Parasocial relationships: what are they, and what are their causes

All kinds of media characters appear on TV, social networks, radio and other media with whom we can come to feel identified. From seeing and listening to them so much, we feel like we know them, as if they were people as close as our lifelong friends, our family members or classmates.

Getting acquainted with a famous actor or a very influential youtuber is a very common experience, and it can take the form of long-lasting relationship with that figure in the media, despite the fact that, in essence, he is still a stranger.

These types of pseudo-links are called parasocial relationships., a very interesting and common type of social interaction in the era of the "mass media" that we are going to deepen below.

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What are parasocial relationships?

Let's imagine that we go through our city and go into a store to do the shopping like every week. As we enter, we see Lionel Messi in the dairy aisle: what do we do? Of course, his presence does not leave us indifferent. We may take a picture with him, ask for an autograph, or even dare to comment on his latest move. In short, we would behave in a very close, even intimate way, as if we had known him all our lives.

Regardless of how annoying we are to poor Messi who just wanted to buy milk, this is all normal. It is very natural that we want to get closer to a character that we have seen many times on television and, if we are followers of F. C. Barcelona, ​​we have gone to see him play football live. But why do we feel confident enough to be able to speak to him as if he were a friend? After all, he is still just any person on the street. We don't really know him, nor is he our friend.

The answer to all this is very simple: we have established a parasocial relationship with the footballer. Parasocial relationships they are false social relationships that develop towards any media character, be it real or fictional, and that we perceive as if he were a person very close to us. We come to identify with him or we have some kind of feeling towards that person, from empathy or dislike to falling in love or the most absolute boredom.

You can develop parasocial relationships with practically any character that appears in the media, be it the television, radio, social networks or paper media, although the media that use the screen produce this effect in a more intense. These characters can be actors, singers, athletes, politicians and even non-real characters such as the protagonists of a series and cartoons (especially in children). We falsely believe that we know these characters simply by having seen them in the media.

This effect is quite common, given that the "mass media" exert an important weight on popular culture. and the general population. When we see a famous person, especially in television programs or YouTube videos, even though we are aware that what we see is a screen, our subconscious deceives us. At the moment in which we are part of the audience, our mind thinks that what we are seeing is has created expressly for us, making us more involved in the life of the character in question.

All this is known by the "mass media" and knows how to take advantage of it. When a youtuber looks at the camera or a presenter of a television show asks the public directly at home, they are using strategies so that we do not deviate from the content. By looking at ourselves in this way, our brain, which is wired to interpret looking into our eyes as the initiation and maintenance of a conversation, perceives it as that whoever is on the screen is talking to us, knows us, He is aware that we are paying attention to him and, even, we show empathy and feelings of attraction.

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Origins of the concept

The concept of parasocial relationship was originally raised by Donald Horton and Richard Wohl in 1956. These authors defined it as the fact that a person unconsciously creates a close relationship with a media person, experienced in an especially intense way. Already at that time they talked about it being a one-sided relationship, in which the only person who believes it is the audience and not the sender of the message.

The message continues to be addressed to a wide audience, of which we are part. Based on this, we do not stop being a more or less homogeneous mass in terms of the degree of reception of the same, it is In other words, they have not told us such a thing or another taking into account us as individuals, but as a mass to which influence.

How long does a parasocial relationship last?

The duration of shareholder relationships is indefinite, since directly depends on how long the media character in question is relevantregardless of whether it is real or fictitious. The parasocial relationship will last as long as the content in which that character appears.

To understand it better, let's imagine that we are watching a television contest in which participants have to answer questions to earn money. While the contest lasts, we can feel connected with the participants and even feel free to shout the answers at them while they participate in it. We can yell things like “but look, you're a donkey! Why haven't you chosen B, LA BE!? " or “If you had chosen the first answer you would now have € 1,000, what's wrong with you? Are you stupid Do you like to be silly? "

Although these contestants do not hear us and they are still complete strangers, we tell them everything. When the contest ends and these participants are no longer in it, the parasocial relationship will cease to exist. As they no longer appear on the screen because they have been eliminated from the contest, we no longer show empathy or animosity towards them. It is as if they have disappeared.

Another more enduring case is that of famous people like actors, singers, and content creators. The parasocial relationships that we establish with these types of media characters tend to last longer, since their relevance in the media is longer.. It may even be the case that we professionally follow these characters wherever they go. For example, soap opera actors, when they end up in one series, often land a role in another, making their fans watch the new series.

The same thing happens with singers. If we are fans of an interpreter it is likely that we have gone to see him at a concert but, also, we would like to find out everything he does. If we find out that one day he is going to give an interview on X program that we have never talked about, it is very likely that we will end up seeing him.

If that same singer says that he withdraws from the world of music and stops giving interviews, when he is no longer relevant in the media, many parasocial relationships will be broken. It is likely that his fans, especially those who had a "crush" with him, will experience it especially badly, as if they It will be a sentimental breakup, but in a matter of a very short time there will be very few people who follow idolizing him.

Bibliographic references:

• Dibble, Jayson & Hartmann, Tilo & Rosaen, Sarah. (2015). Parasocial Interaction and Parasocial Relationship: Conceptual Clarification and a Critical Assessment of Measures. Human Communication Research. 42. 10.1111 / hcre.12063.
• Rebecca B. Rubin & Michael P. McHugh (1987) Development of parasocial interaction relationships, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 31: 3, 279-292, DOI: 10.1080 / 08838158709386664
• Horton, D., & Wohl, R. (1956). Mass Communication and Para-social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance. USA
• Keren Eyal & Jonathan Cohen (2006) When Good Friends Say Goodbye: A Parasocial Breakup Study, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 50: 3, 502-523, DOI: 10.1207 / s15506878jobem5003_9