Parasocial Romance: A Social Exchange Perspective
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Adam, Aimee
Sizemore, Brittany
Abstract / Description
Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships that people hold with media figures. Although it has been previously demonstrated that people often feel strong friendships with people that they have never met, parasocial romantic attachments have not been well-studied. In the current study, we examined reasons why people form parasocial romances from a social exchange perspective by surveying participants on perceived costs and benefits of both real-life and parasocial romantic relationships (PSROMs), and on the strength of their PSROMs. We found that participants who reported stronger PSROMs also reported greater perceived benefits (relative to costs) of PSROMs, and that these benefits are surprisingly similar to those received from real-life relationships (RLRs). The results suggest that parasocial relationships are formed for similar reasons as real-life relationships, but that there are some unique costs associated with PSROMs. This research helps to explain why people form romantic attachments with media characters.
Keyword(s)
parasocial relationships romantic relationships social exchangePersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2013-06-28
Journal title
Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships
Volume
7
Issue
1
Page numbers
12–25
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Adam, A., & Sizemore, B. (2013). Parasocial Romance: A Social Exchange Perspective. Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships, 7(1), 12–25. https://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.v7i1.106
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ijpr.v7i1.106.pdfAdobe PDF - 422.95KBMD5: d9c829230def34a6cb636b7574e905d0
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Adam, Aimee
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Sizemore, Brittany
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-12-05T08:44:29Z
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Made available on2018-12-05T08:44:29Z
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Date of first publication2013-06-28
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Abstract / DescriptionParasocial relationships are one-sided relationships that people hold with media figures. Although it has been previously demonstrated that people often feel strong friendships with people that they have never met, parasocial romantic attachments have not been well-studied. In the current study, we examined reasons why people form parasocial romances from a social exchange perspective by surveying participants on perceived costs and benefits of both real-life and parasocial romantic relationships (PSROMs), and on the strength of their PSROMs. We found that participants who reported stronger PSROMs also reported greater perceived benefits (relative to costs) of PSROMs, and that these benefits are surprisingly similar to those received from real-life relationships (RLRs). The results suggest that parasocial relationships are formed for similar reasons as real-life relationships, but that there are some unique costs associated with PSROMs. This research helps to explain why people form romantic attachments with media characters.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationAdam, A., & Sizemore, B. (2013). Parasocial Romance: A Social Exchange Perspective. Interpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships, 7(1), 12–25. https://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.v7i1.106en_US
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ISSN1981-6472
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1793
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.2159
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/ijpr.v7i1.106
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Keyword(s)parasocial relationshipsen_US
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Keyword(s)romantic relationshipsen_US
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Keyword(s)social exchangeen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleParasocial Romance: A Social Exchange Perspectiveen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue1
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Journal titleInterpersona: An International Journal on Personal Relationships
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Page numbers12–25
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Volume7
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record