Interview with Stephanie Herrera
Name, occupation, specialties, degrees
My name is Stephanie Herrera and I'm a PhD student here at UC Santa Barbara. My specialization lies between media effects and political communication. But more specifically, I look at the influence of parasocial relationships on self-advocacy in marginalized groups.
I have studied previously at the Ohio State University where I got my bachelor's in communication technology.
How did you get interested in your field of study?
I looked at how much conversation there's been about the loneliness epidemic and characteristics of isolation, and what leads people to go in their own corners and seek emotional connection that way.
I know that intuitively, humans want to connect to other people.
So, if that's not happening face-to-face, then it's happening in other ways.
I always thought that parasocial relationships gave people that unique affordance, especially for vulnerable populations that might not see themselves represented within their immediate community or in person, they can find and build those communities online.
Seeing how media figures from far-reaching celebrities to smaller content creators that might just be a few cities away really interested me.
Why do people form parasocial relationships? (PSR)
That's a really big question.
I think it has a lot of variation between each individual.
From decades of research, we see that people will enter a parasocial interaction, engage in an experience, and not really expect a relationship to form.
Once you take it to a parasocial relationship, that's when you're already thinking of that media figure outside of the boundaries of the interaction, and they kind of start to influence your other behaviors or other schemas and perceptions of the world around you.
Some people are naturally inclined to seek that through relationships that they're viewing through media, where they're seeing similarities that align with themselves, or it's often dependent on attachment styles as well.
Often people who have anxious attachment styles really crave intimacy, and parasocial relationships are almost a way that they can go about doing so without the boundaries and social conventions of traditional relationships. I would say that's a big factor.
But other people just enter a parasocial interaction, or maybe if we're putting it in the context within media effects, they start watching a show, or they start watching a YouTuber, they're exposed to this content, and something just really clicks with them to where they find themselves going back, and it transitions from a one-time interaction to a relationship, and where they find themselves like re-engaging with that figure and whatever content they're in.
There's a lot of people that want to frame it in a more negative light, saying that it's people who are already super socially isolated, and don't want to engage with other people, or have a lot of anxiety about doing so.
But it's just as common for people who have plenty of fulfilling friendships to want to extend that connection and interaction towards their media figures as well.
Because if you're already forming those relationships, then those conventions exist within you and those inclinations to form relationships will easily transition to the media that we're consuming as well.
How can PSR be a benefit psychologically to people?
This is my favorite part to talk about when it comes to parasocial relationships, because I think that there are definitely a lot of benefits.
Even though, as we've just discussed, not every person has issues connecting with people, or are socially isolated.
But for those who are, parasocial relationships are the perfect avenue for them to explore what connection looks like, and reap the benefits of emotional intimacy without potential backlash, or trying to navigate the boundaries that exist within that.
That's something that's especially motivating when it comes to looking at parasocial relationships.
I'd also say, going back towards marginalized communities, oftentimes when people aren't seeing themselves represented in their community, or looking for a type of mentorship that isn't immediately available to them, they start to look for similar qualities in other people, often in the content that they're consuming.
And just the act of watching someone complete an action or a goal that at one point seemed unattainable to you, and you're already self-identifying with that person, those same emotional triggers will come back to you as a viewer, and can potentially motivate you to engage in similar actions in your day-to-day life.
I think that just the efficacy that can really come from parasocial interactions, and more so parasocial relationships, is extremely powerful.
A parasocial interaction is a one-sided connection that only happens while watching or viewing someone in the media.
A parasocial relationship is a longer-lasting bond that might start while watching but continues even after the media experience ends.
How can PSR be detrimental psychologically to people?
Parasocial relationships, as we perceive them from a humanistic side, they mirror all the same qualities as real-life relationships.
In real-life relationships, you might have moments of tension where you're upset for someone that's near to you, or a closer tie that's acting in a way that you don't agree with, or potentially that relationship might end.
The way that might look within a parasocial relationship is you're watching a series, and all of a sudden the writers are making your favorite media figure do something that you weren't expecting, or misaligned with your interpretation of how that person was presented.
Or if we're looking at more recent phenomena, such as the rise of content creators, if there's all of a sudden some problematic issue that's coming out about someone that you admire, you take it personally and almost put those negative emotions onto that media figure or person you form the parasocial relationship, even though that person might not owe you anything because they don't actually know you, you'll still feel the same affective qualities as if they do.
If, for some reason, the parasocial relationship that you're engaged with has to end, so either they've stopped creating content, the series has ended, you no longer have access to that character, or maybe for some reason, which in some studies that I've read, this has been the case where partners have asked, or people around them have suggested that they step away from either this form of content, it can have the same emotions as grief and heartbreak, and all the negative qualities that would come from that, from an in-person relationship or interpersonal relationship would also occur within that parasocial relationship, except without the certainty that there's another person on that line feeling similar emotions or reacting to your mood as well.
That can be a lot for how fast the media and internet moves versus how fast our own brains as humans develop.
Our brains aren't naturally inclined to understand that there's some sort of affective differentiation between the relationships you have in your day-to-day and the relationships you have every time you turn on the TV or go on your phone.
Do you believe that parasocial relationships have changed in some ways due to social media/the internet?
There's a couple ways you can go about answering this question, but all of them, for the most part, are a point, yes.
Media has, social media in particular, and the internet has completely changed how we form parasocial relationships.
Originally, as the parasocial contact hypothesis first started, it was all focused on theater. Starting off from parasocial interactions, theater interactions can be anywhere from an hour up to four hours, and that's just the bond that you're creating with the lead figure of that production.
Now, with social media and the internet and all the media streaming services, you can easily binge 10 plus hours.
There's absolutely no time constraints on how much you can engage with the content you're working with, which leads to not only accelerated relationships forming, but very strong relationships forming. As opposed to how much information you can collect about a figure within four hours, whereas you can easily scroll back and see someone from the past like five years and how their attitudes and opinions have changed just on either on YouTube or Instagram or, and any platform where people have consistently shared that information.
Media figures themselves, content creators and TV personalities, have almost latched on to the idea and the power of their social relationships to make profits, basically. “Love you guys so much!” Or “buy my shirt or merch if you wanna be part of this group or wanna support me or love my content!” Someone who already is feeling a lot of emotional benefits from that figure is going to hear that comment and it's going to be as though they're speaking directly to them and they're gonna go ahead and do so.
So, apart from those shout outs that can be done in the media content themselves, other forms of interaction that are available now, especially on social media, where we see very large figures commenting back to audiences. And that is often sporadic. Not every person will get a comment, but the idea that there is a potential for that leads to many people engaging, actively engaging with their content or hoping to get some sort of interaction back, which strengthens the parasocial relationship as well.
I would say that it's almost completely changed how strong parasocial relationships can be and why there has been such a shift in interest from parasocial interactions to parasocial relationships.
Because now at this point, if we're looking at the breadth of information that's being able to be gathered from a viewer's perspective, it's much larger than it's ever been before.