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Parasocial Interactions and Relationships with Media Characters - An Inventory of 60 Years of Research

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In 1956, Horton and Wohl published their famous essay on parasocial phenomena. Despite be-ing ignored for the first 15 years after publication, research on parasocial phenomena devel-oped over the following decades and, 60 years later, it has become one of the most extensively investigated areas of media reception and effect research. This article gives an overview of re-search practice in this area by providing structural metadata of more than 250 studies. In doing so, it addresses the temporal development of the research field, types of media and media characters that have been investigated so far as well as methodological approaches.
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Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture
Volume 38 (2019) No. 2
Parasocial Interactions and
Relationships with Media
Characters–An Inventory of 60
Years of Research
Nicole Liebers and Holger Schramm
University of Würzburg, Germany
A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
ISSN: 01444646
IN THIS
ISSUE
When the anthropologist Donald Horton and the
sociologist R. Richard Wohl published their essay on
parasocial interactions (PSI) and parasocial relation
ships (PSR), titled “Mass Communication and Para
Social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a
Distance,” in the journal Psychiatry in 1956, they could
not have guessed that they had laid the foundation for
one of the most popular research fields in media recep
tion and effects research. A year later, in 1957, Wohl
died at the age of 36 and, although Horton had pub
lished another essay on PSI and PSR with his colleague
Anselm Strauss (Horton & Strauss, 1957) just before
that, the subject seemed to have died along with Wohl
(Hartmann, 2010). Beyond their working group, the
subject met with no interest and was forgotten for the
next 15 years, left to stagnate like Sleeping Beauty.
Only a change of paradigm in media effects
research—or rather, when researchers began to ask
“What do people do with the media?” and initiated
research on the usesandgratifications of the media—
led Rosengren and Windahl to bring the neglected con
cept back to life in their 1972 article “Mass media con
sumption as a functional alternative” (Rosengren &
Windahl, 1972). More specific works emerged over the
following decade, peaking with the publication of the
Parasocial Interactions (PSI) scale by Rubin, Perse, and
Powell in 1985. The scale went on to become the quasi
standard in the measurement of parasocial phenomena
and its multiple variations and adaptions are still used
frequently today. In this article, we use the label
parasocial phenomena to summarize all different kinds
of parasocial responses of audiences to media charac
ters (e.g., Parasocial Interactions, Parasocial Relation
ships, Parasocial Break ups, and so on).
Parasocial phenomena currently constitute some
of the most popular and widely researched topics with
in the field of communication studies (Giles, 2002). By
now, not only entertainment researchers but also those
investigating advertising effectiveness and journalism
incorporate the interactions and relationships between
media characters and audience in their studies. Given
the enormous number of studies coming from different
scientific backgrounds and differing in methodological
approaches, researchers face some difficulties in get
ting an overview on how and to what extent scholars
have investigated parasocial phenomena so far. This
essay aims to provide such an overview of research
practice in this area by structurally collecting and ana
lyzing metadata of more than 250 studies. It addresses
the temporal development of the research field, the
types of media and media characters that people have
investigated so far, as well as the methodological
aspects of this research. Moreover, with a view to pro
viding better understanding of the contexts of research
on parasocial phenomena, we offer a short general
view regarding the overall results and patterns of the
studies. Finally, this overview will address the limita
tions of research on parasocial phenomena and offer
some new ideas on how to investigate parasocial phe
nomena in the future.
4— VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS
Parasocial Interactions and Relationships
with Media Characters–
An Inventory of 60 Years of Research
Nicole Liebers & Holger Schramm
nicole.liebers@uniwuerzburg.de holger.schramm@uniwuerzburg.de
A. Definition of concepts
In the past 60 years, and especially at the
beginning of research into parasocial phenomena,
different definitions and usages of the terms
“parasocial interaction” (PSI) as well as “parasocial
relationship” (PSR) emerged that led to a broad
understanding of the construct but also to some
ambiguity. One common ambiguity in the context of
parasocial phenomena results from the definitional
equation of PSI and PSR and the—with regard to
current definitions—exchangeable use of these two
labels (e.g., Rubin et al., 1985; ShermanMorris,
2005). Therefore, we propose the following concep
tual clarification as an inevitable basis for the sys
tematic inventory we propose.
Originally introduced by Horton and Wohl
(1956), the term “parasocial interaction” describes a
onesided mediated form of social interaction
between the audience and media characters. In doing
so, they assume PSI to be similar to facetoface
interactions between two individuals except that PSI
lacks mutuality while real social interactions feature
bidirectional communication. By assuming not only
interaction during reception but also a longterm
relation between media characters and the audience,
researchers expanded the concept of PSI to PSR.
Whereas, by definition, PSI limits itself to the inter
action between a media character and the audience
and can therefore only take place during media
reception, PSR exceeds this limit and leads to or
encompasses crosssituational relationships between
the audience and media characters. Hence, unlike
PSI, PSR can—much like real social relationships—
endure beyond a single reception and develop into a
longterm relationship between a media user and a
media character (e.g., Schramm, 2008). This rela
tionship between a media character and a media user
in turn can end as, for example, when the media char
acter of a TV series suddenly dies; researchers call
this “parasocial breakup” (PSBU) (for more details
on PSBU see Cohen, 2003). All of these phenomena
(PSI, PSR, and PSBU) describe parasocial responses
of the audience to media characters; we will refer to
them as “parasocial phenomena” in the following.
B. Desideratum and research foci
Over 60 years have passed since the introduction
of the concept of parasocial phenomena by Horton and
Wohl (1956), and their original idea of audiences inter
acting and bonding with media characters has evolved
in many ways, with scholars investigating it from
diverse perspectives. This wide scope of research on
parasocial phenomena makes it very hard to validly
assess how the research field grows and develops, and
even to determine which parasocial phenomena
researchers have investigated in which ways so far.
This essay attempts to answer some of these questions
by addressing the following research questions.
One of the first questions that arises when
attempting to get an overview of a research field is
“How much research has been done?” To better under
stand the dynamic of the practices of research in a
given area, we need to investigate the number of stud
ies done on the subject, as well as the topic’s develop
ment over time. This includes, then, not only temporal
information on publications but also contentrelated
information. In this essay we want take a first step to
close this research gap in parasocial phenomena stud
ies by answering questions about the development of
popular research topics over time. To do so, we will
take a closer look at the number of studies published
over time, the media contexts in which researchers
investigated parasocial phenomena, and the kind of
media characters that they studied in the context of
parasocial phenomena.
Second, after we know, as far as possible, the
temporal development of a research field as well as the
topics that occupied center stages in the studies, we
need to examine how researchers actually conducted
the research work. This leads to our second research
focus: “How was the research on parasocial phenome
na done?” More specifically, we focus on the methods
used to investigate parasocial phenomena, the particu
lar constructs studied, how researchers measured these
constructs, and the samples and participants
researchers used to investigate parasocial phenomena.
Finally, after determining the research foci and the
approaches, we want to take a closer look at the insights
we gained on parasocial phenomena since Horton and
COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 — 5
1. Background
Wohl (1956) introduced this concept. Given the massive
number of studies on parasocial phenomena, addressing
every single result would go beyond the scope of this
article. Therefore, we decided to concentrate on overall
results by trying to draw a big picture. And so, our last
research focus concentrates on the question: “Which
insights on parasocial phenomena did we gain due to
these studies?” We will address this question by taking
a closer look at the characteristics of the media users
and of the media characters that influence the develop
ment of parasocial phenomena. Moreover, we will
attend to other reception phenomena that accompany
parasocial phenomena and the effects mediated or influ
enced by parasocial phenomena.
6— VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS
2. Methodological procedure
The following section describes the methodolog
ical procedure, from the initial search up to the selec
tion and exclusion of certain publications, and the sub
sequent categorization and arrangement of the studies.
A. Literature search methods
We began with an inevitable but necessary exten
sive literature search. From its beginning, research on
parasocial phenomena took place at an international
level, which explains why most of the relevant studies
appeared in English. However, some important theo
retical contributions (see, for example, the twolevel
model of PSI by Hartmann, Schramm, and Klimmt,
2004, and the summary in English by Klimmt,
Hartmann, and Schramm, 2006) and essential empiri
cal findings (e.g., Gleich, 1997b) appear in German.
While the academic tradition of the German scientific
community is to publish not only in English but also in
German, other scientific communities that have con
tributed to PSI and PSR research (as for an example the
Scandinavian or Dutch community) prefer to directly
publish in English instead of their national language.
Therefore, we conducted the literature search for this
inventory using English and German sources.
To order to identify all published studies on
parasocial phenomena, we conducted the searches
using German and English terms. This matters because
the precise naming or spelling of parasocial phenome
na varies across different publications (e.g., “para
social” in Horton and Wohl, 1956, versus “parasocial”
in Rubin et al., 1985, and “parafriendship” in
Tukachinsky, 2010). Correspondingly, we used the fol
lowing terms for the research: “parasocial,” “para
social,” “parasozial,” “parasozial,” “paralove,”
“parafriendship,” and “pararomantic.”
We used the following databases: PsycINFO,
Science Direct, and Google Scholar. We entered each
term into the search field individually, separately for
each of the 60 years from 1956 up to and including
2015. We examined each hit and made the decision
about whether we should include the publication in the
analysis, according to the precise selection criteria out
lined in the following subsection.
B. Selection and exclusion of publications
To objectively select the studies to be included in
the analysis, we formulated formal and contentrelated
criteria at the beginning of the research.
To ensure certain quality standards and reduce
the duplication of studies as far as possible, we includ
ed only those studies published in a classical sense.
Primarily, this meant journal articles and contributions
to compilations and anthologies, although we also
included dissertations published as monographs. We
excluded unpublished Bachelor and Master theses and
dissertations early on. Similarly, we also excluded con
ference talks and contributions to proceedings because
they would have resulted in numerous duplicates; e.g.,
studies initially presented at a conference and pub
lished as journal article afterwards. In addition, the ini
tial publication date of articles had to fall between
1956 and 2015; hence, we included studies in the
analysis with a publication date of 2016 or even 2017,
if they were published “Online First” in 2015 (e.g.,
Madison & Porter, 2016).
We established several central contentrelated
criterion. First, the publication must include an original
empirical study. Purely theoretical contributions,
reviews, and metaanalyses were accordingly excluded
from the analysis. A second, additional, requirement
for inclusion was that one of the search terms must
appear in the title, keywords, abstract, or—if nonexist
ent—in the introduction of the publication. This
ensured that a parasocial phenomenon formed a central
part of the study. The last contentrelated criterion
refers to the understanding of parasocial phenomena in
the published study. Horton and Wohl (1956) describe
parasocial phenomena as medially conveyed interac
tions or relationships between real people and media
characters. Following this basic assumption, we includ
ed only those publications that investigated parasocial
phenomena in the context of recipients and media char
acters. Publications that met the formal and content
related criteria but investigated, for example, the
“parasocial behavior” of bees (e.g., Michener, 1969)
were accordingly excluded. Similarly we excluded
studies that investigated, for example, the “WebPSI”
that a user has with a website due to this criterion,
because these studies do not define PSI as an interac
tion with a media character (e.g., Hoerner, 1999).
Application of these criteria resulted in the iden
tification of 261 publications for further analysis (see
Appendix A for a full list of publications).
C. Categorization and processing of the studies
The following sections briefly sketch the dimen
sions and categories on which we based the systematic
processing and classification of the studies.
General information. The first dimension of the sys
tematization of each publication rests on formal details,
including the authors and the year and place of publi
cation. This makes it possible to draw conclusions
about the research activity, and thus the popularity, of
the subject throughout the years, on the modes of pub
lication, and on how groups of researchers cooperate
and work together.
Object of investigation. It is also important to consid
er the object of investigation in each publication to
understand the exploratory focus and, if applicable, the
academic voids. The initial formulation of hypotheses
can often lead to conclusions about the central con
structs investigated in the study, the assumed relation
ships between them, and the methodical approach that
was considered suitable.
Besides the research focus, the media context in
which scholars investigate a parasocial phenomenon is
highly relevant. We divided the studies into five cate
gories: “film and television,” “radio and music,” “print
media,” “new media,” and “intermedia.” The first cat
egory, “film and television,” includes all studies
addressing the classical film (e.g., theatrical release
films) and television (e.g., TV shows and talk shows).
It also includes studies that use audiovisual filmlike
stimuli not initially produced for commercial film and
television (e.g., Hartmann & Goldhoorn, 2011). The
second category, “radio and music,” includes studies
on parasocial phenomena in the context of radio shows,
radio hosts, and music. The third category, “print
media,” contains studies centered around simple texts,
including journals and novels. The fourth category,
“new media,” contains studies in contexts ranging from
computer games to social media. The last category
“intermedia” includes all studies that do not relate to a
precise media context. For example, a study that com
pares parasocial phenomena between different types of
media or a study that does not fixate on certain media
contexts would fall into this category. This often occurs
when, for example, researchers investigate the PSR
with a favorite celebrity and do not make it clear in
which medium the PSI between the celebrity and the
recipient took place.
Besides the research focus and the medium inves
tigated, we categorized publications according to the
media character with whom the parasocial interaction
takes place. The focal media character can differ wide
ly depending on the study, and investigations often
define a specific character (e.g., PSR with Barack
Obama). Another category consists of studies that offer
participants a number of characters to choose from,
usually their favorite (e.g., favorite character of the TV
show “Friends”). Some studies also restrict the choice
of character to a particular medium, such as a favorite
TV character. Furthermore, researchers sometimes
investigate parasocial phenomena with a choice of
character in any medium (e.g., favorite celebrity). In
contrast, some studies do not focus on a specific media
character, but propose their own category (e.g., PSI
while watching TV in general). Finally, the last catego
ry consists of publications that investigate various
kinds of characters not limited to a single medium (e.g.,
Michael Jackson in substudy 1, and favorite celebrity
in substudy 2).
Following the specification of the investigated
media character, we further classified the studies by
the fictionality of the media content. In this work we
divide the studies into three possible categories: “fic
tional,” “nonfictional,” and “fictional and nonfic
tional.” The fictional category includes, for example,
investigations of parasocial phenomena with charac
ters from favorite TV shows. A study on favorite
politicians is a classic example from the nonfictional
category. The fictional and nonfictional category pri
marily includes studies that do not restrict the fiction
ality of media characters; for example, an investiga
tion of PSR in which the participants remain free to
COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 — 7
choose either their favorite fictional character (such
as a character from a TV show), or a nonfictional
character (such as a talk show host).
Further categorization rests on the type of paraso
cial phenomenon under investigation. Classically,
scholars divided studies according to whether the stud
ies investigate PSI or PSR. Studies on a certain facet of
PSI or PSR remain possible and thus constitute an extra
category (e.g., romantic or negative PSR). Parasocial
breakup comes into play here; we identified it sepa
rately. Studies that investigate many different paraso
cial phenomena or no particular construct also have
their separate category. Overall, we base the classifica
tion on the main construct under investigation. Due to
the blurred definitions, particularly in early research on
parasocial phenomena, this is not necessarily the same
construct as the one initially indicated by the respective
authors. A typical example comes from a questionnaire
that measures parasocial phenomena using the PSI
Scale (Rubin et al., 1985). Based on current definitions,
the name of the scale misleads the reader because the
scale primarily includes items that measure PSR, not
PSI (see also Dibble & Rosaen, 2011). The conclusion
that a study investigated PSR (although it indicated
PSI) is even more obvious if the data collection occurs
postreception and remains detached from a reception
situation, which is normally the case with surveys. In
such a case, we classify the study as PSR in our analy
sis, even though its authors may initially refer to PSI
(see, e.g., ShermanMorris, 2005).
Data collection. Following the categorization of the
articles, we processed them according to the type of
data collection using the following three subdimen
sions: method, sample, and measuring instrument. The
details of the data collection make the system of inves
tigation within the study comprehensible and offer
clues on how to interpret the results.
Investigation of the method focused on the data
collection procedure. We classified a study consisting
of an experiment made up of a manipulation and a
subsequent questionnaire as an experiment.
Experiments linked to a subsequent observation hold
a special position, however; because this applies to
only a few studies, they do not merit an extra catego
ry, but we will mention it in the relevant subsection.
We developed four categories covering the method
ological approaches specified in the publications
(“survey,” “experiment,” “observation,” and “content
analysis”). Because some publications, especially
those made up of many substudies, can lead to a
connection between various methodical approaches,
these make up a separate category. Furthermore, we
divided the publications into “qualitative,” “quantita
tive,” and “both qualitative and quantitative” accord
ing to their general methodological approach.
Next, we classified the studies according to
whether their samples consisted of people (classically
in surveys, observations, and experiments) or of
media content (classically in content analyses). To
provide a better comparison of studies that imple
mented human samples, we further classified them
according to age and gender. When classifying age,
developmental psychology served as an orientation.
Developmental psychology often divides the stages of
life based on the interaction between an organism’s
biological changes (e.g., puberty), tasks that are given
to the organism by society (e.g., education and work),
and individual values such as the pursuit of selfpro
claimed goals (e.g., starting a family). The different
models propose very similar divisions, starting with
early childhood, childhood, school, adolescence up to
youth; and finally, early, middle, and late adulthood
(see, e.g., Havighurst, 1952). Following this basic
idea, we classified the samples in the analysis in a
simplified form: “infants” (0–4 years), “children”
(5–12 years), “teenager” (13–17 years), “adults tobe”
(18–24 years), “young adults” (25–34 years), “full
adults” (35–59 years), and “older adults” (60+ years).
The classification does not imply that all of the par
ticipants fell within that age range, but rather that a
large majority of them did. If a study did not state the
age of the participants in detail, but the description of
the study led to the assumption that it must have
revolved around adults, we simply classified the age
as “adults.”
We also noted gender in the analysis. Different
from the justmentioned division of age into reasonable
stages of life, there is no established systemization to
characterized the gender ratio of the participants.
Therefore, we developed an original category system
to capture the gender ratio of the samples: “only male”
(0% female), “mainly male” (1–24% female), “rather
male” (25–44% female), “balanced” (45–55% female),
“rather female” (56–75% female), “mainly female”
(76–99% female), and “only female” (100% female).
Not all studies stated the gender ratio of their partici
pants explicitly; however, if we could ascertain from
the context that more than one gender participated in a
study, we classified the sample as “mixed” without fur
ther specification.
8— VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS
After categorizing the samples in these ways, the
last issue concerning data collection for us had to do
with the measurement instrument used to gather data
on the parasocial phenomenon. Analogously to the dis
tinction of qualitative versus quantitative research, a
distinction can be made between studies that captured
parasocial phenomena quantitatively and those that did
not. If the investigated parasocial construct used quan
titative methods, we classed the measurement accord
ing to the following categories: “development of an
original scale,” “development of an original scale and
use of an established measurement instrument,” “use of
an established measurement instrument or an adapted
version of it,” “use of different measurement instru
ments,” and “use of one or more established measure
ment instruments and formulation of original items.”
COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 — 9
3. Results
We divide the results of our analysis of 261 pub
lished empirical studies on parasocial phenomena into
three sections reflecting our research foci. The first
section concerns the development of the research,
starting with Horton and Wohl (1956) until 2015, cen
tering around the question, “What research topics were
popular at what time?” The second section includes the
introduction of the different methodical approaches of
the studies, as well as the answer to the question “How
was the research done?” The third section of the meta
analysis reports general patterns, research trends, and
the subjectrelated state of research.
A. Research topics then and now
This section concentrates on the temporal and con
tentrelated development of the research field, focusing
on the essential question “What research topics were
popular at what time?” To answer this question, we
address: the number of publications over time, the media
contexts of the studies, the media characters as well as
the role parasocial phenomena play in the studies.
Publications over the course of time. Viewing the
publications that include original empirical studies on
parasocial phenomena of the last 60 years, it is notice
able that there is a rising tendency in the number of
publications per year (see Figure 1). Following the
pioneering work of Horton and Wohl (1956), it took a
further 16 years before Rosengren and Windahl (1972)
published the first quantitative study in the form of
two surveys. Over the next 20 years, the state of
research remained rather manageable, with a maxi
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Figure 1. Number of original empirical studies on parasocial phenomena published each year since 1956
mum of three published studies per year. There was a
substantial increase in 1996, with a total of seven
empirical studies. This can be partly explained by the
high increase in the number of German publications in
which Uli Gleich and Peter Vorderer played a leading
role. It was also the year in which the first edited vol
ume addressing parasocial phenomena was published:
Fernsehen als Beziehungskiste: Parasoziale
Beziehungen und Interaktionen mit TVPersonen
[Television as relationship: Parasocial relationships
and interactions with TV characters] (Vorderer, 1996).
Subsequently, the number of published works ranges
from three to 11 studies a year up to and including
2007. Between 2008 and 2013, the number of publica
tions rises distinctly and evens out at approximately 15
studies per year.
The doubling of the number of publications to
30 a year in 2014 and 2015 is especially remarkable.
A possible reason for this sudden increase, besides the
rising interest in the research topic, comes from the
increasing number of studies concerning parasocial
phenomena with regard to social networks such as
Facebook and Twitter (e.g., Frederick, Hamrick, &
Clavio, 2014; Tsiotsou, 2015). We can assume that
this trend will continue throughout the next years. The
cumulative number of publications (see Figure 2),
reinforces the impression that a large proportion of
the studies on parasocial phenomena have appeared in
the past few years. Only approximately 10% of the
empirical studies were published in the first 40 years
after Horton and Wohl (1956), and about a third with
in 50 years, whereas two thirds appeared during the
last 10 years.
Parasocial phenomena in different types of media.
Along with the increasing number of published empiri
cal studies on different aspects of parasocial phenome
na, our investigation concerning interactions and rela
tionships between the audience and characters shows an
increase of studies of parasocial phenomena in different
types of media. Half (50.6%) of the empirical studies
focus on the original medium “film and television” and
a quarter (24.3%) on “intermedia.” Because this catego
ry does not specify the media context (e.g., research on
parasocial relationships with favorite celebrities),
parasocial phenomena with characters from television
may also appear here. In addition to studies in the con
text of film and television and intermedia, we have seen
a recent increase in research concerning parasocial phe
nomena on new media such as social networks.
Nevertheless, this category does not account for even a
quarter of the studies (18.6%). The other two cate
gories—“print media” (3.1%) and “radio and music”
(3.4%)—barely register. A possible reason for the dis
proportionate lack of research on parasocial phenomena
in the context of print, radio, and music could be the
lack of potential for media characters to address the
audience visually and, to an extent, auditorily.
10 — VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS
Figure 2. Cumulative number of original empirical studies on parasocial phenomena published since 1956
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Parasocial phenomena with fictional versus nonfic
tional media characters. This section examines publi
cations concerning parasocial phenomena with fiction
al versus nonfictional media characters. Across all cat
egories, nearly one half of the studies dealt with
parasocial phenomena with nonfictional media char
acters (47.3%). The other two categories, “fictional”
(25.2%) and “fictional and nonfictional” (27.5%), are
approximately on a par.
Furthermore, considerable differences emerge
between media categories (see Figure 3). While the
“film and television” category appears relatively bal
anced between studies that differentiate between fic
tional and nonfictional characters and those that do
not, the “new media” and “intermedia” categories
appear strongly biased towards nonfictional media
characters. In the “new media” category, we can
explain this finding, inter alia, by the growing trend of
researching parasocial phenomena in social networks.
The research methods of such studies often include
content analyses of the websites of real celebrities (e.g.,
Frederick, Lim, Clavio, Pedersen, & Burch, 2014).
Only a few fictional media characters maintain their
own Twitter or Facebook pages, which makes a focus
on nonfictional characters in this media category seem
logical. In the “intermedia” category, most of the pub
lications studied do not specify the medium under
examination. The reason for this is that researchers
usually ask participants for their “favorite celebrity”—
a nonfictional media character (e.g., Giles & Maltby,
2004)—because, amongst other things, only a few fic
tional media characters have intermedia parasocial
contact with their audience. With most of the fictional
characters the contact occurs only in one medium.
B. Methodological approach and data analysis
While the previous subsection focused on the
development of research on parasocial phenomena, this
section concentrates on the methodological implemen
tations of the empirical studies, focusing on the essen
tial question “How was which research done?” To
answer this question, we assessed the publications
under the following criteria: the methods used, the
specification of the studied construct, the measurement
instruments used, and the composition of the sample.
Research methods used to study parasocial phe
nomena. Before taking a closer look at the precise
method of data collection and the research logic of the
studies, let us consider the general methodological
approaches. The majority of the publications on
parasocial phenomena (81.3%) utilize a purely quanti
tative approach. This seems logical when considering
that such research takes place primarily in that area of
communication studies where quantitative empirical
research predominates. Some studies on parasocial
phenomena use qualitative approaches (13.7%), and
only a small fraction (5.0%) combine both quantitative
and qualitative research methods.
COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 — 11
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Figure 3. Number of publications according to the fictionality of the media character and media category
A look at the precise method of data collection
shows a strong preference for surveys (64.4%), fol
lowed by experiments (16.8%), although 93.2% of the
experimental studies also include surveys (e.g., So &
Nabi, 2013) and only a few studies (6.8%) include
subsequent observation (e.g., Junger & Witte, 2008;
Gola, Richards, Lauricella, & Calvert, 2013). Content
analyses rank as the third most popular method
(12.6%). A few studies use observation without an
experiment (2.3%) or use several methods of data col
lection (4.2%).
When examining how the methodological
approaches and research methods differ between media
categories, we find both similarities and differences.
Both quantitative and qualitative research occurs in all
media categories, with the ratio fluctuating just a little.
There is an overall predominance of quantitative meth
ods in studies of parasocial phenomena in all media
contexts except “print media,” and “radio and music.”
The majority of studies in all categories use surveys.
However, the share of other research methods differs
between media categories. For example, studies on
parasocial phenomena in the context of film and televi
sion exclusively use observations while studies in the
new media category employ a combination of methods.
Content analyses appear relatively frequently in this
medium, which seems rather logical because parasocial
interactions and relationships in this medium often
appear in a written and publicly accessible form, such
as posts on celebrity fan sites (e.g., Kassing &
Sanderson, 2009) or tweets (e.g., Stever & Lawson,
2013). Basically, these approaches basically form the
followups of the earlier content analyses of fan letters
(e.g., Sood & Rogers, 2000).
Specifications of the investigated construct. Beyond
the different methods used, the investigated construct
also distinguishes publications. More than half (53.1%)
of the empirical publications on parasocial phenomena
focus on parasocial relationships, which coheres with
the fact that most studies employ surveys.
Approximately a third of the publications (30.5%)
focused on parasocial interactions, with a remarkably
high share of experiments. The link to a reception situ
ation—the case in most experiments—explains this. In
contrast, only a handful of studies addresses parasocial
breakups (1.1%). In addition, some publications do
not limit themselves to the investigation of one specif
ic construct, but shed light on several constructs
(12.6%). This commonly occurs in the case of studies
that focus on certain facets of parasocial phenomena,
such as romantic or negative parasocial relationships.
Usually, the researchers investigate a certain facet as an
addition or as a means to enable a comparison with
other facets (e.g., Pitout, 1998; Tian & Hoffner, 2010).
Rarely will a publication limit itself to that particular
facet (1.6%; e.g., Song & Fox, 2016). Only some iso
lated cases do not investigate any particular construct
(1.1%), usually because parasocial phenomena do not
form the focus of the research but appear simply as an
explanatory theory (e.g., Auter & Moore, 1993; Perloff
& Krevans, 1987; Stever, 2009).
Finally, differences between the constructs
become apparent with regard to the way researchers
investigated these parasocial phenomena. Whereas
research on PSI equally employs surveys, experiments,
or content analyses, PSR as well as the other constructs
almost exclusively use surveys (see Figure 4). One rea
son for the disproportional number of surveys here
might stem from the fact that studies on PSR are usu
ally conducted postreception and, in most cases, do
not refer to a specific reception situation, but investi
gate the general bond with a media character. This does
not suggest that researchers do not investigate paraso
cial interactions, but that they usually find parasocial
relationships more salient (e.g., Jeong, Candidate, &
Park, 2015).
Measurement instruments. Once researchers have
defined the investigated construct, the focus turns to its
measurement. Here we must distinguish between two
kinds of studies: those that measure parasocial phe
nomena quantitatively and those that do not. Most of
studies that do not measure parasocial phenomena
quantitatively use qualitative data collection and con
tent analysis, which generally makes the quantitative
measurement of the intensity of the parasocial phe
nomenon impossible. Among the studies that record
one or more parasocial phenomena quantitatively, a
large proportion (62.0%) rely on an established scale or
an adapted version of one. A small proportion (9.4%)
also use various established scales or parts of them.
Another option, though rarely applied, uses an estab
lished scale in combination with additional items
exclusively developed for the study (5.3%). The num
ber of studies (15.3%) that use an individually devel
oped scale or combine an individually developed scale
with an established one (8.0%) is remarkably high.
The number of studies that develop their own
scale allows some conclusions regarding the hetero
geneity of the measurement of parasocial phenomena.
Various measurement instruments differ widely; for
12 — VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS
example, the DrinkingBuddy Scale (Powell,
Richmond, & CantrellWilliams, 2012) versus the
Multiple Parasocial Relationships Scale (Tukachinsky,
2010). While the DrinkingBuddy Scale measures a
parasocial phenomenon with only one item, which asks
the participant which of a selection of celebrities they
would rather “have a drink” with, the Multiple
Parasocial Relationships Scale consists of 24 items that
record various facets of parasocial relationships in mul
tiple dimensions. The advantage of these differences
lies in the possibility of choosing a customfit meas
urement instrument for a specific study. At the same
time, this heterogeneity complicates the comparison of
different studies.
Despite the large number of measurement instru
ments for researching parasocial phenomena, one
appears remarkably often: the PSIScale by Rubin et al.
(1985), and its short version by Rubin and Perse
(1987). Fully 95 of the publications in this review use
the PSIScale to measure parasocial phenomena. To
better understand the classification of this large number
of publications, the following list shows the three most
commonly used scales along with the number of publi
cations using them:
• Short and long version of the PSIScale (Rubin
et al., 1985; Rubin & Perse, 1987), used in 95 pub
lications;
• AudiencePersona Interaction Scale (Auter &
Palmgreen, 2000), used in 11 publications; and
• PSIProcess Scales (Schramm & Hartmann,
2008), used in 8 publications.
A possible reason for the popularity of the PSI
Scale is that its wide use creates a spiraleffect accord
ing to the belief that “An instrument that so many have
used so often cannot be wrong so I will use it for my
own research.” Another positive feature of the PSI
Scale is that the ready availability of the items because
Rubin et al. (1985) published them in full from the
beginning and thus researchers do not need to access
them through the author. The relatively low number of
items, especially in its short version, increases the
appeal of the scale, considering that approximately two
thirds of the empirical studies operationalize parasocial
phenomena with 10 items or less. Only 12.6% of the
studies measure a parasocial phenomenon with 20 or
more items.
Typical composition of samples. To answer the ques
tion, “How was the research done?” we must look at
the composition of the samples. Therefore, we only
include publications that employ data collection with
people, which applies to 227 of the 261 publications in
this review. Regarding the average age of the partici
pants, most research took place with adults tobe aged
18–24 years (42.3%). In striking contrast, only a few
studies use toddlers or children (6.6%), adolescents
(3.5%), or older adults (2.6%).
A clear gender bias appears in the composition of
the samples. Only 17.6% of the samples include a bal
anced ratio of male and female participants, whereas
43.6% have a surplus of female participants compared
with only 7.5% with a surplus of male participants. The
COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 — 13
Figure 4. Number of publications according to the investigated construct and method of data collection
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gender ratio is unclear in many cases (20.3%) or the
researchers tested the hypothesis on several samples
and thus included different gender ratios (11.0%).
In conclusion, many of the empirical studies on
parasocial phenomena feature young and predominant
ly female samples. This combination is often accompa
nied by an aboveaverage educational level because
researchers recruit their samples from their own study
programs, and communication studies tends to be pop
ular with young, female students (e.g., Cummins &
Cui, 2014; Eyal & Cohen, 2006; Greenwood, 2008;
Tukachinsky, 2010). The strongly limited representa
tiveness limits or even prevents generalization of the
results to the general public.
C. Overall results and patterns
Finally, this last research focus attends to the
insights we gained by the studies presented here.
Looking at the results of the more than 250 studies, a
diverse and selectively inconsistent picture of the caus
es and effects of PSI and PSR and the accompanying
reception phenomena emerges as expected. To ensure
this review does not obscure the overall picture by
overfocusing on the details, this section aims to create
a clear image of the central results, factors, and aspects
that have appeared relevant in several studies. We will
illustrate each of these items by one example study.
The resulting image is obviously simplified and cannot
do justice to each individual study. Nevertheless, a
clear image should provide a better understanding and
a better sense of the “general principles” of parasocial
phenomena. This could lead to future PSI and PSR
research resting more strongly on previous findings to
further improve our understanding of parasocial phe
nomena. Due to the surplus of studies on film and tele
vision, we acknowledge that this image will first and
foremost show the functioning of parasocial phenome
na in audiovisual media. Future research will need to
show to what extent this image must be adjusted for
print media or for the newest interactive media.
Influence of media users’ characteristics on paraso
cial phenomena. Overall, the probability and intensity
of parasocial phenomena seem to increase with age
(Levy, 1979). However, this is actually related to vari
ous factors associated with age, such as high television
consumption (Grant, Guthrie, & BallRokeach, 1991);
increased habitual television use (Gleich, 1997a), or
rather, a strong bond to specific shows and media char
acters (Nordlund, 1978); and the progressive loss of
social contacts and activities or limited health among
those of postretirement age (Eggermont &
Vandebosch, 2001). Adolescents also show very strong
PSI and PSR (Maltby, Giles, Barber, & McCutcheon,
2005); in this case, researchers assume the causes to be
puberty and the discovery of one’s sexuality and iden
tity, which is often associated with a profound rapture
for media stars, accompanied by fandom and idoliza
tion (Giles & Maltby, 2004). Women show more
intense parasocial phenomena than men (Eyal &
Cohen, 2006), which the researchers trace to women’s
generally greater empathic capacity and emotionality.
PSI and PSR often appear as very distinct in people
with low education levels and incomes (or rather, low
socioeconomic status) (Auter, Arafa, & AlJaber,
2005). Research that shows that dissatisfaction and
hopelessness increase the intensity of parasocial con
tacts (ChoryAssad & Yanen, 2005) could explain this.
Numerous results support the alleged compensa
tional function of parasocial phenomena, which
researchers explain by “deficits” in the personality
structure of the media users (Tsao, 1996): the less
agreeable (Tsay & Bodine, 2012), the more shy
(Vorderer & Knobloch, 1996) and neurotic the recipi
ents are (Sun, 2010), the more pronounced their PSI
and PSR. Do people with these personality traits devel
op particularly intensive PSR with media entities
because they find it hard to establish and maintain rela
tionships in real life? Although the findings regarding
loneliness are mixed, some results indicate that PSR
with media entities increases with loneliness
(Greenwood & Long, 2009), current relationship status
(i.e., single) (Greenwood & Long, 2011), the perceived
cost of real (also romantic) relationships (Adam &
Sizemore, 2013), and unattractive relationship alterna
tives (Eyal & Dailey, 2012).
Influence of media characters’ characteristics on
parasocial phenomena. The traits and aspects of
media characters that can influence the nature and
intensity of parasocial phenomena appear as diverse as
the fertile ground on which they can unfold. In other
words, because media users turn to media characters
with different needs, motives and preferences, the
diverse traits and features of media entities can lead to
intensive PSI and PSR. This resembles real life: Every
Jack has his Jill. Accordingly, results show that the
strength of parasocial phenomena increases with the
level of sympathy (Kronewald, 2008), identification
(Tian & Hoffner, 2010), and perceived similarity with
the media character (Turner, 1993). The strength of
parasocial phenomena is also reinforced by a high level
14 — VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS
of perceived attractiveness—physical, character, or
taskrelated (Knoll, Schramm, Schallhorn, &
Wynistorf, 2015)—as well as a high level of personal
address (Schramm & Wirth, 2010) and interactivity
(Thorson & Rodgers, 2006).
In most cases, the intensity of a parasocial phe
nomenon increases when people perceive the media
character as humorous (Kronewald, 2008), intelligent
(Hoffner, 1996), and credible (Baeßler, 2009). This
has special relevance in persuasive contexts that aim
to persuade media users of something (advertise
ments, politics, health communications) (Phua,
2016). Although parasocial phenomena generally
appear as positively valenced, “negative” factors can
presumably increase the parasocial experience, as for
example, when a media entity is involved in a scan
dal (Hu, 2016).
A highly relevant factor is the fictionality of the
media entity. When researchers ask people to name
their favorite media entity, many name fictional char
acters (Tukachinsky, 2010). Hence, it is not surprising
that the results indicate that parasocial phenomena with
fictional characters are more intensive than with non
fictional characters (Hu, 2016). Film and TV show
characters appear as particularly attractive for project
ing the wishes and needs of many media users.
Children, especially boys, find animated or cartoon
characters parasocially appealing. In particular, abused
children flee into parasocial confrontations with ani
mated human characters, whereas nonabused children
tend to interact with nonanimated, seemingly real
media characters—presumably because they do not
have similar negative experiences with human beings
(Rosaen, Sherry, & Smith, 2011).
Reception phenomena accompanying parasocial
phenomena. Intensive interactions between media
users and media characters, based on an initial contact
or a consistent parasocial relationship, show associa
tions with other reception phenomena. High attention
(Rubin & Perse, 1987), more intensive information
processing (Calvert, Richards, & Kent, 2014), stronger
emotional experiences (e.g., higher suspense or enter
tainment experiences, if allowed by the medium)
(Hartmann, Stuke, & Daschmann, 2008), and more
intensive physical activities—in short, an increased
cognitive, emotional and conative involvement—are
typical side effects (Kim & Rubin, 1997). Some results
show that intensified PSI could correlate with high
relaxation and decreased emotional stress (Madison &
Porter, 2015). This correlation would be plausible if the
media content and the media character were so strong
ly involving that the receivers could become complete
ly submerged in the media world, enabling them to for
get about their real problems and completely relax.
Strong PSI is often associated with a high level
of presence—the feeling of being completely present
in a media world—which supports this plausible
assumption (Chung & Kim, 2009). The reactance of
the media user to persuasive communication also
decreases as the intensity of the parasocial relation
ship with the media entity strengthens, thus providing
further support (MoyerGusé & Nabi, 2010). In other
words, PSI and PSR decrease the (critical) distance to
the media content.
Effects mediated or influenced by parasocial phe
nomena. PSI and PSR not only contribute to a better
understanding of media content, but can also change the
attitudes of media users and intensify their cognitive
and emotional engagement with the content and mes
sage conveyed by the media entity. The results of stud
ies on persuasive effects show that the parasocial con
frontation with corresponding persuasive media entities
or ambassadors in the media can influence media users’
voting decisions (Centeno, 2010), donation behavior
(even in their willingness to donate organs) (Lee, Park,
Choi, & Kim, 2010), and assessments of and purchasing
intentions towards advertised products (Colliander &
Dahlén, 2011). Because PSI and PSR interact with the
perception of reality during the reception, that this
effect can also change users’ ideas about reality and the
world as well as their attitudes towards medially con
veyed aspects postreception should not surprise us.
Studies show, for example, that PSI and PSR can also
affect political views (Wen & Cui, 2014), prejudices
(Hoffner & Cohen, 2015), attitudes about gender stereo
types (Kistler & Lee, 2010), and trust (e.g., in the
weather forecast) (ShermanMorris, 2005), depending
on how positive or negative the media entity’s influence
is on the media user.
When looking at the abovementioned “deficits”
of some media users and the associated instrumental
use of media offerings to counteract these deficits,
many studies indicate that parasocial confrontations
and bonding with media entities have potentially posi
tive effects. In particular, media users’ identification
with media characters shows connections to higher
selfconfidence (Greenwood, 2008), a higher selfeffi
cacy expectation (Phua, 2016), a stronger perception of
problemfocused coping strategies (Hoffner & Cohen,
2012), and a stronger sense of belonging (Derrick,
COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 — 15
Gabriel, & Hugenberg, 2009). As examples of poten
tially negative effects, which the results also indicate,
an unrealistic bodyimage can reduce selfesteem (Eyal
& Te’eniHarari, 2013) and increase media consump
tion and media addiction (Grant, Guthrie, & Ball
Rokeach, 1991).
16 — VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS
4. 60 years of research—A conclusion
When Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl laid
the foundation for research on parasocial phenomena
in 1956, neither of them would have guessed that their
idea about recipients interacting and forming relation
ships with TV characters would form the starting point
for more than 250 empirical studies over the next 60
years. In the course of these studies, and with the help
of numerous theoretical works, scholars refined, made
measurable, and transferred the concept to other media
subjects. This inventory provides a first overview on
anchor points and along the way discloses some central
shortcomings of this body of research: A recurring key
issue in the discussion about parasocial phenomena
research arises with the measurement of the phenome
non itself, or rather, its individual constructs. This is
not only indicated by the heterogeneity of the method
ological approaches used within the studies, but also
by the lack of differentiation between parasocial phe
nomena at the beginning of the research. A good exam
ple appears in the PSIScale developed by Rubin et al.
(1985), the title of which indicates that it measures PSI.
On the contrary, however, the majority of the individ
ual items focus on PSR (see, e.g., Dibble & Rosaen,
2011). The consequences of this blurred definition are
especially severe considering that the PSIscale is by
far the most widely used instrument for measuring
parasocial phenomena. The widespread disagreement
about the dimensions that make up parasocial phenom
ena (c.f., Branch, Wilson, & Agnew, 2013; Rubin et al.,
1985; Tukachinsky, 2010) only worsens the inaccuracy
in the measurement of parasocial phenomena. The
need for standardized and better differentiated meas
urement instruments becomes evident, for example,
when looking at the number of studies that still expend
great efforts in developing their own scales (e.g.,
Banks & Bowman, 2016; Hartmann & Goldhoorn,
2011). Another common procedure that hints at the
lack of appropriate measurement instruments is the
piecing together of items from different scales to
achieve a fitting operationalization (e.g., Claessens &
van den Bulck, 2015; Hu, 2016). To ensure the approx
imate comparability of empirical findings in parasocial
research, researchers must achieve a consensus on the
definition and dimensions of constructs.
We also view the methodological approach used
to study parasocial phenomena as critical. At present, a
large proportion of results come from surveys with a
correlative design. Researchers can only assume
effects, and especially the directions of effects, from
theoretical considerations or reasonable intuition.
Further investigations of parasocial phenomena and
their reciprocal actions with other factors would there
fore be desirable. We also note that with very few
exceptions, all of the studies are based on a cross sec
tional design (one exception uses a longitudinalsec
tion design: Rosengren, 1994). Although exciting
snapshots can emerge from such research, knowledge
about the dynamic development of parasocial phenom
ena and their interactions with other influencing fac
tors over time cannot be generated. Currently, for
example, research cannot answer questions such as
“Does the relevance of a media character’s physical
attractiveness decrease over the course of a PSR?” and
“Does a PSR become weaker when the recipient finds
a real new friend?” Despite the considerable challenge
in conducting longitudinal studies, the results would be
exciting and indispensable if they could reveal a uni
fied understanding of parasocial phenomena.
Although this first inventory can and should not
fulfil the function of a detailed and deep review on the
status quo of PSI/PSR research findings and topics
(this forms the second step in analyzing these 250 and
more studies), we would like to point at some first
impressions that have become clear: Many studies on
parasocial phenomena remain problem oriented, as
indicated by the keyword “negative psychology.”
Researchers postulate that parasocial phenomena occur
especially in those who are lonely (e.g., Ashe &
McCutcheon, 2001), dissatisfied (e.g., Eggermont &
Vandebosch, 2001), emotionally unstable (e.g.,
Maltby, Houran, & McCutcheon, 2003), and less intel
ligent (e.g., McCutcheon, Ashe, Houran, & Maltby,
2003). Parasocial phenomena can, for example,
become a substitute for insufficient social contact (e.g.,
Tsao, 1996). In contrast, researchers rarely consider
potential associations between parasocial phenomena
and positive recipient traits. Questions such as “Do
people who are more creative and imaginative form
stronger parasocial bonds?” are investigated much less
than “Do less formally educated people form stronger
parasocial bonds?” A better balance and more thinking
out of the box, in which parasocial phenomena appear
as more than just a potential compensation for various
deficits, would be desirable in future research.
Just as widespread is the assumption that paraso
cial phenomena are of a friendly nature. The vast
majority of studies assume, without further explana
tion, that the interactions and bonds between recipients
and media characters resemble those that occur in
friendships (e.g., Kassing & Sanderson, 2009). Very
few studies explicitly assume that other processes, such
as negative PSR (e.g., Hartmann, Stuke, &
Daschmann, 2008) or romantic bonds (e.g., Adam &
Sizemore, 2013), may be involved. Following the basic
idea that parasocial processes resemble in many ways
real social processes, researchers should introduce a
wider range of parasocial phenomena apart from those
of a friendly nature into their research.
Cultural differences form another neglected area
of research. Just as interpersonal interactions and the
development of relationships in collectivistic cultures
differ from those in individualistic cultures, parasocial
processes could also differ. Although a few studies con
sider intercultural effects (e.g., Ramasubramanian &
Kornfield, 2012), only three studies that include the
respective data collection of participants in multiple
cultures focus on the actual comparison of different
cultures (Auter, Ashton, & Soliman, 2008; Gleich,
1997a; Schmid & Klimmt, 2011). Given that these
studies showed initial differences between cultures,
crosscultural studies seem to offer a meaningful future
research direction.
The comparison of different media appears just as
crucial as the comparison of different cultures. We can
not at present answer the question of whether paraso
cial phenomena develop in the same way in media that
offer audiovisual interactions with a media character
and those that only offer auditory contact. Is the phys
ical attractiveness of a book character as important for
PSR as the physical attractiveness of a TV character?
Can parasocial phenomena with radio or book charac
ters ever become as intensive as with TV characters?
The general focus on parasocial phenomena in the con
text of film and television is also crucially related to the
neglect of media comparisons. Further studies on the
asyet neglected media contexts as well as the compar
ison of different media would contribute to a unified
understanding of parasocial phenomena.
The suggested directions for future research dis
cussed here constitute only some of the current
research gaps. Many more remain still to be uncovered
and, building on the everexpanding popularity of this
research topic, the upcoming years promise both rele
vant and interesting work.
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Appendix A
Complete list of publications according to their
media context
The following appendix contains all of the publi
cations included in the metaview of the current arti
cle—hence, it contains empirical studies focusing on
parasocial phenomena initially published between
1956 and 2015. To provide a better overview, we sepa
rated the publications according to the media contexts
in which they took place. Moreover, they are ordered
by their year of publication, so readers get an idea of
the development of the research field. If multiple pub
lications within one media context with the same year
of publication exist, we listed them alphabetically.
1. Film and Television
The following list includes all studies that can be
assigned to the classical film and television. It also
includes studies that use audiovisual filmlike stimuli
that were not initially produced for commercial film
and television.
Horton, D., & Wohl, R. R. (1956). Mass communication and
parasocial interaction: Observations on intimacy at a
distance. Psychiatry, 19, 188–211.
Rosengren, K. E., Windahl, S., Hakansson, P., & Johnsson
Smaragdi, U. (1976). Adolescents’ TV relations: Three
scales. Communication Research, 3, 347–366.
Duck, J. M., & Noble, G. (1979). ‘Sesame Street’ & ‘Play
School’: A comparison and contrast of the two pro
grams suitable for a four yearold target audience.
Media Information Australia, 13, 15–23.
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Knoll, J., Schramm, H., Schallhorn, C., & Wynistorf, S.
(2015). Good guy vs. bad guy: The influence of
parasocial interactions with media characters on brand
placement effects. International Journal of
Advertising: The Review of Marketing Communi
cations, 34, 720–743.
Madison, T. P., & Porter, L. V. (2015). The people we meet:
Discriminating functions of parasocial interactions.
Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 35, 47–71.
Parashar, S. (2015). Television connectedness: A compara
tive study of television programs. International
Journal of Applied Services Marketing Perspectives,
4, 1737–1746.
Semmler, S. M., Loof, T., & Berke, C. (2015). The influence
of audioonly character narration on character and nar
rative engagement. Communication Research Reports,
32, 63–72.
Stehr, P., Rössler, P., Schönhardt, F., & Leißner, L. (2015).
Parasocial opinion leadership: Media personalities’
influence within parasocial relations: Theoretical con
ceptualization and preliminary results. International
Journal of Communication, 9, 982–1001.
Tian, Y., & Yoo, J. H. (2015). Connecting with the biggest
loser: An extended model of parasocial interaction and
identification in healthrelated reality TV shows.
Health Communication, 30, 1–7.
Dibble, J. L., Hartmann, T., & Rosaen, S. F. (2016).
Parasocial interaction and parasocial relationship:
Conceptual clarification and a critical assessment of
measures. Human Communication Research, 42,
21–44.
Hu, M. (2016). The Influence of a scandal on parasocial rela
tionship, parasocial interaction, and parasocial
breakup. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 5,
217–231.
Madison, T. P., & Porter, L. V. (2016). Cognitive and
imagery attributes of parasocial relationships.
Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 35, 359–379.
Madison, T. P., Porter, L. V., & Greule, A. (2016). Parasocial
compensation hypothesis: Predictors of using paraso
cial relationships to compensate for reallife interac
tion. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 35,
258–279.
Phua, J. (2016). The effects of similarity, parasocial identifi
cation, and source credibility in obesity public service
announcements on diet and exercise selfefficacy.
Journal of Health Psychology, 21, 699–708.
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Rosaen, S. F., & Dibble, J. L. (2016). Clarifying the role of
attachment and social compensation on parasocial
relationships with television characters.
Communication Studies, 67, 147–162.
2. Radio and Music
The following list includes all studies on paraso
cial phenomena in the context of radio shows, radio
hosts, and music.
Hofstetter, C. R., & Gianos, C. L. (1997). Political talk radio:
Actions speak louder than words. Journal of
Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 41, 501–515.
Papa, M. J., Singhal, A., Law, S., Pant, S., Sood, S., Rogers,
E., & ShefnerRogers, C. (2000). Entertainment edu
cation and social change: An analysis of parasocial
interaction, social learning, collective efficacy, and
paradoxical communication. Journal of
Communication, 50, 31–55.
Rubin, A. M., & Step, M. M. (2000). Impact of motivation,
attraction, and parasocial interaction on talk radio lis
tening. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,
44, 635–654.
Kawamura, Y., Ivankova, N. V., Kohler, C. L., & Perumean
Chaney, S. (2009). Utilizing mixed methods to assess
parasocial interaction of an entertainmenteducation
program audience. International Journal of Multiple
Research Approaches, 3, 88–104.
Papa, M. J., & Singhal, A. (2009). How entertainmentedu
cation programmes promote dialogue in support of
social change. Journal of Creative Communications, 4,
185–208.
Bentley, J. M. (2014). Best practices in noncommercial radio
fundraising: A practitioner perspective. International
Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing,
19, 250–261.
Savage, M. E., & Spence, P. R. (2014). Will you listen? An
examination of parasocial interaction and credibility in
radio. Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 21, 3–19.
Tanganika, F. (2014). The role of “Musekeweya,” an enter
tainmenteducation radio soap opera in the promotion
of reconciliation in Rwanda. Rwandan Journal of
Education, 1, 55–68.
Wolfenden, H. (2014). “I know exactly who they are”: Radio
presenters’ conceptions of audience. Radio Journal:
International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media, 12,
5–21.
3. Print Media
The following list includes all studies centered
around simple texts, including journals and novels.
Burnett, A., & Beto, R. R. (2000). Reading romance novels:
An application of parasocial relationship theory. North
Dakota Journal of Speech & Theatre, 13, 28–39.
Appel, M., Koch, E., Schreier, M., & Groeben, N. (2002).
Aspekte des Leseerlebens: Skalenentwicklung.
Zeitschrift für Medienpsychologie, 14, 149–154.
Rössler, P., & Veigel, A. (2005). Was interessiert an Stars und
Sternchen? Publizistik, 50, 438–461.
Wegener, C. (2008). Medien, Aneignung und Identität:
“Stars” im Alltag jugendlicher Fans. Wiesbaden: VS
Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Hinnant, A., & Meyers Hendrickson, E. (2014). Negotiating
normalcy in celebrity health behavior: A focus group
analysis. Journal of Magazine & New Media
Research, 15, 1–20.
Phua, J. (2014). The influence of Asian American
spokesmodels in technologyrelated advertising: An
experiment. Howard Journal of Communications, 25,
399–414.
Gries, P., Sanders, M. A., Stroup, D. R., & Cai, H. (2015).
Hollywood in China: How American popular culture
shapes Chinese views of the “beautiful imperialist”—
An experimental analysis. The China Quarterly, 224,
1070–1082.
Szpitalak, M., Polak, M., Polczyk, R., & Dukała, K. (2015).
The influence of social, parasocial, and nonsocial
misleading postevent sources on memory perform
ance. European Journal of Social Psychology, 46,
185–197.
4. New Media
The following list includes all studies in contexts
ranging from computer games to social media.
Paechter, M., Schweizer, K., & Weidenmann, B. (2000).
Parasoziale Beziehungen zu einer Dozentin im Netz.
Medienpsychologie, 12, 242–259.
Hartmann, T., Klimmt, C., & Vorderer, P. (2001). Avatare:
Parasoziale Beziehungen zu virtuellen Akteuren.
Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft, 49, 350–368.
Klimmt, C., & Vorderer, P. (2002). “Lara ist mein Medium.”
Parasoziale Interaktionen mit Lara Croft im Vergleich
zur Lieblingsfigur aus Film und Fernsehen. In P.
Rössler, S. Kubisch, & V. Gehrau (Eds.), Empirische
Perspektiven der Rezeptionsforschung (pp. 177–192).
München: Fischer.
Luo, J. T., McGoldrick, P., Beatty, S., & Keeling, K. A.
(2006). Onscreen characters: Their design and influ
ence on consumer trust. Journal of Services
Marketing, 20, 112–124.
Thorson, K. S., & Rodgers, S. (2006). Relationships between
blogs as eWOM and interactivity, perceived interactiv
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ity, and parasocial interaction. Journal of Interactive
Advertising, 6, 34–44.
Sanderson, J. (2008). Spreading the world: Emphatic inter
action displays on blogmaverick.com. Journal of
Media Psychology, 20, 156–167.
Chung, D., & Kim, C. H. (2009). Causal links of presence.
In J. A. Jacko (Ed.), HumanComputer Interaction.
Interacting in Various Application Domains (pp.
279–286). Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
Jin, S.A. A., & Park, N. (2009). Parasocial interaction with
my avatar: Effects of interdependent selfconstrual and
the mediating role of selfpresence in an avatarbased
console game, Wii. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12,
723–727.
Kassing, J. W., & Sanderson, J. (2009a). “Is this a church?
Such a big bunch of believers around here!”: Fan
expressions of social support on Floydlandis.com.
Journal of Communication Studies, 1, 308–330.
Kassing, J. W., & Sanderson, J. (2009b). “You’re the kind of
guy that we all want for a drinking buddy”: Expressions
of parasocial interaction on Floydlandis.com. Western
Journal of Communication, 73, 182–203.
Sanderson, J. (2009). “You are all loved so much”:
Exploring relational maintenance within the context of
parasocial relationships. Journal of Media Psychology,
21, 171–182.
Jin, S.A. A. (2010). Parasocial interaction with an avatar in
second life: A typology of the self and an empirical test
of the mediating role of social presence. Presence, 19,
331–340.
Colliander, J., & Dahlén, M. (2011). Following the fashion
able friend: The power of social media—Weighing
publicity effectiveness of blogs versus online maga
zines. Journal of Advertising Research, 51, 313–320.
Jin, S.A. A. (2011). Leveraging avatars in 3D virtual envi
ronments (Second Life) for interactive learning: The
moderating role of the behavioral activation system vs.
behavioral inhibition system and the mediating role of
enjoyment. Interactive Learning Environments, 19,
467–486.
Powell, L., Richmond, V. P., & Williams, G. C. (2011).
Social networking and political campaigns:
Perceptions of candidates as interpersonal constructs.
North American Journal of Psychology, 13, 331–342.
Bowman, N. D., Schultheiss, D., & Schumann, C. (2012).
“I’m attached, and I’m a good guy/gal!”: How charac
ter attachment influences pro and antisocial motiva
tions to play massively multiplayer online roleplaying
games. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social
Networking, 15, 1–6.
Frederick, E. L., Lim, C. M., Clavio, G., & Walsh, P. (2012).
Why we follow: An examination of parasocial interac
tion and fan motivations for following athlete arche
types on Twitter. International Journal of Sport
Communication, 5, 481–502.
Ophir, Y., & Weimann, G. (2012). From terrorist to persona:
Parasocial interaction and the ETA website.
Perspectives on Terrorism, 6, 23–35.
Baek, Y. M., Bae, Y., & Jang, H. (2013). Social and paraso
cial relationships on social network sites and their dif
ferential relationships with users’ psychological well
being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social
Networking, 16, 512–517.
Lavelle, K. E. (2013). Cullen Jones is my friend!: Increasing
diversity in swimming through parasocial relation
ships on Facebook. In B. Brummet, & A. Ishak (Eds.),
Sports and Identity: New Agendas in Communication
(pp. 44–59). Abingdon: Taylor and Francis.
Lee, E.J., & Jang, J.W. (2013). Not so imaginary interper
sonal contact with public figures on social network
sites: How affiliative tendency moderates its effects.
Communication Research, 40, 27–51.
Lin, H.Y., & Chiang, C.H. (2013). Analyzing behaviors
influencing the adoption of online games from the per
spective of virtual contact. Social Behavior and
Personality, 41, 113–122.
Men, L. R., & Tsai, W. H. S. (2013a). Beyond liking or fol
lowing: Understanding public engagement on social
networking sites in China. Public Relations Review,
39, 13–22.
Men, L. R., & Tsai, W. H. S. (2013b). Toward an integrated
model of public engagement on corporate social net
working sites: Antecedents, the process, and relational
outcomes. International Journal of Strategic
Communication, 7, 257–273.
Stever, G. S., & Lawson, K. (2013). Twitter as a way for
celebrities to communicate with fans: Implications for
the study of parasocial interaction. North American
Journal of Psychology, 15, 339–354.
Dunn, S. G. S., & Nisbett, G. S. (2014). Parasocial interac
tions online: Candidate intimacy in webpages and
Facebook. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 3,
26–41.
Frederick, E., Hamrick, M. E., & Clavio, G. (2014). Bypass
and broadcast: Utilizing parasocial interaction to
examine @nhl communication on Twitter during the
20122013 lockout. Journal of Sports Media, 9,
25–44.
Frederick, E., Lim, C. H., Clavio, G., Pedersen, P. M., &
Burch, L. (2014). Choosing between the oneway or
two way street: An exploration of relationship promo
tion by professional athletes on Twitter. Communi
cation & Sport, 2, 80–99.
Gong, N. Z., & Xu, W. (2014). Reciprocal versus parasocial
relationships in online social networks. Social Network
Analysis and Mining, 4, 1–14.
Sanderson, J., & Emmons, B. (2014). Extending and with
holding forgiveness to Josh Hamilton: Exploring for
giveness within parasocial interaction. Communi
cation & Sport, 2, 24–47.
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Sanderson, J., & Truax, C. (2014). “I hate you man!”:
Exploring maladaptive parasocial interaction expres
sions to college athletes via Twitter. Journal of Issues
in Intercollegiate Athletics, 7, 333–351.
Chiu, C. M., & Huang, H. Y. (2015). Examining the
antecedents of user gratification and its effects on indi
viduals’ social network services usage: The moderat
ing role of habit. European Journal of Information
Systems, 24, 411–430.
Colliander, J., & Erlandsson, S. (2015). The blog and the
bountiful: Exploring the effects of disguised product
placement on blogs that are revealed by a third party.
Journal of Marketing Communications, 21, 110–124.
Kim, H., Ko, E., & Kim, J. (2015). SNS users’ parasocial
relationships with celebrities: Social media effects on
purchase intentions. Journal of Global Scholars of
Marketing Science, 25, 279–294.
Klastrup, L. (2015). “I didn’t know her, but…”: Parasocial
mourning of mediated deaths on Facebook RIP pages.
New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia, 21,
146–164.
Lin, L. C. S. (2015). Facebook politics: Strategic network
campaigning in the 2012 Taiwan presidential election.
Media International Australia, 155, 54–65.
Lueck, J. A. (2015). Friendzone with benefits: The paraso
cial advertising of Kim Kardashian. Journal of
Marketing Communications, 21, 91–109.
Men, L. R., & Tsai, W.H. S. (2015). Infusing social media
with humanity: Corporate character, public engage
ment, and relational outcomes. Public Relations
Review, 41, 395–403.
Richards, M. N., & Calvert, S. L. (2015). Toddlers’ judge
ment of media character source credibility on touch
screens. American Behavioral Scientist, 59,
1755–1775.
Tsiotsou, R. H. (2015). The role of social and parasocial rela
tionships on social networking sites loyalty.
Computers in Human Behavior, 48, 401–414.
Yates, B. L. (2015). It’s social, not parasocial: Understanding
the impact of the Internet on building community
among Bruce Springsteen fans. Atlantic Journal of
Communication, 23, 254–268.
Banks, J., & Bowman, N. D. (2016a). Avatars are (some
times) people too: Linguistic indicators of parasocial
and social ties in playeravatar relationships. New
Media & Society, 18, 1257–1276.
Banks, J., & Bowman, N. D. (2016b). Emotion, anthropo
morphism, realism, control: Validation of a merged
metric for playeravatar interaction (PAX). Computers
in Human Behavior, 54, 215–223.
Chen, C.P. (2016). Forming digital self and parasocial rela
tionships on YouTube. Journal of Consumer Culture,
16, 232–254.
Song, W., & Fox, J. (2016). Playing for love in a romantic
video game: Avatar identification, parasocial relation
ship, and Chinese women’s romantic beliefs. Mass
Communication and Society, 19, 197–215.
5. Intermedia
The following list includes all studies that do not
relate to a precise media context. For example, studies
that compare parasocial phenomena between different
types of media or studies that do not fixate on certain
media contexts are listed here.
Rosengren, K. E., & Windahl, S. (1972). Mass media con
sumption as a functional alternative. In D. McQuail
(Ed.), Sociology of mass communications (pp.
166–194). Hamondsworth: Penguin.
Nordlund, J. E. (1978). Media interaction. Communication
Research, 5, 150–175.
Salamon, E. D. (1985). The radio religion of the Barry
Manilow international fan clubUK. Studies in
Popular Culture, 8, 86–104.
Stever, G. S. (1991). The celebrity appeal questionnaire.
Psychological Reports, 68, 859–866.
Rosengren, K. E. (1994). Media use under structural change.
In K. E. Rosengren (Ed.), Media effects and beyond:
Culture, socialization, and lifestyles (pp. 49–75).
London: Routledge.
Brown, W. J., & Basil, M. D. (1995). Media celebrities and
public health: Responses to “Magic” Johnson’s HIV
disclosure and its impact on AIDS risk and highrisk
behaviors. Health Communication, 7, 345–370.
Auter, P. J., & Lane, R. (1999). Locus of control, parasocial
interaction, and usage of radio or TV ministry pro
grams. Journal of Communication & Religion, 22,
93–120.
Ashe, D. D., & McCutcheon, L. E. (2001). Shyness, loneli
ness, and attitude toward celebrities. Current Research
in Social Psychology, 6, 124–132.
McCutcheon, L. E. (2002). Are parasocial relationship styles
reflected in love styles? Current Research in Social
Psychology, 7, 82–93.
Brown, W. J., Basil, M. D., & Bocarnea, M. C. (2003). The
influence of famous athletes on health beliefs and
practices: Mark McGwire, child abuse prevention, and
androstenedione. Journal of Health Communication,
8, 41–57.
Maltby, J., Houran, J., & McCutcheon, L. E. (2003). A clin
ical interpretation of attitudes and behaviors associat
ed with celebrity worship. Journal of Nervous and
Mental Disease, 191, 25–29.
McCutcheon, L. E., Ashe, D. D., Houran, J., & Maltby, J.
(2003). A cognitive profile of individuals who tend to
worship celebrities. The Journal of Psychology, 137,
309–322.
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Bae, H.S., & Lee, B. (2004). Audience involvement and its
antecedents: An analysis of the electronic bulletin
board messages about an entertainmenteducation
drama on divorce in Korea. Asian Journal of
Communication, 14, 6–21.
Giles, D. C., & Maltby, J. (2004). The role of media figures
in adolescent development: Relations between autono
my, attachment, and interest in celebrities. Personality
and Individual Differences, 36, 813–822.
Maier, J. H. (2005). Bestehen parasoziale Beziehungen zu
Politikern?: Eine empirische Exploration mit der
Repertory Grid Technik. Zeitschrift für
Medienpsychologie, 17, 99–109.
Maltby, J., Giles, D. C., Barber, L., & McCutcheon, L. E.
(2005). Intense personal celebrity worship and body
image: Evidence of a link among female adolescents.
British Journal of Health Psychology, 10, 17–32.
Hartmann, T., Daschmann, G., & Stuke, D. (2006).
Parasoziale Beziehungen zu Sportlern. Eine
empirische Studie am Beispiel von Formel1Fahrern.
In H. Schramm, W. Wirth, & H. Bilandzic (Eds.),
Empirische Unterhaltungsforschung: Studien zur
Rezeption und Wirkung von medialer Unterhaltung
(pp. 149–168). München: R. Fischer.
De Backer, C. J. S., Nelissen, M., Vyncke, P., Braeckman, J.,
& McAndrew, F. T. (2007). Celebrities: From teachers
to friends: A test of two hypotheses on adaptiveness of
celebrity gossip. Human Nature, 18, 334–354.
Auter, P. J., Ashton, E., & Soliman, M. R. (2008). A study of
Egyptian and American young adult parasocial rela
tionships with music video personae. Journal of Arab
& Muslim Media Research, 1, 131–144.
Derrick, J. L., Gabriel, S., & Tippin, B. (2008). Parasocial
relationships and selfdiscrepancies: Faux relation
ships have benefits for low selfesteem individuals.
Personal Relationships, 15, 261–280.
Spitzberg, B. H., & Cupach, W. R. (2008). Fanning the
flames of fandom: Celebrity worship, parasocial inter
action, and stalking. In J. R. Meloy, L. Sheridan, & J.
Hoffmann (Eds.), Stalking, threatening and attacking
public figures: A psychological and behavioral analy
sis (pp. 287–321). New York: Oxford University Press.
Baeßler, B. (2009). Medienpersonen als parasoziale
Beziehungspartner. Ein theoretischer und empirischer
Beitrag zu personazentrierter Rezeption. Baden
Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft.
Löbler, H. (2009). My relationship to Scarlett O’Hara—
Characterising parasocial relationships using the
repertory grid technique. Journal of Customer
Behaviour, 8, 29–50.
Spinda, J. S., Earnheardt, A. C., & Hugenberg, L. W. (2009).
Checkered flags and mediated friendships: Parasocial
interaction among NASCAR fans. Journal of Sports
Media, 4, 31–55.
Stever, G. S. (2009). Parasocial and social interaction with
celebrities: Classification of media fans. Journal of
Media Psychology, 14, 1–39.
Robinson, J. D., & Agne, R. (2009). Audience replies to
character blogs as parasocial relationships. In T.
Dumova (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Social
Interaction Technologies and Collaboration Software:
Concepts and Trends (pp. 302–312). Hershey, PA: IGI
Global.
Brown, W. J., & De Matviuk, M. A. C. (2010). Sports
celebrities and public health: Diego Maradona’s influ
ence on drug use prevention. Journal of Health
Communication, 15, 358–373.
Centeno, D. G. (2010). Celebrification in Philippine politics:
Exploring the relationship between celebrity
endorsers’ parasociability and the public’s voting
behavior. Social Science Diliman, 6, 66–85.
Cohen, E. L. (2010). Expectancy violations in relationships
with friends and media figures. Communication
Research Reports, 27, 97–111.
Schramm, H., & Wirth, W. (2010). Testing a universal tool
for measuring parasocial interactions across different
situations and media. Journal of Media Psychology,
22, 26–36.
Sun, T. (2010). Antecedents and consequences of parasocial
interaction with sport athletes and identification with
sport teams. Journal of Sport Behavior, 33, 194–217.
Theran, S. A., Newberg, E. M., & Gleason, T. R. (2010).
Adolescent girls’ parasocial interactions with media
figures. The Journal of Genetic Psychology: Research
and Theory on Human Development, 171, 270–277.
Tukachinsky, R. (2010). Pararomantic love and parafriend
ships: Development and assessment of a multiple
parasocial relationships scale. American Journal of
Media Psychology, 3, 73–94.
Bae, H.S., Brown, W. J., & Kang, S. (2011). Social influ
ence of a religious hero: The late Cardinal Stephen
Kim Souhwan’s effect on cornea donation and volun
teerism. Journal of Health Communication, 16, 62–78.
Greenwood, D. N., & Long, C. R. (2011). Attachment,
belongingness needs, and relationship status predict
imagined intimacy with media figures.
Communication Research, 38, 278–297.
Maltby, J., & Day, L. (2011). Celebrity worship and inci
dence of elective cosmetic surgery: Evidence of a link
among young adults. Journal of Adolescent Health
Care, 49, 483–489.
Schmid, H., & Klimmt, C. (2011). A magically nice guy:
Parasocial relationships with Harry Potter across dif
ferent cultures. International Communication Gazette,
73, 252–269.
Droog, S. M. de, Buijzen, M., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2012).
Use a rabbit or a rhino to sell a carrot? The effect of
characterproduct congruence on children’s liking of
30 — VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS
healthy foods. Journal of Health Communication, 17,
1068–1080.
Eyal, K., & Dailey, R. M. (2012). Examining relational
maintenance in parasocial relationships. Mass
Communication and Society, 15, 758–781.
Powell, L., Richmond, V. P., & CantrellWilliams, G. (2012).
The “DrinkingBuddy” scale as a measure of para
social behavior. Psychological Reports, 110,
1029–1037.
Sun, T., & Wu, G. (2012). Influence of personality traits on
parasocial relationship with sports celebrities: A hier
archical approach. Journal of Consumer Behaviour,
11, 136–146.
Young, A. F., Gabriel, S., & Sechrist, G. B. (2012). The skin
ny on celebrities: Parasocial relationships moderate
the effects of thin media figures on women’s body
image. Social Psychology and Personality Science, 3,
659–666.
Adam, A., & Sizemore, B. (2013). Parasocial romance: A
social exchange perspective. Interpersona, 7, 12–25.
Goode, J., & Robinson, J. D. (2013). Linguistic synchrony in
parasocial interaction. Communication Studies, 64,
453–466.
Lee, E.J. (2013). Effectiveness of politicians’ soft campaign
on twitter versus TV: Cognitive and experiential
routes. Journal of Communication, 63, 953–974.
Young, A. F., Gabriel, S., & Hollar, J. L. (2013). Batman to
the rescue! The protective effects of parasocial rela
tionships with muscular superheroes on men’s body
image. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,
49, 173–177.
Bond, B. J., & Calvert, S. L. (2014a). A model and measure
of US parents’ perceptions of young children’s paraso
cial relationships. Journal of Children and Media, 8,
286–304.
Bond, B. J., & Calvert, S. L. (2014b). Parasocial breakup
among young children in the United States. Journal of
Children and Media, 8, 474–490.
Courbet, D., & FourquetCourbet, M. P. (2014). When a
celebrity dies… Social identity, uses of social media,
and the mourning process among fans: The case of
Michael Jackson. Celebrity Studies, 5, 275–290.
Hung, K. (2014). Why celebrity sells: A dual entertainment
path model of brand endorsement. Journal of
Advertising, 43, 155–166.
Lee, E.J., & Shin, S. Y. (2014). When the medium is the
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COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 38 (2019) NO. 2 — 31
... Wohl died one year after the pioneering study that laid the foundation for one of the most popular areas of research in reception and affect research. Although Horton conducted further research on PSI and PSR, this research with Wohl seemed to have lost its importance at that time (Hartmann, 2010;Liebers & Schramm, 2019). According to Liebers and Schramm (2019), new theoretical and empirical orientations in the field of communication sciences have shifted the focus from 'what media do to people or how they affect them' to 'what people do with media', and the concept of parasocial interaction has been brought back to the agenda. ...
... Although Horton conducted further research on PSI and PSR, this research with Wohl seemed to have lost its importance at that time (Hartmann, 2010;Liebers & Schramm, 2019). According to Liebers and Schramm (2019), new theoretical and empirical orientations in the field of communication sciences have shifted the focus from 'what media do to people or how they affect them' to 'what people do with media', and the concept of parasocial interaction has been brought back to the agenda. In the following years, more specific studies emerged, and the subject attracted attention again when Rubin, Perse, Powell developed the Parasocial Interactions (PSI) scale in 1985. ...
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The concept of parasocial interaction describes viewers’ one-sided bonds with media figures. Since 1956, it has been extensively studied in psychology, sociology, communication sciences, and especially psychiatry. This study was carried out to examine with the aim of investigating the interaction of young individuals with the characters in video streaming series by taking into account the viewing tendencies. Four different scales including parasocial interaction (PSI), parasocial breakup (PBS), perceived attributes of the favorite character (PAFC) and perceived attributes of the least desired character (PALDC) scale were applied to male and female video streaming services users (n=381) aged 18-27; IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0 software was used for statistical procedures. It was observed that the participants mostly preferred foreign video streaming series over domestic ones, had more parasocial interactions with foreign video streaming series characters, female participants scored more on all scales compared to male participants, and their viewing time was higher. It was concluded that male participants tended more to have parasocial interactions with ‘strong’ and ‘physically attractive’ characters, while female participants tended more to have parasocial interactions with ‘strong’ and ‘positive social behaviour’ characters. Male participants described the characters they disliked as ‘cunning’, ‘repulsive’ and ‘ruthless’, while female participants described them as ‘selfish’, ‘repulsive’ and ‘ruthless’. Parasocial breakups were observed when characters with whom participants had established parasocial interactions left the series. Through the data obtained, issues related to the character creation process were discussed, and it was predicted that the results would contribute positively to the competition of domestic productions with global productions.
... Secondly, whilst parasocial interactions, for instance with television, often encapsulate relationships with specific characters or people, music listening may involve relationships with music at numerous levels of abstraction (i.e., structural elements), capturing the "floating intentionality" of music and how patterns of sound are imbued with variable meaning across individuals, societies, and contexts (Cross, 2014). Thirdly, it is important to note that research on parasocial interactions involving music is extremely rare (Liebers & Schramm, 2019), and how the concept translates or manifests in music listening contexts is currently unknown. ...
... Parasocial interaction has been thoroughly studied in the field of communication studies over the last 60 years, largely in the context of television media, and almost never in relation to music listening (Liebers & Schramm, 2019). The current study adopted the term pseudo-social music listening, as opposed to parasocial interaction, for three reasons: 1) parasocial interaction often emphasizes one-way interactions or relationships, which may not align with all music listening experiences in which the music acts as a social "agent"; 2) parasocial interactions mostly depict perceived relationships with people, fictional human characters, or fictional non-human characters that are anthropomorphized to varying extents (Klimmt et al., 2006), which may not reflect the many levels of abstraction in which music may be engaged with socially, its variable meaning across listeners (Cross, 2014), and the absence of overt depictions of human or anthropomorphized personas; and 3) given the scarcity of parasocial research focusing on music, it remains unknown as to exactly how the concept, with its numerous antecedents and outcomes (Tukachinsky et al., 2020), might apply in music listening contexts. ...
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Contemporary research highlights intimate connections between music and social bonding, such that even modern music listening behaviors, including listening when alone, may be social experiences; in some cases, music may behave as a social “agent” with which interpersonal or social experiences can occur for listeners. However, these types of experiences, labeled here as pseudo-social music listening ( P-SML) experiences, have rarely been investigated directly. This paper outlines a preliminary study of P-SML experiences, exploring six conceptual types of experience identified in existing literature ( Company, Consolation, Empathy, Personas and Narratives, Identification, and Feeling One with music). Through a questionnaire containing rating scale and open-ended questions, participants ( N = 117) highlighted how relatable these six proposed P-SML types were to their own listening experiences, by ranking vignette statements describing the experiences of other listeners. Participants then recalled a P-SML experience of their own, describing their subjective feelings, qualities of the music involved, and whether this experience is consistent or situation-dependent. Results suggest that participants often described P-SML experiences as emotional experiences that involve a felt sense of connection or resonance between listener and music. Factors considered important for P-SML experiences include the emotional expression of the music, melodies and harmonies, and rhythm. Extra-musical knowledge, such as knowledge of the composer, songwriter, or performer, was considered less important. Findings are discussed in terms of links between music, emotion and social bonding, conceptualizing connection and resonance when listening to music in relation to parasocial interactions, and refining a conceptual foundation of P-SML experiences for future work.
... While extensive literature exists on the relationship between parasocial relationships and well-being, few have delved into the role of parasocial relationships in satisfying belongingness among senior high school students. As Liebers and Schramm (2019) suggested, due to the polarized focus among young adults, belongingness and parasocial relationships must be navigated among children and adolescents. Furthermore, most literature overlooks how parasocial relationships predict belongingness among senior high school students. ...
... The table highlights the prevalence of parasocial relationships among the respondents, indicating that stronger tendencies for such relationships are linked to meeting celebrities or media persona in person or spending time on media-related content. This finding is supported by some studies, which emphasize the strong parasocial interactions and relationships among adolescents tied to television and media consumption, as well as the bonds formed through watching TV shows and related content (Liebers & Schramm, 2023;Tatem & Ingram, 2022). The concept of idolization and fandom among adolescents for media stars further reinforces this idea. ...
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Parasocial relationships have become increasingly popular among adolescents due to emerging technological advancement and rampant digital engagement. This parasocial experience shifted how senior high school students fulfill their sense of belongingness, especially in schools. Several studies have reported the underlying benefits of parasocial relationships toward the development of identity, career trajectory, and body image among adolescents and its adverse effects, such as digital distress and connection overload, on their general well-being. Many studies have investigated the connection between parasocial relationships and mental health; however, few have explored the role of parasocial relationships in fulfilling belongingness among senior high school students in the Philippine context. This study employed a predictive correlational design to examine the relationship and prediction between parasocial relationships and general belongingness among senior high school students (n=384) in a public secondary school in Navotas City, Philippines. Using JAMOVI 2.4.14, the study found a significant (p. <0.008) weak positive correlation (R=0.14) between parasocial relationships and general belongingness among adolescents. Moreover, only 2% of parasocial relationships can predict general belongingness. This one-sided, illusionary relationship between students and celebrities/personas can only influence their belongingness in a tiny fraction. These findings suggested that family, peers, teachers, and institutions may be the primary sources of strong belongingness development. Hence, with the dominant presence of the digital world, a need to balance parasocial relationships and in-person interactions is highly encouraged. School administrators must enhance programs for media literacy, self-awareness, and active participation among senior high school students in school activities such as sports and peer-mentoring initiatives. The researcher recommended that school counselors develop effective interventions that promote a healthy balance between real-life experiences and the digital landscape, leading to students’ success
... Female players often create attachments and develop romantic parasocial relationships (PSR) through long-term PSI with these male characters [9]. The establishment of this unique PSR in female-orientated games is based on the gender characteristics of females, as they generally exhibit greater empathy and emotional sensitivity than males, making them more prone to form strong PSI [11]. ...
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In recent years, female-oriented games have gained widespread popularity in mainland China, resulting in an expanding player demographic. Current research on these games primarily focuses on their social impacts, with some studies investigating social anxiety, parasocial interactions, and purchase intentions. However, there is a lack of research examining the effects of emotion regulation strategies and emotional needs in female-oriented games. This study utilized an online survey to investigate emotion regulation strategies, emotional need fulfillment, parasocial relationships with game characters, and both in-game and out-of-game purchasing behaviour among 212 adult female players. The results indicate a mutually reinforcing effect between parasocial relationship intensity and the level of emotional fulfillment. Romantic parasocial relationship intensity is a positive predictor for out-of-game purchases while negatively impacting in-game purchases. Additionally, the fulfillment of emotional closeness positively predicts out-of-game purchases. Cognitive reappraisal, as an emotion regulation strategy, moderates the relationship between parasocial relationships and out-of-game purchases. Furthermore, the fulfillment of emotional closeness mediates the relationship between romantic parasocial relationships and in-game purchasing behaviour.
... The limitations of this study lie primarily in its correlative design. However, this type of retrospective survey design without experimental manipulation has been used for decades (Liebers and Schramm, 2019) and is still used primarily to research parasocial relationships (Schramm et al., 2024). In this respect, this study was also based exclusively on the memory of the subjects, since no stimulus material was used. ...
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The attractiveness of bad boys can be seen as a cultural phenomenon that can be found in different areas of society and art. In the media, too, the bad boy fulfills social expectations in terms of masculinity and is often portrayed as dominant, violent, hard, unemotional and aggressive. Women may feel attracted to this male dominance under certain conditions. In order to investigate this phenomenon in the field of media psychology, this study examined women’s personality as predictor of romantic parasocial relationships (RPSR) with bad boys from movies or series, as well as feelings and experiences associated with such relationships. In an online questionnaire, 47 women were asked about specific personality traits, their RPSR with their favorite bad boy, and their perceived egocentric feelings and experiences associated with this RPSR. Both the love style ludus, which describes unattached playful love, and sensation seeking, which encompasses a woman’s inclination towards new experiences and adventures, emerge as predictors of an RPSR to a bad boy. Furthermore, it was found that a woman’s RPSR to a bad boy goes along with her retrospective imaginative involvement and sense of power. The findings show parallels to findings from social psychology that explain the attractiveness of bad boys in real relationships. Due to its correlative design, the study should be seen as a first step in the exploration of this media-psychological phenomenon, which will hopefully be followed by further studies with a stricter causality logic.
... Für die meisten Anbietenden auf digitalen Plattformen ist es unerlässlich, ein Publikum aufzubauen, auf dessen langfristige (finanzielle) Unterstützung sie sich verlassen können (Craig & Cunningham, 2019). Das Konzept einer parasozialen Bindung (Horton & Wohl, 1956;Liebers & Schramm, 2019;Dibble, Hartmann & Rosaen, 2016), eine Beziehung als "illusonary relationship between a member of the audience and a media character" (Kreissl et al., 2021(Kreissl et al., , S. 1022 Zur Ermittlung der Stichprobe wurde eine Vollerhebung über die Publikationsdatenbanken WISO-net und Nexis Uni sowie der spezifischen Online-Archive der SZ, FAZ, VICE und Buzzfeed zu OnlyFans durchgeführt. Diese Datenbanken umfassten sowohl Print-Artikel als auch Artikel, die nur in Online-Ressorts erschienen. ...
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Thesis
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This thesis represents a two-year critical inquiry into how digital information ecosystems effect human cognition and sociality; presented in part through this essay, and also through a series of short multi-media productions. While this essay explores those topics in depth, the videos serve as a more, simplified and accessible synthesis of our issues related to digital expansion. The algorithmic personalization of information and humanity’s continuing digital enmeshment constitute fundamental changes to human identity, epistemology, and ideology. This synthesis amounts to the commandeering of human identity, knowledge, belief, and overall sociality. As such, future studies involving digital sociality should consider all three concepts, in concert, in their inquiries: how does this technology effect how users know themselves and others, what they know, and their beliefs of the world?
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Nowadays, influencers on social media are a trending and inevitable brand marketing tactic. Influencers, with their characteristics, can support the brand communication strategy activities. Companies or brand owners who use influencers in their advertising campaigns can influence sales volume, and increase brand recognition and consumer involvement in promotional activities. This article is a literature review regarding the influencer concept, its development, theoretical approaches, effectiveness models, to its role in brand communication strategy. To examine the role of using influencers on social media, several theories can be used, such as Social Learning Theory, Parasocial Theory, Attribute Theory, and Elaboration Likelihood Model Theory.
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This research study focuses on the theory of Media Uses and Gratifications. Television uses and gratifications of schoolgirls of Multan were identified and prioritized. The aim of this study was not only to know the gratifications which schoolgirls obtain from television in this part of the world but also to explore their behavior and attitude towards the television. Television use behavior means the amount of time spent on television viewing, while television attitudes include affinity with the medium and perceived content reality. Survey method was used to collect data with the help of a Likert Scale type questionnaire. Pearson Chi-Square test was applied for statistical analysis. The results showed that there are nine motivations pass time/habit, companionship/social interaction, Arousal/Excitement, Specific Program content, Relaxation, Information/Learning, Escape/to Forget, Entertainment/Enjoyment, Para social Interaction, which schoolgirls obtain from television. The results showed that age of respondents, television use behaviors and attitudes have significant positive correlations with level of identification with viewing motivations.
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Research presented in this article assesses cognitive processing and behavioral outcome differences that occur when the public interacts with political candidates' webpages as opposed to viewing their Facebook pages. Further, an exploration into perceptions individuals have of these candidates and the potential for developing parasocial relationships is pursued. Findings suggest that perceptions of intimacy are directly related to perceptions of candidates' credibility and potential political action; these findings have clear implications on future political marketing strategies.
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Parasocial Interaction consists of an important part of interaction realized by using media. Audience’s interaction with characters in fiction of serials is called as parasocial interaction. Audiences usually identify themselves with characters of popular television serials and they accept these characters as members of their own family. Because of having difficulty in separation of temporal and spatial borders in their own real life, such masses’ discourse and conscious is determined by media. At this point, television serials have become a common place in which parasocial interaction is experienced mostly. These serials have a scheduled broadcasting policy and audiences are turned to addiction by using some kinds of textual and narrative methods. Consequently, by identifying themselves with serial characters, audiences are not able to realize the line between reality and fiction. In the content of this study, serials broadcasted in Turkish televisions will be evaluated in the context of parasocial interaction by using current examples. As from acceptance that serials as popular culture material reduce the possibilities of social interaction in society, this study aims to show main lines and dimensions of the relation between television and person who is so lonely in modern society. By resting literature review as scientific method, this study states that how Turkish audiences are retreated into the process of popular culture by using television serials in terms of parasocial interaction concept. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n7p767
Chapter
News anchors, talk show hosts, and soap opera characters often become objects of parasocial affection because of the nature of these program genres. This chapter explores the concept of parasocial interaction by focusing on audience replies to blog posts made on behalf of a TV character, Jessica Buchanan of ABC Television Network’s One Life to Live show. The authors employ communication accommodation theory to illuminate the concept and to identify specific communicative behaviors that occur during parasocial interaction. The chapter presents evidence of parasocial interaction within the blog replies and audience accommodation to the blog posts. Analysis suggests that parasocial interaction is the mediated manifestation of the relationship dimension inherent in television messages and used by audience members in much the same way it is used during face-to-face interaction.
Chapter
„Mary-Kate and Ashley“ lautet der Markenname, der bei amerikanischen Jugendlichen unter 14 Jahren bekannter ist als Coca-Cola (vgl. Jensen 2004: 46ff.). Bereits im Kleinkindalter wurden die amerikanischen Zwillinge Mary-Kate und Ashley Olsen systematisch vermarktet und crossmedial inszeniert. Der wirtschaftliche Erfolg von „Mary-Kate and Ashley“ begann mit Auftritten in TV-Serien und Familienfilmen, schnell kamen Bücher, CDs und Videospiele rund um das Leben der Teen-Stars auf den Markt, zudem Modepuppen, Kosmetikprodukte und exklusiv durch Wal-Mart vertriebene Bekleidung. Mittlerweile sind die einstigen Kinder- Stars Mary-Kate und Ashley Olsen erwachsen. Dennoch lassen sich mit dem Image „der niedlichen Zwillingsschwestern“ nach wie vor Milliarden-Umsätze (vgl. ebd.) erzielen. Das Beispiel zeigt, dass Menschen Fixpunkte wie Stars suchen, Symbolfiguren, die sie als vertraute Größen in ihren Alltag integrieren.