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Speaking of Psychology

What do we get from celebrity crushes? With Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, PhD, and Karen Dill-Shackleford, PhD

Speaking of Psychology

Kim Mills

Health & Fitness, Life Sciences, Science, Mental Health

4.3781 Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2023

⏱️ 44 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Parasocial relationships -- the relationships that people have with media figures such as actors, celebrity influencers, or even television characters -- sometimes get a bad rap. But psychologists who study parasocial relationships say that they can be good for us: They can help us expand our world view and can have positive effects on our mental health and well-being. Researchers Rebecca Tukachinsky Forster, PhD, and Karen Dill-Shackleford, PhD, talk about how a parasocial relationship is different from fandom, whether these relationships give us any of the benefits of real-life friendship, and what happens when a parasocial relationship goes sour -- when your favorite character or your celebrity crush disappoints you?   For transcripts, links and more information, please visit the Speaking of Psychology Homepage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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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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