4.3 • 781 Ratings
🗓️ 11 October 2023
⏱️ 44 minutes
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0:00.0 | Have you ever had a crush on someone you knew only through TV or the movies? Maybe it was a famous |
0:07.5 | actor or a singer or even a fictional character. If so, you're not alone. Yes, researchers have |
0:14.3 | studied this phenomenon and they found the majority of adults say that they have had a celebrity |
0:19.1 | crush. These one-side emotional attachments |
0:22.4 | are just one example of a parasycial relationship. More broadly, parasocial relationships |
0:29.0 | are the relationships that people have with media figures, whether they're actors, celebrity |
0:34.1 | influencers, or television characters. These kinds of relationships sometimes get a bad rap. |
0:41.4 | Remember the film Misery in which Kathy Bates' character proclaims to the novelist, played by James |
0:46.5 | Khan, I'm your number one fan? And we know how that turned out. But psychologists who study |
0:53.1 | parisocial relationships say that they can be good |
0:55.6 | for us. They can also help us expand our worldview and have positive effects on our mental |
1:00.5 | health and well-being. So how is a parosocial relationship different from simply being a fan? Can |
1:07.5 | these relationships give us any benefits of real-life friendships? |
1:11.5 | Can they alleviate loneliness? |
1:13.7 | What happens when a parasycial relationship goes sour, when your favorite character or your celebrity crush disappoints you? |
1:21.3 | Or even worse, how did these usually harmless relationships become obsessions? |
1:26.8 | And how are these relationships changing |
1:28.7 | now that social media gives us constant access to celebrities' lives? Welcome to Speaking of |
1:35.0 | Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association that examines the |
1:40.2 | links between psychological science and everyday life. I'm Kim Mills. We have two guests today. |
1:49.8 | First is Dr. Rebecca Tukashinsky Forster, an associate professor in the School of Communication |
1:55.2 | at Chapman University. She studies parasocial relationships and how people develop long-lasting, meaningful connections with media figures. |
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