Parasocial relationships | AQA A-Level Psychology Revision
- Revision Notes
- Aug 5
- 19 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
For 7182 specification, first teach in September 2025
AQA A-Level Psychology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 55 minutes
Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships in which an individual feels emotionally connected to a media figure or celebrity who does not share the relationship in the ordinary reciprocal sense. These Parasocial relationships A-Level Psychology revision notes cover the three levels of involvement, the absorption-addiction model and the attachment theory explanation required by AQA. You will learn why most celebrity interests are harmless, why some become increasingly intense, and how early relationship experiences may influence vulnerability to parasocial involvement. The topic follows relationships formed through digital communication.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Define a parasocial relationship.
Describe the entertainment-social, intense-personal and borderline-pathological levels.
Explain absorption and addiction as processes underlying parasocial involvement.
Explain the attachment theory explanation of parasocial relationships.
Apply the levels and explanations to unfamiliar scenarios.
Evaluate psychological explanations of parasocial relationships.
Revision Notes 📚
Parasocial relationships A-Level Psychology revision overview
A parasocial relationship is a one-sided relationship in which an individual feels a sense of emotional closeness, friendship or personal connection with a media figure or celebrity.
The person may:
Think frequently about the celebrity.
Follow their career and personal life.
Feel that they understand the celebrity.
Experience emotional reactions to events in the celebrity’s life.
Discuss the celebrity with friends.
In extreme cases, behave as though a genuinely reciprocal relationship exists.
The celebrity does not know the individual personally and does not participate in an ordinary mutual relationship with them.
This distinguishes parasocial relationships from romantic or friendship relationships, where both people usually communicate and recognise the relationship.
Parasocial relationships are one-sided
Ordinary relationships normally involve reciprocity.
Both partners may:
Communicate with each other.
Reveal personal information.
Respond to each other’s needs.
Recognise that the relationship exists.
In a parasocial relationship, communication is largely one way.
The individual receives information about the celebrity through media content, interviews or public appearances. The celebrity communicates to an audience rather than specifically to the individual.
This means the relationship may feel personally meaningful even though the emotional connection is not genuinely mutual.
The contrast is particularly important when comparing parasocial involvement with reciprocal personal disclosure.
Not every parasocial relationship is harmful
Interest in a celebrity is not automatically pathological.
At a low level, a celebrity may provide:
Entertainment.
A topic of conversation.
Enjoyment shared with friends.
A sense of connection to a wider fan community.
The levels of parasocial relationships distinguish ordinary interest from increasingly intense or potentially harmful involvement.
The three levels are:
Entertainment-social
Intense-personal
Borderline-pathological
These levels are measured using the Celebrity Attitude Scale, often abbreviated to CAS.
The Celebrity Attitude Scale
The Celebrity Attitude Scale is a self-report measure used to assess the strength and nature of a person’s attitudes towards a favourite celebrity.
Responses can indicate whether the individual’s involvement is primarily:
Entertainment-social.
Intense-personal.
Borderline-pathological.
The levels represent increasing involvement rather than three completely unrelated types of behaviour.
A person showing intense-personal characteristics is more involved than someone at the entertainment-social level. Borderline-pathological involvement represents the most extreme level.
Overview of the three levels
Level | Main features | Example |
Entertainment-social | Interest provides entertainment and supports social interaction | Discussing a celebrity’s work with friends |
Intense-personal | Strong private feelings and a sense of personal connection | Feeling emotionally preoccupied with the celebrity |
Borderline-pathological | Uncontrollable, extreme or potentially harmful involvement | Engaging in extreme behaviour such as stalking |
Level 1: Entertainment-social
The entertainment-social level is the least intense level of parasocial involvement.
At this level, interest in the celebrity is primarily a source of:
Entertainment.
Enjoyment.
Conversation.
Social interaction with other fans.
For example, a person might:
Watch every episode of a programme featuring an actor.
Follow a musician’s new releases.
Discuss the celebrity with friends.
Attend an event with other fans.
Enjoy learning about the celebrity’s career.
The celebrity becomes part of the individual’s social life because the interest creates shared topics and activities.
However, the individual is not necessarily privately obsessed or emotionally dependent on the celebrity.
Entertainment-social involvement may be ordinary
This level demonstrates why it is inaccurate to treat all parasocial relationships as signs of psychological disturbance.
The individual may:
Understand that the relationship is one-sided.
Continue maintaining ordinary friendships.
Enjoy other interests.
Experience no major disruption to everyday life.
Their interest in the celebrity is similar to other forms of entertainment.
📌 Exam tip: Do not describe entertainment-social involvement as an addiction. The defining feature is social enjoyment rather than compulsive involvement.
Applying the entertainment-social level
Consider the following example:
Theo enjoys watching a particular actor’s films. Theo and several friends regularly discuss the actor’s performances and plan to see each new film together.
This is entertainment-social because:
The interest provides entertainment.
It creates a topic for discussion.
The celebrity interest supports interaction with friends.
There is no evidence of private obsession or extreme behaviour.
Level 2: Intense-personal
The intense-personal level involves stronger and more private feelings towards the celebrity.
The individual may:
Feel a special connection with the celebrity.
Think about them very frequently.
Believe that they understand the celebrity deeply.
Experience strong emotions concerning events in the celebrity’s life.
Become preoccupied with information about the celebrity.
At this level, the relationship is no longer simply a source of entertainment or social conversation.
It becomes emotionally significant to the individual.
A perceived personal connection
Someone at the intense-personal level may feel:
“This celebrity understands people like me.”
“I know what they are really like.”
“Their successes and difficulties affect me personally.”
“I feel unusually close to them.”
The person may recognise that the celebrity does not know them, yet still experience a strong sense of connection.
At more extreme points within this level, the individual may begin to interpret public messages as personally significant.
Emotional preoccupation
Preoccupation means that thoughts about the celebrity occupy a large amount of the person’s attention.
The individual might:
Constantly check for new information.
Spend long periods imagining interactions.
Experience strong emotional reactions to media reports.
Feel jealous or distressed about the celebrity’s relationships.
Organise significant parts of daily life around following the celebrity.
These behaviours show that the interest has moved beyond ordinary entertainment.
Applying the intense-personal level
Consider this example:
Erin constantly checks for news about a singer and says that nobody understands the singer as well as she does. When the singer discusses a difficult experience, Erin becomes upset for several days.
This reflects intense-personal involvement because:
Erin feels a strong personal connection.
She believes she understands the celebrity deeply.
Events in the celebrity’s life produce powerful private emotions.
Her interest involves preoccupation rather than social entertainment alone.
Level 3: Borderline-pathological
The borderline-pathological level is the most extreme level of parasocial involvement.
The person may display:
Uncontrollable thoughts or behaviour.
An increasingly unrealistic sense of connection.
A willingness to take extreme action.
Behaviour that disrupts ordinary life.
Potentially harmful conduct, such as stalking.
The word borderline indicates that the behaviour is close to becoming seriously psychologically disturbed or dangerous.
The term does not mean the same thing as borderline personality disorder.
Loss of control
A defining feature of this level is that the person’s behaviour becomes difficult to control.
They may continue even when:
The behaviour causes distress.
Friends or relatives express concern.
Other responsibilities are neglected.
The celebrity has asked for privacy.
The actions risk harming themselves or others.
At this level, the parasocial relationship can dominate the individual’s thoughts and behaviour.
Belief in reciprocity
At more extreme levels, the individual may mistakenly believe or feel that the celebrity reciprocates the relationship.
They may interpret:
A public statement as a private message.
A social media post as being directed specifically at them.
A brief encounter as evidence of a special bond.
Ordinary publicity as confirmation of mutual feelings.
The parasocial relationship is still objectively one-sided, but the individual may no longer judge it realistically.
Applying the borderline-pathological level
Consider this example:
Casey repeatedly travels to places where a television presenter is expected to appear. Casey follows the presenter after events and believes that general comments made during broadcasts contain secret messages intended specifically for Casey.
This indicates borderline-pathological involvement because:
The behaviour is extreme and repetitive.
Casey behaves as though a reciprocal relationship exists.
Public messages are misinterpreted as personal communication.
Following the presenter resembles stalking.
The levels form a continuum
The three levels can be treated as points along a continuum of increasing involvement.
entertainment-social → intense-personal → borderline-pathological
This does not mean that every person interested in a celebrity will progress through all three levels.
Most people may remain at the entertainment-social level.
The model allows psychologists to distinguish:
Ordinary celebrity interest.
Strong emotional involvement.
Extreme or harmful behaviour.
This distinction is one of the model’s important strengths.
Comparing the three levels
Feature | Entertainment-social | Intense-personal | Borderline-pathological |
Main purpose | Entertainment and conversation | Emotional connection | Extreme involvement |
Social element | Often discussed with friends | More private and personal | May produce isolation or conflict |
Emotional intensity | Relatively low | High | Very high and potentially uncontrolled |
Perceived connection | Interest in the celebrity | Strong sense of personal bond | Possible belief that feelings are reciprocated |
Likely impact on daily life | Limited | May occupy significant attention | May disrupt ordinary functioning |
Example | Discussing a celebrity with friends | Feeling privately obsessed | Stalking or other extreme behaviour |
The absorption-addiction model
The absorption-addiction model explains why some people become increasingly involved in a parasocial relationship.
It proposes that parasocial relationships may compensate for deficiencies or dissatisfaction in the individual’s life.
Possible starting points include:
A weak personal identity.
Unsatisfactory real-life relationships.
Social isolation.
A desire to escape from ordinary life.
A lack of meaning or fulfilment.
The parasocial relationship may provide:
A stronger sense of identity.
Emotional fulfilment.
Escape.
A feeling of connection.
Something on which to focus attention.
The person first becomes absorbed in the celebrity and may then develop increasingly addictive involvement.
Absorption
Absorption occurs when the individual becomes highly focused on the celebrity and their life.
A person with a weaker personal identity may begin to:
Identify strongly with the celebrity.
Devote increasing attention to them.
Use the celebrity to give meaning to their own life.
Feel emotionally involved in the celebrity’s experiences.
Become consumed by information about them.
The celebrity may provide a sense of identity that the individual feels is missing from ordinary life.
For example:
Someone who feels uncertain about their own ambitions may become absorbed in the achievements and lifestyle of a successful public figure.
Identification
Identification involves seeing the celebrity as personally significant and using them as part of one’s own sense of self.
The individual may:
Copy aspects of the celebrity’s appearance.
Adopt similar attitudes.
Organise their identity around being a devoted fan.
Feel that the celebrity’s achievements belong partly to them.
Experience the celebrity’s difficulties as personally distressing.
Identification can deepen absorption because the celebrity is no longer simply interesting. They become connected to the person’s self-concept.
Addiction
Addiction occurs when the person requires increasing levels of involvement to maintain the same degree of satisfaction.
The individual may seek:
More information.
More frequent media contact.
Greater emotional involvement.
Closer physical access.
More extreme ways of feeling connected.
This resembles other addictive processes in which the person needs increasingly intense experiences.
At its most extreme, the parasocial relationship becomes all-consuming.
The progression from absorption to addiction
The proposed process can be summarised as follows:
The person experiences deficiencies or dissatisfaction in ordinary life.
A celebrity provides escape, identity or emotional fulfilment.
The person becomes absorbed in the celebrity’s life.
Ordinary involvement no longer provides enough satisfaction.
The person seeks greater involvement.
Behaviour becomes increasingly extreme or addictive.
This progression may help explain movement towards the intense-personal and borderline-pathological levels.
Linking the model to the three levels
Level | Possible relationship with absorption-addiction |
Entertainment-social | Interest is mainly enjoyable and social, with little evidence of absorption or addiction |
Intense-personal | Absorption becomes stronger, creating preoccupation and personal identification |
Borderline-pathological | Addictive involvement may lead to extreme, uncontrolled behaviour |
The levels describe the intensity of parasocial involvement.
The absorption-addiction model explains why involvement may intensify.
These are connected ideas, but they are not identical.
Applying the absorption-addiction model
Consider this scenario:
Taylor feels socially isolated and says there is little excitement in everyday life. Taylor begins following a musician and feels that being a devoted fan provides a clear identity. Over time, Taylor spends increasing amounts of time and money trying to attend every event involving the musician.
The model could be applied as follows:
Social isolation and dissatisfaction represent possible deficiencies in Taylor’s real life.
The musician provides escape and a sense of identity.
Taylor becomes absorbed and increasingly preoccupied.
Ordinary levels of involvement stop being sufficient.
Taylor seeks greater contact by attending more events.
The increasing need for involvement is consistent with addiction.
The attachment theory explanation
The attachment theory explanation proposes that parasocial relationships may be influenced by a person’s early attachment experiences.
AQA includes attachment types and the internal working model elsewhere in the course. Understanding secure and insecure attachment patterns will therefore support this explanation.
According to the concept of an internal working model, early attachment creates expectations about:
Whether other people are dependable.
Whether relationships are safe.
Whether the individual is worthy of care.
How likely rejection or abandonment may be.
These expectations can influence later relationships, including the effects of early attachment on adult connections.
Insecure-resistant attachment
The attachment explanation focuses particularly on people with an insecure-resistant attachment pattern.
Such individuals may desire:
Emotional closeness.
Reassurance.
A strong sense of connection.
At the same time, they may experience anxiety about:
Rejection.
Abandonment.
Whether another person genuinely cares.
Whether a relationship will remain stable.
A parasocial relationship can appear to offer emotional involvement without the ordinary risk of direct rejection.
A relationship without direct rejection
A celebrity cannot reject the individual in the same way as a partner in a reciprocal relationship because:
The celebrity may not know the individual exists.
No direct approach is required.
The person can imagine closeness without testing it.
The relationship does not depend on mutual commitment.
The individual controls when they engage with the celebrity’s media presence.
This may make parasocial relationships attractive to someone who wants closeness but fears rejection.
The individual can experience emotional fulfilment without facing the uncertainty of an ordinary reciprocal relationship.
Applying the attachment explanation
Consider this scenario:
Imogen wants close relationships but constantly worries that friends will reject her. She becomes strongly attached to an actor and says that following the actor feels safer than depending on people she knows personally.
The attachment explanation could suggest that:
Imogen desires closeness.
She is highly concerned about rejection.
These features are consistent with insecure-resistant attachment.
The parasocial relationship provides a sense of connection without requiring a reciprocal relationship.
The actor cannot directly reject Imogen because no genuine interpersonal relationship exists.
Attachment theory and the internal working model
The attachment explanation proposes a developmental connection:
Early attachment contributes to an internal working model.
The model shapes expectations about later relationships.
An insecure-resistant person desires closeness but expects uncertainty or rejection.
A parasocial relationship provides symbolic closeness with less direct interpersonal risk.
This explanation does not suggest that everyone with an insecure attachment will develop a parasocial relationship.
Attachment is one possible influence rather than a guaranteed cause.
Absorption-addiction and attachment compared
Absorption-addiction model | Attachment theory explanation |
Focuses on personal inadequacies or dissatisfaction | Focuses on early attachment and later relationship expectations |
Weak identity or poor relationships may create vulnerability | Insecure-resistant attachment may create a desire for safe closeness |
Celebrity involvement provides identity or escape | Celebrity involvement provides connection without direct rejection |
Absorption may develop into addiction | Attachment anxiety may encourage one-sided relationships |
Helps explain increasing intensity | Helps explain why a parasocial relationship may feel emotionally safer |
The explanations may work together.
For example, an individual could:
Have insecure expectations about relationships.
Experience unsatisfactory real-life relationships.
Use a celebrity for emotional fulfilment.
Become increasingly absorbed over time.
Applying both explanations to one scenario
Consider this scenario:
Morgan has always found close relationships stressful and worries that other people will leave. Morgan feels isolated after moving away from friends and begins following a famous athlete. Morgan says that the athlete provides comfort and purpose. Gradually, Morgan spends nearly every free hour watching interviews and searching for new information.
Attachment explanation
Morgan wants connection but fears abandonment.
A one-sided relationship appears safer because the athlete cannot directly reject Morgan.
This is consistent with the insecure-resistant explanation.
Absorption-addiction model
Isolation creates dissatisfaction in Morgan’s ordinary life.
Following the athlete provides comfort and purpose.
Morgan becomes absorbed in the athlete’s life.
Increasing time spent searching for information suggests escalating involvement.
A strong application answer could use both explanations, but only when the question requires both.
Evaluating levels of parasocial relationships
Strength: the levels distinguish harmless and harmful involvement
The three levels recognise that celebrity interest varies in intensity.
This prevents all parasocial relationships from being classified as abnormal.
For example:
Entertainment-social interest may support friendships.
Intense-personal involvement may create private preoccupation.
Borderline-pathological involvement may involve extreme behaviour.
The classification therefore distinguishes ordinary fandom from potentially harmful behaviour.
Limitation: the levels describe but do not fully explain
The levels identify different degrees of involvement.
They do not by themselves explain:
Why one person remains at the entertainment-social level.
Why another becomes intensely involved.
Why only some people progress towards extreme behaviour.
The absorption-addiction and attachment explanations are therefore needed to account for possible causes.
Evaluating the absorption-addiction model
Strength: evidence links extreme involvement with personal difficulties
AQA mark schemes recognise associations between borderline-pathological involvement and factors such as:
Poor mental health.
Social isolation.
Social incompetence.
Other addictive behaviours.
These relationships are consistent with the model’s prediction that extreme parasocial involvement may compensate for difficulties in a person’s ordinary life.
The model therefore offers more than a description of celebrity interest.
Strength: personality may help explain different levels
Personality factors may influence the level of parasocial involvement.
AQA mark schemes recognise associations involving:
Extraversion and entertainment-social involvement.
Neuroticism and intense-personal involvement.
Impulsivity and sensation-seeking in relation to addictive behaviour.
This suggests that not everyone responds to celebrities in the same way.
Personality may affect whether involvement remains social or develops into more intense forms.
Limitation: the direction of causality is unclear
Much of the evidence is correlational.
For example, an association between social isolation and intense celebrity involvement does not show whether:
Isolation causes the parasocial relationship.
Parasocial involvement increases isolation.
A third factor causes both.
A person may become absorbed because they are socially isolated. Alternatively, spending excessive time following a celebrity may reduce opportunities for real-life interaction.
The evidence therefore cannot confirm the causal process proposed by the model.
Limitation: most evidence relies on self-report
The Celebrity Attitude Scale asks people to report their own attitudes and behaviour.
This creates possible problems:
Participants may give socially desirable answers.
They may minimise extreme behaviour.
Different people may interpret scale statements differently.
A numerical score may not capture the full meaning of the relationship.
The CAS may use distractor items to reduce obvious response patterns, which is a strength. However, it remains a self-report measure and may lack complete validity.
Limitation: the model may pathologise strong interests
A person may devote substantial time to a celebrity while still:
Maintaining friendships.
Meeting responsibilities.
Understanding that the relationship is one-sided.
Experiencing no psychological distress.
Strong interest alone does not demonstrate addiction.
The model is most convincing when involvement becomes uncontrolled or harmful rather than merely enthusiastic.
Evaluating the attachment theory explanation
Strength: it connects early and later relationships
The attachment explanation is consistent with the wider claim that early attachment contributes to an internal working model.
This model can influence later expectations of:
Trust.
Rejection.
Emotional availability.
Relationship security.
Parasocial relationships may therefore be one possible expression of established expectations about relationships.
Strength: it explains the appeal of a low-risk relationship
The explanation identifies a reason why a parasocial relationship may appeal to someone who is anxious about rejection.
The person can experience:
Emotional connection.
Admiration.
Comfort.
A sense of closeness.
They do not have to risk a direct refusal or relationship breakdown.
This provides a psychologically plausible account of why an insecure-resistant person might prefer a one-sided relationship.
Limitation: evidence does not consistently support the prediction
Evidence cited in an AQA mark scheme found that insecure attachment types did not show an increased likelihood of developing parasocial relationships.
This contradicts the simple prediction that insecure attachment makes parasocial involvement more likely.
The relationship between early attachment and parasocial relationships may therefore be weaker or more complex than the explanation suggests.
Limitation: attachment may be only one influence
The attachment explanation focuses on relationship history.
However, parasocial involvement may also be affected by:
Personality.
Social isolation.
Weak identity.
Dissatisfaction with ordinary life.
Addictive tendencies.
Attachment alone may therefore provide an incomplete explanation.
A more complete account may combine developmental experiences with current social and personality factors.
Evaluating research into parasocial relationships
Correlation does not demonstrate cause
Researchers cannot usually manipulate attachment style, personal identity or social isolation experimentally.
They often measure these variables and investigate whether they are associated with parasocial involvement.
This limits conclusions about cause and effect.
Self-report may be affected by embarrassment
Participants may be reluctant to admit:
Obsessive thoughts.
Beliefs that a celebrity communicates with them.
Stalking behaviour.
Disruption to everyday life.
Extreme parasocial involvement may therefore be under-reported.
The CAS provides a standardised measure
Using a standardised scale means:
Participants answer comparable questions.
Levels of involvement can be compared.
Findings can be replicated.
Researchers can investigate correlations with personality or attachment.
However, standardisation does not automatically guarantee that the scale measures the person’s genuine relationship accurately.
Overall conclusion
Parasocial relationships range from ordinary entertainment to intense and potentially pathological involvement.
The three levels describe increasing intensity:
entertainment-social → intense-personal → borderline-pathological
The absorption-addiction model explains escalation through:
Personal deficiencies or dissatisfaction.
Psychological absorption.
Increasingly addictive involvement.
The attachment explanation proposes that insecure-resistant individuals may use a one-sided relationship to gain closeness without direct rejection.
Both explanations are useful, but neither is complete. Much of the evidence is correlational and based on self-report, while attachment findings are inconsistent. Parasocial relationships are therefore best understood as the possible result of several interacting influences rather than one single cause.
Hints from the Examiner Reports 💡
Examiner hint: Focus on why parasocial relationships develop when the question asks for explanations. The 2021 examiner report noted that weaker answers described the general nature of parasocial relationships without explaining their development.
Examiner hint: Keep the levels distinct. Entertainment-social concerns enjoyment and discussion, intense-personal concerns private emotional preoccupation, and borderline-pathological concerns extreme or uncontrolled behaviour.
Examiner hint: Do not treat the levels and the absorption-addiction model as identical. The levels describe increasing involvement, while the model explains how absorption may escalate into addiction.
Examiner hint: Describe both parts of the absorption-addiction model. An answer explaining absorption but saying little about the need for increasingly intense involvement will be incomplete.
Examiner hint: Develop evaluation fully. In the 2023 8-mark question, only three marks assessed knowledge while five assessed evaluation. A long descriptive account with one brief criticism was therefore unlikely to reach the highest level.
Examiner hint: Use specialist terminology accurately, including weak personal identity, absorption, addiction, insecure-resistant attachment, rejection and Celebrity Attitude Scale.
Examiner hint: When using research evidence, explain its direction. State whether the finding supports or contradicts the particular explanation rather than simply naming a study.
Examiner hint: Evaluation should remain focused. Evidence concerning personality strengthens or challenges the absorption-addiction model only when the link with celebrity involvement is explained.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Defining a parasocial relationship as any interest in a celebrity
Why this is incorrect:
A parasocial relationship involves a one-sided sense of emotional or personal connection, not simply recognising or enjoying a celebrity’s work.
How to improve:
Mention the perceived relationship and the absence of genuine reciprocity.
Mistake: Assuming all parasocial relationships are pathological
Why this is incorrect:
Entertainment-social involvement may be harmless and socially enjoyable.
How to improve:
Distinguish ordinary interest from intense-personal and borderline-pathological involvement.
Mistake: Confusing entertainment-social with intense-personal
Why this is incorrect:
Entertainment-social interest is mainly enjoyable and shared with others. Intense-personal involvement is private, emotional and preoccupying.
How to improve:
Ask whether the person is discussing an interest socially or experiencing a powerful personal bond.
Mistake: Describing borderline-pathological involvement as simply being a very devoted fan
Why this is incorrect:
The level involves uncontrolled, extreme or potentially harmful behaviour.
How to improve:
Look for stalking, serious disruption or unrealistic beliefs that the relationship is reciprocal.
Mistake: Saying absorption and addiction are the same process
Why this is incorrect:
Absorption is becoming deeply involved and preoccupied. Addiction involves seeking increasingly intense involvement.
How to improve:
Explain absorption first, then show how the person escalates their behaviour.
Mistake: Forgetting the starting point of the absorption-addiction model
Why this is incorrect:
The model proposes that involvement compensates for inadequacies, weak identity or dissatisfaction.
How to improve:
Begin with the problem in the person’s ordinary life before describing celebrity involvement.
Mistake: Saying insecure-resistant people do not want relationships
Why this is incorrect:
The explanation proposes that they desire closeness but are anxious about rejection.
How to improve:
Explain why a one-sided relationship can provide closeness without the normal interpersonal risk.
Mistake: Claiming that correlation proves the model
Why this is incorrect:
An association between isolation and parasocial involvement cannot establish which caused the other.
How to improve:
Include the direction-of-causality problem.
Mistake: Using self-report evidence as completely objective
Why this is incorrect:
Participants may conceal extreme attitudes or interpret scale statements differently.
How to improve:
Balance the standardisation of the CAS against possible validity and response-bias problems.
Mistake: Writing about celebrity behaviour instead of the individual
Why this is incorrect:
The psychological explanations concern why the person develops the parasocial relationship.
How to improve:
Focus on the fan’s identity, relationships, attachment, thoughts and behaviour.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Questions
1. What is meant by a parasocial relationship?[2 marks]
Answer
Award up to two marks:
A parasocial relationship is a one-sided relationship with a media figure or celebrity.
The individual feels emotional or personal closeness, but the celebrity does not participate in a genuinely reciprocal relationship.
2. Name the three levels of parasocial relationships in order of increasing involvement.[3 marks]
Answer
Award one mark for each level in the correct order:
Entertainment-social.
Intense-personal.
Borderline-pathological.
3. Explain one difference between the entertainment-social and intense-personal levels.[3 marks]
Answer
Award up to three marks:
Entertainment-social involvement is mainly a source of entertainment or social discussion.
Intense-personal involvement includes strong private feelings, preoccupation or a perceived personal connection.
An appropriate example or explicit comparison between the levels.
4. Haris enjoys discussing a footballer’s career with friends. Over time, Haris begins thinking
constantly about the footballer and says that he understands the player better than anyone else. Haris later starts following the footballer after matches and believes that comments in interviews contain messages intended personally for him.
Explain the three levels of parasocial relationships with reference to Haris.[6 marks]
Answer
Award up to six marks:
Discussing the footballer with friends is entertainment-social involvement.
The interest provides enjoyment and social interaction.
Thinking constantly about the footballer indicates intense-personal involvement.
Believing that he understands the footballer deeply shows a perceived personal connection.
Following the footballer after matches indicates borderline-pathological behaviour.
Believing public comments contain private messages suggests an unrealistic belief that the relationship is reciprocal.
5. A psychologist used the Celebrity Attitude Scale to investigate parasocial involvement in two groups.
Group | Mean Celebrity Attitude Scale score |
Participants reporting high social isolation | 48 |
Participants reporting low social isolation | 31 |
What conclusion could the psychologist draw from these results? Explain one limitation of the conclusion.[4 marks]
Answer
Award up to four marks:
Participants reporting high social isolation had a higher mean CAS score.
This suggests an association between social isolation and stronger parasocial involvement.
The results are consistent with the absorption-addiction model because dissatisfaction or deficiencies in ordinary relationships may encourage celebrity involvement.
The study is correlational, so it cannot show that social isolation caused the higher parasocial involvement. Parasocial involvement might increase isolation, or another variable might influence both.
Do not credit a claim that the difference is statistically significant because no inferential-test result is provided.
6. Explain the absorption-addiction model of parasocial relationships.[6 marks]
Answer
Award up to six marks:
Parasocial relationships may compensate for inadequacies, weak identity, poor relationships or dissatisfaction.
Celebrity involvement can provide identity, fulfilment or escape.
Absorption involves becoming preoccupied or consumed by the celebrity’s life.
The individual may identify increasingly strongly with the celebrity.
Addiction involves needing greater levels of involvement.
Increasing involvement may become all-consuming and lead to intense-personal or borderline-pathological behaviour.
7. Explain the attachment theory explanation of parasocial relationships.[4 marks]
Answer
Award up to four marks:
Early attachment contributes to an internal working model of later relationships.
The explanation focuses particularly on insecure-resistant individuals.
They desire closeness but may fear rejection or abandonment.
A parasocial relationship provides emotional connection without the ordinary risk of direct rejection because the relationship is one-sided.
8. Outline one strength and one limitation of the absorption-addiction model.[6 marks]
Answer
Award up to three marks for a developed strength and three marks for a developed limitation.
Possible strength:
Evidence links extreme parasocial involvement with social isolation, poor social competence or other addictive tendencies. This is consistent with the model’s claim that personal deficiencies may produce absorption and escalating involvement.
Possible limitation:
Much evidence is correlational, so it cannot establish whether personal difficulties cause parasocial involvement or whether intense involvement creates those difficulties. This weakens the model’s causal explanation.
Alternative creditworthy points include:
The model distinguishes pathological from non-pathological involvement.
Personality research supports different levels of involvement.
The Celebrity Attitude Scale offers a standardised measure.
Self-report evidence may be affected by social desirability.
Strong fandom may be incorrectly treated as addiction.
9. Discuss psychological explanations of parasocial relationships.[16 marks]
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