Explanations of Parasocial Relationships
, CWS: Dischotomy or Continnum
- Celebrity Worshippers rarely get good press
- They are portrayed as either impressionable and harmless or as obsessed and dangerous
who will stop at nothing, even murder, to gain the attention of their idolds
- Until the development of the CAS, many psychologists accepted this fan/stalker dichotomy
- The CAS suggests a single celebrity worship dimension
Celebrity Worship Reflects Personality Traits
• Maltby (2003) linked types of personality (extravert, psychotic and neurotic) to levels of
para-social relationships.
• There are three increasingly more extreme sets of attitudes and behaviours associated with
celebrity worship.
1. People who worship celebs for entertainment or social reasons tend to be extroverts –
sociable, lively, active and adventurous.
2. Intense and personal interest in the stars is associated with neurotic, tense, emotional and
moody characters.
3. Borderline-pathological attitudes correlate with psychotic traits such as impulsive, antisocial
and egocentric behaviour.
• People can move from one state to the next, but is this cause or effect?
Absorption-Addiction Model
• McCutcheon (2002) proposed the Absorption-Addiction Model to explain how parasocial
relationships become abnormal.
• She suggests that people engage in celebrity worship to compensate for some deficiencies in
their life (e.g., difficulty forming intimate relationships, poor psychological adjustment, lack
of identity).
• Forming parasocial relationships with a celebrity allows them to achieve the fulfilment they
lack in everyday life, and adds a sense of purpose and excitement.
• Absorption has addictive qualities so individuals go to further and further lengths to
maintain a sense of fulfilment via the parasocial relationship.
• To test this, McCutcheon devised the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS).
• This model predicts that there will be an association between poorer mental health and
the strength of parasocial relationships.
A Clinical Look at Celebrity Worship
, CWS: Dischotomy or Continnum
- Celebrity Worshippers rarely get good press
- They are portrayed as either impressionable and harmless or as obsessed and dangerous
who will stop at nothing, even murder, to gain the attention of their idolds
- Until the development of the CAS, many psychologists accepted this fan/stalker dichotomy
- The CAS suggests a single celebrity worship dimension
Celebrity Worship Reflects Personality Traits
• Maltby (2003) linked types of personality (extravert, psychotic and neurotic) to levels of
para-social relationships.
• There are three increasingly more extreme sets of attitudes and behaviours associated with
celebrity worship.
1. People who worship celebs for entertainment or social reasons tend to be extroverts –
sociable, lively, active and adventurous.
2. Intense and personal interest in the stars is associated with neurotic, tense, emotional and
moody characters.
3. Borderline-pathological attitudes correlate with psychotic traits such as impulsive, antisocial
and egocentric behaviour.
• People can move from one state to the next, but is this cause or effect?
Absorption-Addiction Model
• McCutcheon (2002) proposed the Absorption-Addiction Model to explain how parasocial
relationships become abnormal.
• She suggests that people engage in celebrity worship to compensate for some deficiencies in
their life (e.g., difficulty forming intimate relationships, poor psychological adjustment, lack
of identity).
• Forming parasocial relationships with a celebrity allows them to achieve the fulfilment they
lack in everyday life, and adds a sense of purpose and excitement.
• Absorption has addictive qualities so individuals go to further and further lengths to
maintain a sense of fulfilment via the parasocial relationship.
• To test this, McCutcheon devised the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS).
• This model predicts that there will be an association between poorer mental health and
the strength of parasocial relationships.
A Clinical Look at Celebrity Worship
