What are parasocial relationships?

What are parasocial relationships? Before answering that, let us ask you the following: Have you ever wondered what effect the media has on your behavior? This has to do with this type of relationships, a curious phenomenon that we develop with the people we “meet” through the mass media.

It is a reality, the mass media They have the ability to influence – potentially, because it will depend on different factors – our behaviors, thoughts, actions…

In many cases, the way the media uses to address us is designed so that we think it is personalized, when in reality as an audience we are a homogeneous mass of people. For example, think about a simple detail, how many emails from spamintended for many people, do they include your name?

Thus, in this article we will see what parasocial relationships are, why they occur, what feelings are associated with them and how they influence our behavior. Do not miss it!

What are parasocial relationships?

Parasocial relationships are those that we establish with famous people, celebrities or media people. In reality, they are relationships that occur with any media character, whether real or fictional (including cartoon characters).

So that we can see it a little more clearly, let’s think about an example: imagine that we meet someone famous in the supermarket, someone for whom we feel sympathy. We will probably approach him, ask for an autograph, try to establish some kind of conversation… as if we really had trust with that person, although in reality we don’t.

Therefore, in reality, parasocial relationships are false social relationships, since the relationship is not “real”, and is born from the desire to meet that person “in real life”, or even from your admiration for them. And the mind deceives us!

We perceive that relationship as close and intimate, when in reality we don’t really know that person (only through what we have seen of them through the media). Besides, According to experts, it is a non-reciprocal (unilateral) relationship, so we are actually talking about a pseudo-link..

Origin of the term

It was the authors Horton Donald and Richard Wohl who, in 1956, spoke for the first time about parasocial relationships. Specifically, they defined the concept as “the creation, unconsciously, of a close relationship with a media person, which we experience intensely.”

Furthermore, the authors added that this type of relationship is unilateral (only we believe it). According to them, as cited by Caro (2015), it is about the “illusion of a reciprocal interaction experienced by the audience towards media figures“.

Associated feelings

A characteristic of parasocial relationships is that We come to feel very identified with the media person in question, which makes us perceive a real relationship with said person. In this sense, we develop a strong empathy towards her. The opposite can also happen, and that is that we feel rejection or dislike towards that person.

What most characterizes this type of relationship is that feeling that we really know someone just by having seen them or followed them through the media. This is a very particular link because, in reality, it only exists on our part (that’s why we talk about a pseudolink).

On the other hand, according to the communication scientist Ileana Caschi, parasocial relationships They are a communicative phenomenon that makes us pay attention to certain media content only because “X” person is the one who spreads it.. This situation arises from the fact that we believe ourselves to be more than “one of the audience,” and the brain has a lot to do with it, as we will see later.

With whom do we develop parasocial relationships?

As we have seen, this type of relationship develops with any famous person (it can be fictional). Thus, it is usually people who appear on television, radio, social media and even print media (for example the newspaper).

The profession of said person can be practically anyone, and therefore they are: artists, athletes, presenters, politicians, singers… This includes fictional characters, such as the protagonists of cartoons (especially in the case of children).

How long do these relationships last?

There is no concrete answer to this question, since parasocial relationships are indefinite, and time depends on until when that media person is significant or important to us. It is also related to the time that person is in the media.

Why do we develop these types of relationships?

In someway, The fact that parasocial relationships occur has to do with our subconscious (or unconscious) part.. We will illustrate it with a simple example; When we see famous people on television (or through radio, videos in Youtube…), unconsciously, our mind “believes” that all this content has been created especially for us.

That is to say, even though we know that we are only a grain of sand among all the viewers of that program, The mind tricks us and makes us believe that this content is, in some way, exclusive to us.. This would explain why we feel so united or so involved in these types of contexts.

The strategies of media people

On the other hand, these people we are talking about, with whom we develop parasocial relationships, know well the mechanisms that enhance these types of feelings. An example is the fact that look at the camera and especially address your audience (that is, “to us”); This is done especially by Youtubers or TV presenters.

From the field of neuroscience, we know that the brain is programmed to interpret a direct look in the eyes as a sign that someone is paying attention to us.

In other words, The fact of perceiving that they are looking us in the eyes makes us feel that they are speaking to us directly. us. As a result, our brain interprets that “that someone” knows us.

All this, added to the feelings of empathy and attention that these people awaken through their verbal and non-verbal language, facilitates the emergence of parasocial relationships. Not to mention the degree of credibility of that person or their physical and intellectual attractiveness.

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