggested that participants experienced an enhancement in parent–child connection following intervention completion. The findings highlight the potential for remote administration of music programs to address isolation and loneliness.
Why do people fall in love? Does passion fade with time? What makes for a happy, healthy relationship? This introduction to relationship science follows the lifecycle of a relationship – from attraction and initiation, to the hard work of relationship maintenance, to dissolution and ways to strengthen a relationship. Designed for advanced undergraduates studying psychology, communication or family studies, this textbook presents a fresh, diversity-infused approach to relationship science. It includes real-world examples and critical-thinking questions, callout boxes that challenge students to make connections, and researcher interviews that showcase the many career paths of relationship scientists. Article Spotlights reveal cutting-edge methods, while Diversity and Inclusion boxes celebrate the variety found in human love and connection. Throughout the book, students see the application of theory and come to recognize universal themes in relationships as well as the nuances of many findings. Instructors can access lecture slides, an instructor manual, and test banks.
People are fundamentally motivated to be included in social connections that feel safe, connections where they are consistently cared for and protected, not hurt or exploited. Romantic relationships have long played a crucial role in satisfying this fundamental need. This article reconceptualizes the risk-regulation model to argue that people draw on experiences from inside and outside their romantic relationships to satisfy their fundamental need to feel safe depending on others. We first review the direct relational cues (i.e., a partner's affectionate touch, responsive versus unresponsive behavior, and relative power) and indirect cues (i.e., bodily sensations, collective value in the eyes of others, and living conditions) that signal the current safety of social connection and motivate people to connect to others or protect themselves against them. We then review how people's chronic capacity to trust in others controls their sensitivity and reactivity to the safety cues. The article concludes with future research directions.
Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 75 is January 2024. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
People spend much of their free time engaging with narrative fiction. Research shows that, like real-life friends, fictional characters can sometimes influence individuals' attitudes, behaviors, and self-beliefs. Moreover, for certain individuals, fictional characters can stand in for real-life friends by providing the experience of belonging. Despite these parallels between how people think of real and fictional others, it is unclear whether, and to what degree, their neural representations are similar. Does the brain treat psychologically close fictional others as it does close real-world friends, or are real others somehow privileged in their neural representation? In the present study, fans of the HBO series Game of Thrones performed a trait-evaluation task for the self, 9 real-life friends/acquaintances, and 9 fictional characters from Game of Thrones while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Using both brain decoding and representational similarity analysis, we found evidence of a categorical boundary between real and fictional others within the medial prefrontal cortex. However, the boundary between these categories was blurred in lonelier individuals. These results suggest that lonelier individuals may turn to fictional characters to meet belongingness needs, and this, in turn, alters the manner in which these categories are encoded within the social brain.
Many media users feel as if they are engaging in an interaction or have a personal relationship with people they see in the media. These phenomena are collectively referred to as parasocial experiences (PSEs). This handbook offers a thorough synthesis of the fast-growing, international, and multidisciplinary research of PSEs, not only celebrating the field’s accomplishments to date but also outlining a blueprint for future growth. The book is organized into six parts that provide a state-of-the-art review of: (I) theoretical, conceptual, and operational definitions of PSEs; (II) parasocial relationships initiation, development, and termination; (III) theoretical models and research on PSEs across the life span; (IV) the effects of PSEs on media users’ self and their social life (e.g., intergroup relationships); (V) the effects of PSEs in various contexts such as health, politics, and marketing; and (VI) identifying understudied areas of research that call for further investigation (comparative cross-cultural research, marginalized racial/ethnic identities, nonamicable parasocial relationships). In addition to a thorough synthesis of the literature, the handbook identifies several critical theoretical questions that PSE research faces today. Across the thematic chapters, the authors debate several overarching critical theoretical issues in PSE research, such as the boundaries between parasocial and social phenomena and the distinctions between PSEs and other forms of involvement with media. The book also includes a hands-on methodological chapter that provides detailed information about measurement and manipulation of PSEs.
Many individuals consider themselves a fan of something (e.g. music, sports) and discuss these interests with others. However, these interactions may be risky: a positive interaction could make someone feel socially connected and valued by others, whereas a negative interaction may prompt feelings of exclusion. Thus, these interactions could impact one’s basic psychological needs (e.g. belonging, self-esteem) depending upon the specific conversation dynamics. Three experiments provide data supporting these hypotheses. Specifically, individuals who recalled discussing their fan interest with either a fellow fan or a non-fan who positively reacted to their passions reported increased basic need satisfaction, whereas individuals who recalled a negative interaction with a non-fan reported lower basic need satisfaction. Participants recalled these interactions as having similar effects on their perceived relational value (i.e. how valuable, close or important others perceive them). Collectively, these studies connect fan studies research to the psychology of social inclusion and exclusion, providing directions for future research.
The technological advancement paved the way for the introduction of different innovative and interactive media platforms. People began to consume the contents of these digital platforms differently as it offers more convenient and appealing viewing facilities. It allows the viewers to watch their favourite programmes in rapid succession and the distractions are less compared to the linear medium. This comfort provided by the new media popularizes the binge watching phenomenon among web series audiences all over the globe. The current study aims to analyze the relationship between the consumption method of watching a web series and media involvement. Specifically, the study, based on an online survey investigates how binge watching behaviour and gender differences of binge watchers are associated with Narrative engagement. Results showed a significant influence of Binge watching behaviour on Narrative engagement. The findings of this current study further revealed that Engagement experience is also associated with the Gender of binge-watchers.
This work incorporates concepts from the behavioral confirmation tradition, self tradition, and interdependence tradition to identify an interpersonal process termed the Michelangelo phenomenon. The Michelangelo phenomenon describes the means by which the self is shaped by a close partner's perceptions and behavior. Specifically, self movement toward the ideal self is described as a product of partner affirmation, or the degree to which a partner's perceptions of the self and behavior toward the self are congruent with the self's ideal. The results of 4 studies revealed strong associations between perceived partner affirmation and self movement toward the ideal self, using a variety of participant populations and measurement methods. In addition, perceived partner affirmation—particularly perceived partner behavioral affirmation—was strongly associated with quality of couple functioning and stability in ongoing relationships.
Four experiments examined the functional relationship between interpersonal appraisal and subjective feelings about oneself. Participants imagined receiving one of several positive or negative reactions from another person (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) or actually received interpersonal evaluations (Experiment 4), then completed measures relevant to state self-esteem. All 4 studies showed that subjective feelings were a curvilinear, ogival function of others’ appraisals. Although trait self-esteem correlated with state reactions as a main effect, it did not moderate participants’ reactions to interpersonal feedback.
Assessed the impact of outcome (success vs failure) and attribution (internal vs external) on affect in an achievement setting. Following the theorizing of B. Weiner et al (1978, 1979), it was anticipated that the outcome manipulation would determine general positive and negative affective reactions, whereas the attribution manipulation would influence affects related to self-esteem. 53 female undergraduates received success or failure feedback on a social accuracy test and were induced to attribute their performance to either an internal (ability) or an external cause (characteristics of the task). A factor analysis revealed 3 dimensions: Negative Affect, Positive Affect, and Self-Esteem. ANOVA indicated that the nature of the attribution influenced all 3 forms of affective reactions. Success produced greater positive affect, less negative affect, and higher self-esteem than failure only when ability attributions were induced. Although additional analyses offered some support for the presence of affects influenced solely by outcome, the majority of analyses supported the notion that attributions are the primary determinants of affective reactions to success and failure. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Social exclusion was manipulated by telling people that they would end up alone later in life or that other participants had rejected them. These manipulations caused participants to behave more aggressively. Excluded people issued a more negative job evaluation against someone who insulted them (Experiments 1 and 2). Excluded people also blasted a target with higher levels of aversive noise both when the target had insulted them (Experiment 4) and when the target was a neutral person and no interaction had occurred (Experiment 5). However, excluded people were not more aggressive toward someone who issued praise (Experiment 3). These responses were specific to social exclusion (as opposed to other misfortunes) and were not mediated by emotion.
It is argued that emotions are lawful phenomena and thus can be described in terms of a set of laws of emotion. These laws result from the operation of emotion mechanisms that are accessible to intentional control to only a limited extent. The law of situational meaning, the law of concern, the law of reality, the laws of change, habituation and comparative feeling, and the law of hedonic asymmetry are proposed to describe emotion elicitation; the law of conservation of emotional momentum formulates emotion persistence; the law of closure expresses the modularity of emotion; and the laws of care for consequence, of lightest load, and of greatest gain pertain to emotion regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Fiction literature has largely been ignored by psychology researchers because its only function seems to be entertainment, with no connection to empirical validity. We argue that literary narratives have a more important purpose. They offer models or simulations of the social world via abstraction, simplification, and compression. Narrative fiction also creates a deep and immersive simulative experience of social interactions for readers. This simulation facilitates the communication and understanding of social information and makes it more compelling, achieving a form of learning through experience. Engaging in the simulative experiences of fiction literature can facilitate the understanding of others who are different from ourselves and can augment our capacity for empathy and social inference.
© 2008 Association for Psychological Science.
In response to S. E. Cross and L. Madson’s (1997) suggestion that men’s behaviors reflect a desire for independence and separateness, the authors propose that those same behaviors are designed to form connections with other people but in a broader social sphere. Women’s sociality is oriented toward dyadic close relationships, whereas men’s sociality is oriented toward a larger group. Gender differences in aggression, helping behavior, desire for power, uniqueness, self-representations, interpersonal behavior, and intimacy fit this view.
Attachment theory was investigated as an alternative inter- personal theory for understanding how audience members form parasocial relationships with television personalities. Attachment theory posits that people develop relationships in either a secure or insecure fashion. We explored whether attachment styles influenced the extent to which individuals engage in parasocial interaction. A total of 115 students completed the parasocial scale and two attachment style questionnaires. Results provided evidence that attachment styles are related to parasocial behavior: Anxious-ambiva- lents were the most likely to form parasocial bonds, Avoidants were the least likely to develop such relationships, and Secures were in the middle, with the more mistrusting Secures showing a tendency to engage in parasocial interac- tion. The discussion focuses on the implications of these find- ings for the attachment process. KEY WORDSattachment behaviorparasocial interactiontele- vision viewing
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Infant monkeys were reared with the aid of a laboratory constructed mother-substitute. "We produced a perfectly proportioned streamlined body stripped of unnecessary bulges and appendices. Redundancy in the surrogate mother's system was avoided by reducing the number of breasts from two to one and placing this unibreast in an upper-thoracic, sagittal position, thus maximizing the natural and known perceptual-motor capabilities of the infant operator. The surrogate was made from a block of wood, covered with sponge rubber, and sheathed in tan cotton terry cloth. A light bulb behind her radiated heat. The result was a mother, soft, warm, and tender, a mother with infinite patience, a mother available twenty-four hours a day, a mother that never scolded her infant and never struck or bit her baby in anger." The data obtained "make it obvious that contact comfort is a variable of overwhelming importance in the development of affectional responses, whereas lactation is a variable of negligible importance." It is suggested that the primary function of nursing "is that of insuring frequent and intimate body contact of infant with mother." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
L. Winter and J. S. Uleman (see record
1985-01259-001) argued that trait attributions occur spontaneously during the comprehension of behavior descriptions about others. Their research was based on the notion of encoding specificity and relied on the effectiveness of dispositional cues in retrieving stimulus information from memory. The present authors tested this claim (Exp I with 36 undergraduates) by replicating their procedures and adding a condition in which Ss were explicitly instructed to adopt an impression set. Although sentence recall was not affected by learning instructions when semantic associates of the actor were presented as retrieval cues, memory was significantly better after impression formation instructions if personality traits were used as retrieval cues. This difference in performance suggests that trait attribution occurs only with limited frequency under conditions of mere sentence comprehension. Exp II, with 60 male undergraduates, provided further evidence for the paucity of attributional inferences in response to behavior descriptions. A novel procedure, word-fragment completion, was introduced to test for the activation of trait concepts in memory. Substantially more activation followed impression than memory instructions, indicating that trait attributions do not always occur spontaneously during sentence comprehension. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article examines the measurement of short-lived (i.e., state) changes in self-esteem. A new scale is introduced that is sensitive to manipulations designed to temporarily alter self-esteem, and 5 studies are presented that support the scale's validity. The State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) consists of 20 items modified from the widely used Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (Janis & Field, 1959). Psychometric analyses revealed that the SSES has 3 correlated factors: performance, social, and appearance self-esteem. Effects of naturally occurring and laboratory failure and of clinical treatment on SSES scores were examined; it was concluded that the SSES is sensitive to these sorts of manipulations. The scale has many potential uses, which include serving as a valid manipulation check index, measuring clinical change in self-esteem, and untangling the confounded relation between mood and self-esteem.
While frequent readers are often stereotyped as socially awkward, this may only be true of non-fiction readers and not readers of fiction. Comprehending characters in a narrative fiction appears to parallel the comprehension of peers in the actual world, while the comprehension of expository non-fiction shares no such parallels. Frequent fiction readers may thus bolster or maintain their social abilities unlike frequent readers of non-fiction. Lifetime exposure to fiction and non-fiction texts was examined along with performance on empathy/social-acumen measures. In general, fiction print-exposure positively predicted measures of social ability, while non-fiction print-exposure was a negative predictor. The tendency to become absorbed in a story also predicted empathy scores. Participant age, experience with English, and intelligence (g) were statistically controlled.
Ostracism is such a widely used and powerful tactic that the authors tested whether people would be affected by it even under remote and artificial circumstances. In Study 1, 1,486 participants from 62 countries accessed the authors' on-line experiment on the Internet. They were asked to use mental visualization while playing a virtual tossing game with two others (who were actually computer generated and controlled). Despite the minimal nature of their experience, the more participants were ostracized, the more they reported feeling bad, having less control, and losing a sense of belonging. In Study 2, ostracized participants were more likely to conform on a subsequent task. The results are discussed in terms of supporting K. D. Williams's (1997) need threat theory of ostracism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved). (from the journal abstract)
Five studies tested hypotheses derived from the sociometer model of self-esteem according to which the self-esteem system monitors others' reactions and alerts the individual to the possibility of social exclusion. Study 1 showed that the effects of events on participants' state self-esteem paralleled their assumptions about whether such events would lead others to accept or reject them. In Study 2, participants' ratings of how included they felt in a real social situation correlated highly with their self-esteem feelings. In Studies 3 and 4, social exclusion caused decreases in self-esteem when respondents were excluded from a group for personal reasons, but not when exclusion was random, but this effect was not mediated by self-presentation. Study 5 showed that trait self-esteem correlated highly with the degree to which respondents generally felt included versus excluded by other people. Overall, results provided converging evidence for the sociometer model.
A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.
The purpose of this study was to investigate an unconscious or implicit mood-congruent memory (MCM) bias in clinical depression. Many studies have shown an explicit memory bias, but no study has yet found an implicit MCM bias in clinical depression. The authors compared depressed and control group participants on a conceptually driven implicit memory test. After studying words of positive, neutral, and negative affective valences, participants produced free associations to various cues. Implicit memory or priming was demonstrated by the production of more studied than unstudied words to the association cues. Depressed participants showed more priming of negative words, whereas controls showed more priming of positive words, thus supporting the MCM pattern. Also, no implicit memory deficit was found in depressed participants. These findings are discussed in the context of several prominent theories of cognition and depression.
“This marvelous book reconnects the study of literature to the themes that have made it eternally fascinating, and connects it for the first time to the sciences of mind and brain. It is a landmark in modern intellectual life, heralding an exciting new integration of the sciences and humanities.” Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
“With painstaking scholarship and subtle theorizing, Patrick Colm Hogan marshals a compelling case for the transcultural reach of narrative forms. He shows in rich detail how plot structures recurring across world literature express emotional universals. The Mind and Its Stories is stimulating on several levels. It contributes a nuanced conception of universals to the philosophical debate. It offers cognitive scientists a remarkable occasion for rethinking the relation of emotion to culture and to human nature. And by providing enormously wide-ranging evidence for narrative universals, Hogan may touch off nothing short of a revolution in literary studies.” David Bordwell, Jacques Ledoux Professor of Film Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“The Mind and Its Stories is in the forefront of the scientific study of literature as a product of the capacities of the human mind. Patrick Colm Hogan shows how human cognitive processes of story lie at the center of both cognitive science and the study of verbal art.” Mark Turner, Distinguished University Professor, The University of Maryland, and Associate Director, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
In a recent review, S.E.Cross and L.Madson (1997) forwarded that many gender differences in social experience and behavior may be better understood through consideration of gender differences in independence and interdependence. In the current studies, an expansion of the model to include both relational and collective aspects of interdependence was investigated (see R.F. Baumeister & K.L.Sommer, 1997). On the basis of the literature regarding gender differences in affect, behavior, and cognition, it was hypothesized that women would focus more on the relational aspects of interdependence, whereas men would focus more on the collective aspects of interdependence. Five studies in which gender differences in self-construals, emotional experience, selective memory, and behavioral intentions were examined supported the expansion of the model to Include both relational and collective aspects of interdependence.
Ostracism is such a widely used and powerful tactic that the authors tested whether people would be affected by it even under remote and artificial circumstances. In Study 1, 1,486 participants from 62 countries accessed the authors' on-line experiment on the Internet. They were asked to use mental visualization while playing a virtual tossing game with two others (who were actually computer generated and controlled). Despite the minimal nature of their experience, the more participants were ostracized, the more they reported feeling bad, having less control, and losing a sense of belonging. In Study 2, ostracized participants were more likely to conform on a subsequent task. The results are discussed in terms of supporting K. D. Williams's (1997) need threat theory of ostracism.
Five studies tested hypotheses derived from the sociometer model of self-esteem according to which the self-esteem system monitors others' reactions and alerts the individual to the possibility of social exclusion. Study 1 showed that the effects of events on participants' state self-esteem paralleled their assumptions about whether such events would lead others to accept or reject them. In Study 2, participants' ratings of how included they felt in a real social situation correlated highly with their self-esteem feelings. In Studies 3 and 4, social exclusion caused decreases in self-esteem when respondents were excluded from a group for personal reasons, but not when exclusion was random, but this effect was not mediated by self-presentation. Study 5 showed that trait self-esteem correlated highly with the degree to which respondents generally felt included versus excluded by other people. Overall, results provided converging evidence for the sociometer model.
Putnam [J. Democracy 6 (1995) Putnam, R. D. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000). New York: Simon & Schuster.] claims that Americans are socially and civically disengaged because they watch too much TV. I contend that, because evolved psychological mechanisms have difficulty comprehending entities that did not exist in the environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA), humans should fail to distinguish between real friends and the imaginary ones they see on TV. Consistent with my contention, the analysis of the US General Social Survey (GSS) data indicates that people who watch certain types of TV are more satisfied with their friendships as if they had more friends and socialized with them more often.
This study examined the responses of television viewers to the potential loss of their favorite television characters. A sample of 381 Israeli adults completed questionnaires, including questions about their relationships with their favorite characters, how they would react if those characters were taken off the air, and their attachment styles. Results showed that viewers expecting to lose their favorite characters anticipate negative reactions similar to those experienced after the dissolution of social relationships. These reactions were related both to the intensity of the parasocial relationship with the favorite character and to the viewers’ attachment style. Anxious–ambivalently attached respondents anticipated the most negative responses. The results are discussed in light of their contribution to attachment research and as evidence of the similarity between parasocial relationships and close social relationships.
Two experiments were carried out to investigate a possible mood-congruent memory bias in explicit memory (free-recall test) and implicit memory (word-stem completion task) for positive and negative words in depressed and non depressed college students. A comparison of implicit and explicit mood-congruent memory bias should help to reveal cognitive processes involved in this effect. The results of both studies indicated that depressed subjects showed a memory bias not only on the traditional explicit memory task, but on the implicit memory task as well. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.
Describes the construction and preliminary validation of the Differential Loneliness Scale (DLS), a measure that differs from previous scales in that it asks respondents to evaluate the quality and the quantity of their interactions in specific kinds of relationships. During test construction, item analyses were undertaken to lessen content saturation due to depression, anxiety, and self-esteem and to minimize the response-style bias of social desirability. The reliability of the scale is high, with Kuder-Richardson-20 coefficients ranging from .90 to .92, and test–retest coefficients of .85 and .97 for males and females, respectively, over 1 mo. Preliminary evidence suggests that the scale has concurrent validity against several criteria. Moreover, principal component analyses indicated that the DLS has substantive and structural validity. The scale also has student and nonstudent versions. It may be of value in the differential prediction of loneliness in specific kinds of relationships. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Borrowing from the media, communication, and psychological literatures on parasocial, or one–sided, relationships to media figures, the current in-vestigation examined the processes underlying the anthropomorphism of favorite television characters. Two studies tested the hypothesis that indi-viduals' affection for television characters predicts their perceptions of re-alness. In Study One, participants reported their perceptions of and feelings toward either their favorite television character or an equally fa-miliar, nonfavorite character, and results provided initial support for our hypothesis. In Study Two, participants were passively exposed to an im-age of either their favorite television characters or a control, nonfavorite character while completing well–learned and novel motor tasks. In line with classic social facilitation findings, participants in the "presence of" their favorite character (versus the nonfavorite character) demonstrated facilitation on the well–learned task and inhibition on the novel task. These studies suggest that feelings for the character may play an important role in encouraging the anthropomorphism of television characters.
“Transportation into a narrative world” is an experience of cognitive, emotional, and imagery involvement in a narrative. Transportation theory (Green & Brock, 2000, 2002) provides a lens for understanding the concept of media enjoyment. The theory suggests that enjoyment can benefit from the experience of being immersed in a narrative world, as well as from the consequences of that immersion. Consequences implied by transportation theory include connections with characters and self-transformations.
The current research proposes that low self-esteem people can use parasocial relationships to experience movement toward the ideal self, a benefit they may miss in real relationships. In Study 1, low self-esteem undergraduate psychology students at a public university in the United States felt closest to celebrities who were similar to their ideal self. In Study 2, low self-esteem college students primed with their favorite celebrity became more similar to their ideal selves. In Study 3, low self-esteem college students primed with their favorite celebrity, but not a close relationship partner, became more similar to their ideal selves. Results are discussed in terms of the implications for parasocial relationships, self-esteem, and the flexibility of the need to belong.
Societal-level social capital ultimately rests upon individual attitudes and behaviors. This study investigated the determinants of individuals' preferences for real versus ersatz social activities. Ersatz social activities are substitutes for true social interaction; they involve interaction with media or media characters rather than other individuals. Undergraduates (N = 144) chose activities from pairs of social and ersatz exemplars. The participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. In two of these conditions, they wrote essays designed to create either a positive or negative mood; in the other two conditions, they read essays designed to highlight either the costs or benefits of friendship. Results indicated that individuals low in trust were susceptible to situational influences. Low-trust individuals chose more real social activities when in a positive mood or when benefits of friendship were salient, whereas they chose ersatz social activities when in a bad mood or when costs of friendship were salient. High-trust individuals showed relatively high preference for real social interactions regardless of mood or the salience of costs and benefits. These results suggest that appropriate interventions should overcome low trust to build social capital.
Recently, several studies have addressed the question of whether depression affects priming in implicit memory tasks. The main aim of this experiment was to assess the presence of a bias for negative information in explicit memory (free recall) and implicit memory (word-stem completion) tasks among subclinically depressed subjects compared to nondepressed subjects, using the typical levels of processing manipulation. The results of this study show the existence of a mood-congruent memory bias for both implicit and explicit memory in depressed subjects. The theoretical implications of these findings for implicit and explicit memory biases associated with depressed mood are discussed.
Any one work of literature reaches only a very few minds among the whole human population, and yet when a real meeting occurs of reader with a book, or reader with an author (via a book), it can be profound. I describe the phenomena of meeting, and their relation to personal reflection in theoretical terms, drawing on Bakhtin's (1984 [1963]) proposals of the novel as a place of dialogue. The intensity and type of such meetings varies with the degree to which a reader takes a spectator role, or identifies with a protagonist. I present empirical studies, which show how particular kinds of minds connect with particular kinds of short stories, and I discuss how in such places as reading groups, meetings among friends are affected by reading novels.
Two experiments examined the effects of various levels and sequences of acceptance and rejection on emotion, ratings of self and others, and behavior. In Experiment 1, participants who differed in agreeableness received one of five levels of acceptance or rejection feedback, believing that they either would or would not interact with the person who accepted or rejected them. In Experiment 2, participants who differed in rejection sensitivity received one of four patterns of feedback over time, reflecting constant acceptance, increasing acceptance, increasing rejection, or constant rejection. In both studies, rejection elicited greater anger, sadness, and hurt feelings than acceptance, as well as an increased tendency to aggress toward the rejector. In general, more extreme rejection did not lead to stronger reactions than mild rejection, but increasing rejection evoked more negative reactions than constant rejection. Agreeableness and rejection-sensitivity scores predicted participants’ responses but did not moderate the effects of interpersonal acceptance and rejection.
The current research proposes that thinking about friends improves feelings about the self and does so differentially depending on avoidance of intimacy. Based on previous findings that individuals who avoid intimacy in relationships (avoidant individuals) contrast their self-concepts with primed friends whereas those who pursue intimacy in relationships (non-avoidant individuals) assimilate their self-concepts to primed friends [Gabriel, S., Carvallo, M., Dean, K., Tippin, B. D., & Renaud, J. (2005). How I see “Me” depends on how I see “We”: The role of avoidance of intimacy in social comparison. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 156–157], we predicted that friends who embody negative aspects of self would lead avoidant individuals to like themselves more, whereas friends who embody positive aspects of self would lead non-avoidant individuals to like themselves more. A pretest determined that good friends were seen as more similar to positive and ideal aspects of the self, whereas friends about whom participants had more mixed feelings (ambivalent friends) were seen as more similar to disliked and feared aspects of the self. Four experiments supported the main hypotheses. In Experiment 1, non-avoidant individuals like themselves more when good friends were primed. In Experiment 2, avoidant individuals like themselves more when ambivalent friends were primed. In Experiment 3, non-avoidant individuals liked themselves better after thinking about a friend’s positive traits, whereas avoidant individuals liked themselves better after thinking about a friend’s negative traits. In Experiment 4, all individuals under self-esteem threat strategically brought friends to mind who would help them like themselves more.
Previous research has demonstrated self-reports of lower levels of four fundamental needs as a result of short periods of face-to-face ostracism, as well as short periods of Internet ostracism (Cyberball), even when the ostracizing others are unseen, unknown, and not-to-be met. In an attempt to reduce the ostracism experience to a level that would no longer be aversive, we (in Study 1) convinced participants that they were playing Cyberball against a computer, yet still found comparable negative impact compared to when the participants thought they were being ostracized by real others. In Study 2, we took this a step further, and additionally manipulated whether the participants were told the computer or humans were scripted (or told) what to do in the game. Once again, even after removing all remnants of sinister attributions, ostracism was similarly aversive. We interpret these results as strong evidence for a very primitive and automatic adaptive sensitivity to even the slightest hint of social exclusion.
There are few topics so fascinating both to the research investigator and the research subject as the self-image. It is distinctively characteristic of the human animal that he is able to stand outside himself and to describe, judge, and evaluate the person he is. He is at once the observer and the observed, the judge and the judged, the evaluator and the evaluated. Since the self is probably the most important thing in the world to him, the question of what he is like and how he feels about himself engrosses him deeply. This is especially true during the adolescent stage of development.
We conducted a study to asses the impact of outcome (success vs. failure) and attribution (internal vs. external) on affect in an achievement setting. Following the theorising of Weiner, Russell, Lerman, we anticipated that the outcome manipulation would determine general positive and negative affective reactions, whereas the attribution manipulation would influence affects related to self-esteem. Female subjects were randomly assigned success of failure feedback on a social accuracy test and induced to attribute their level of performance to either the internal cause of ability or the external cause of characteristics of the task. A factor analysis performed on the affective reactions revealed a negative affect factor, a positive affect factor, and a self-esteem factor. An analysis of variance indicated that the nature of the attribution influenced all three forms of affective reactions. Success produced greater positive affect, less negative affect, and higher feelings of self-esteem that failure only when ability attributions were induced. Although additional analyses offered support for the presence of affects influenced solely by outcomes, the majority of analyses supported the notion that attributions are the primary determinants of affective reactions to success and failure.
A new 4-group model of attachment styles in adulthood is proposed. Four prototypic attachment patterns are defined using combinations of a person's self-image (positive or negative) and image of others (positive or negative). In Study 1, an interview was developed to yield continuous and categorical ratings of the 4 attachment styles. Intercorrelations of the attachment ratings were consistent with the proposed model. Attachment ratings were validated by self-report measures of self-concept and interpersonal functioning. Each style was associated with a distinct profile of interpersonal problems, according to both self- and friend-reports. In Study 2, attachment styles within the family of origin and with peers were assessed independently. Results of Study 1 were replicated. The proposed model was shown to be applicable to representations of family relations; Ss' attachment styles with peers were correlated with family attachment ratings.
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented.