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This book covers key aspects of parasocial relationships (PSRs), or the relationships people have with media personalities, including fictional characters. The authors address social relationships vs. parasocial relationships as a continuum rather than a dichotomy. They also discuss prominent theories in psychology and how they should be applied to parasocial theory.
List of contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Parasocial Theory and Psychological Theory
- Chapter 2: Parasocial to Social as a Continuum
- Chapter 3: Multisocial Interaction?
- Chapter 4: Parasocial Perception and Para-Communication
- Chapter 5: Parasocial Aspects of Social Relationships
- Chapter 6: Psychoanalytic Theory and the Parasocial
- Chapter 7: Parasocial Attachment and Its Place in Attachment Theory
- Chapter 8: The Social and the Spiritual in Fandom and PSRs
- Chapter 9: Fans Meet Celebrities: Cameo and Conventions
- Chapter 10: Additional Concepts Applied to the Study of Audiences
- Chapter 11: Research Methods in the Field of Parasocial Theory
- Chapter 12: View From the Road and Methods Employed
- Chapter 13: Summary and Conclusions
About the author
David C. Giles is Reader in Psychology at the University of Winchester. His work explores the parasocial relationships between audiences (users of media) and the full diversity of people and characters they encounter in media (media figures). His 2002 paper on parasocial interaction published in Media Psychology has been cited more than 1,500 times, and he has authored and coauthored several books on psychology and the media.
Gayle S. Stever is Professor of Psychology at Empire State University of New York. She has worked in the field of media psychology since 1988, with a focus on the study of celebrities and their fans in parasocial relationships. Her publications include The Psychology of Celebrity (2018) and Understanding Media Psychology (2021), as well as articles and book chapters in the areas of parasocial theory and fan studies. She is an associate editor of the journal Psychology of Popular Media.
Summary
This book covers key aspects of parasocial relationships (PSRs), or the relationships people have with media personalities, including fictional characters. The authors address social relationships vs. parasocial relationships as a continuum rather than a dichotomy. They also discuss prominent theories in psychology and how they should be applied to parasocial theory.
