Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Describing one-sided relationships, as for example between celebrities and their audience or fans.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

para- +‎ social

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Examples

  • Horton and Wohl gave the term parasocial interaction to this rather widespread phenomenon in mass culture.

    Prime Time Preachers: The Rising Power of Televangelism; with an Introduction by T George Harris 1981

  • You may have said it, too, if not as authoritatively or as sympathetically as Stuart Fischoff, professor emeritus of media psychology at Cal State L.A. "These fans have what's called a parasocial relationship," says Fischoff.

    The True Believers 2007

  • All this feeds what psychologists in the United States, where the home shopping phenomenon began 35 years ago, term the "parasocial" relationship between the channels and their viewers.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph William Langley 2011

  • The article is written by Drs David Giles and John Maltby, both of whom have conducted extensive research into 'parasocial' relationships with celebrities.

    Mind Hacks: August 2006 Archives 2006

  • The article is written by Drs David Giles and John Maltby, both of whom have conducted extensive research into 'parasocial' relationships with celebrities.

    Mind Hacks: Star struck 2006

  • This is evidence, say the researchers, that illusionary or "parasocial" relationships with television characters or personalities can ease belongingness needs.

    innovations-report 2009

  • This is evidence, say the researchers, that illusionary or "parasocial" relationships with television characters or personalities can ease belongingness needs.

    innovations-report 2009

  • This is evidence, say the researchers, that illusionary or "parasocial" relationships with television characters or personalities can ease belongingness needs.

    Health News from Medical News Today 2009

  • This is evidence, say the researchers, that illusionary or "parasocial" relationships with television characters or personalities can ease belongingness needs.

    The Situationist 2009

  • The authors investigated whether the same could be said of “parasocial” relationships — the one-sided bonds fans establish with celebrities in glossy magazines or on TV.

    Primary Sources 2008

  • A parasocial relationship “is an imaginary, symbolic, one-sided relationship with a celebrity or media figure or just someone who you don’t actually know,” Dr. Sally Theran, an associate psychology professor at Wellesley College, tells TIME.

    YouTuber Alyx Weiss Would Like to Address Her Fans Moises Mendez II 2023

  • Recently there’s been a lot of writing on the increasing currency of “parasocial relationships” in media, that is, the imaginary, one-sided friendships people develop with celebrities and influencers in their heads.

    The World’s Most Popular Painter Sent His Followers After Me Because He Didn’t Like a Review of His Work. Here’s What I Learned | Artnet News Ben Davis National Art Critic 2023

Comments

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  • "Psychologists have long known that people can engage in 'parasocial' relationships with fictional characters, like those on TV shows or in books, or with remote celebrities we read about in magazines. Parasocial relationships can use up some of the emotional space in our Dunbar number, crowding out real-life people."

    The New York Times, Brave New World of Digital Intimacy, by Clive Thompson, September 5, 2008

    September 8, 2008

  • In biology, parasociality refers to a type of presociality (non-eusocial sociality) characterized by communal living, non-sexual interactions (not exclusively sexual) and cooperation, among individuals of the same generation.

    September 8, 2008