The Attraction of Celebrity: Social Psychological Explanations

A parasocial relationship (PSR) is where an individual is attracted to another individual but the target audience is usually unaware of the existence of the person who created the relationship.

PSRs may be appealing because they make few demands as they don't usually have a 'real' relationship with the celebrity, they don't run the risk of criticism or rejection.

Schiappa et al concluded that PSRs are most likely to be formed with TV celebrities who are seen as attractive and similar in some way to the viewer. If they were perceived as real or acted in a believable way then viewers were able to compare how they would behave in similar situations to them.
Schiappa et al also found no evidence of age being a predictor in the develpment of PSRs, despite the belief that they are mainly an adolescent phenomenon.

Derrick et al found that those with LOW self esteem saw their favourite celebrity as very similar to their IDEAL selves but those with HIGH self esteem saw them similar to their ACTUAL selves.
After writing an essay on their favourite celebrity, those with LOW self esteem reported feeling closer to their IDEAl selves and experienced a boost of self esteem - these benefits were unique to PSRs and were not experienced in real-life benefits.

McCutcheon found that those with insecure avoidant attachments avoid closeness in real relationships thus PSRs are easy as they can avoid closeness - they won't approach the celebrity unless they are doing wrong or being criticised.
Anxious-ambivalent attachments are needy and clingy in real relationships: PSRs mean no rejection for them. However, they may wish to contact the celebrity as they are needy and this may lead to abnormal behaviour.

Cole and Leets.

McCutcheon et al (2002)

The absorption-addiction model says that most people never go beyond admiring celebrities because of celebrities' entertainment and social value.
However, the motivational forces driving this absorption may become addictive, leading to more extreme (and even delusional) behaviours to sustain satisfaction with PSR.

Entertainment-social: fans attracted to a favourite celebrity because of perceived ability to entertain and become a source of social interaction and gossip.

Intense-personal: intensive and compulsive feelings about the celebrity, akin to obsession tendencies of fans often referred to in literature. This can lead to the development of a passive PSR (eg. 'if something bad happens to my favourite celebrity, I feel as if it happened to me).

Borderline-pathological: typified by uncontrollable behaviours and fantasies about celebrities, eg. believing their favourite celebrity would be happy to see them if they walked through their door. The person believes there is a REAL relationship.

Schiappa et al's meta-analysis found loneliness was not a predictor of PSRs forming.
Some research suggests that people who are more socially active and motivated are more likely to engage in PSRs. (Sood and Rogers, 2000).

Jenkins claims that PSRs allow people to build up a social network with other fans, find their sense of identity and social group and feel fulfilment about their life.

- Provide an escape from reality

- Provide models of social behaviour (eg. intimacy and generosity) and an opportuniy to learn cultural values (eg. importance of marriage). BUT NOTE THAT NOT ALL CELEBS PROVIDE POSITIVE MODELS OF BEHAVIOUR.

-Perse and Rubin (1989): study of PSRs with soap-opera characters found that, due to the gact people are exposed to the same characters over and over again, one benefit of parasocial interaction is a perceived reduction in uncertainty of social relationships.

Maltby et al used the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) to assess the relationship between level of celeb worship and personality.
The entertainment-social level was associated with extraversion, whilst the intense-personal level was associated with neuroticism (long-term tendency to be in a negative emotional state). Neuroticism is related to anxiety and depressionm providing an explanation of why higher lebels of celeb worship are related to poorer mental health.