There has been a surge in social media use and the ability to follow every aspect of your favourite celebrity’s waking moments. Psychologists are interested in exploring these types of relationships, especially with the recent uprising in social media access and the explosion of celebrity worship. Is our obsession with celebrities healthy? Or is there something more nefarious going on in our brains? The absorption addiction model explores parasocial social relationships.
- We will delve into the topic of parasocial relationships, exploring the absorption-addiction model of parasocial relationships.
- First, we will outline the absorption addiction model of parasocial relationships.
- Then, we will discuss the different levels of the absorption addiction model in psychology.
- Finally, we will provide an absorption-addiction model of parasocial relationships evaluation, analysing the limitations of the absorption-addiction model.
Fig. 1: Parasocial relationships are formed for a variety of reasons.
Absorption-Addiction Model: Psychology
The absorption addiction model was first proposed by McCutcheon et al. (2002), who stated that those with a weak sense of self-identity form parasocial relationships with celebrities to escape reality. These parasocial relationships cover up the deficits in their real lives. This could be due to a multitude of reasons:
- Lack of satisfaction with everyday life.
- Deficient areas of life, such as work or friends.
- An inability to form intimate relationships in those areas.
- A need for excitement.
- Extreme love for the object of obsession.
You may have come across the absorption addiction model in real life. Some rely on their favourite stars for relief when reality is no longer satisfying or hard to cope with.
They choose to follow a celebrity to gain the sense of fulfilment they feel they are lacking. Considering this model involves parasocial relationships, here’s a quick refresher on the definition of what they are:
Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships between a person and a prominent, well-known individual, usually a celebrity, who is unaware of the other’s existence.
Outline the Absorption Addiction Model of Parasocial Relationships
The absorption addiction model of parasocial relationships has two stages, absorption and addiction, and is closely linked to the three levels of parasocial relationships. Interestingly enough, the stages can be merged with the three levels as to when they usually begin to occur.
Remember, according to the model and McCutcheon et al. (2002), parasocial relationships form because people feel unfulfilled within their lives and seek these relationships to find fulfilment.
Stage 1: Absorption
In the model of parasocial relationships, absorption is the process where a person becomes absorbed in the following of a celebrity. Here begins escapism for the person. They achieve a sense of fulfilment they lack in their own lives, which motivates a more intense attachment. Absorption can come in many forms.
For instance, people can search forums to find facts about their favourite celebrity and follow the celebrity on every form of social media. They can listen, purchase, and engage in the celebrity's work to an extreme extent, and some dedicate their entire lives to being ‘loyal’ to their obsession.
Many celebrities are often hounded by media sources such as the paparazzi, who provide detailed (and often inaccurate) information about the personal life of a prominent figure. This can fuel absorption.
Stage 2: Addiction
Addiction in parasocial relationships is when this sense of fulfilment becomes somewhat of a problem for the person. They become addicted to the feeling of fulfilment and satisfaction that absorption in the celebrity’s life has given them, and in turn, they become more obsessed with the celebrity.
They need to feel even closer to them. The person's behaviour escalates, becoming more extreme. Where addiction is concerned, extreme cases can eventually lead to risky behaviours to feed their obsession further.
An addicted person may engage in activities such as stalking to achieve a new sense of closeness with the celebrity.
Fig. 2: Addiction in parasocial relationships can develop into extreme behaviours such as stalking.Three Levels of Parasocial Relationships.
Parasocial relationships have three levels identified through the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS) by McCutcheon et al. (2002).
- Entertainment-social: the relationship between fan and celebrity is purely for enjoyment here and can be shared amongst friends.
- Intense-personal: the relationship has entered the first level of obsession, and questionable thoughts and feelings begin to arise concerning the celebrity.
- Borderline-pathological: the previous obsessive thoughts are now unrestrained, becoming fantasies and fake scenarios that further strengthen the obsession with the celebrity. Abnormal behaviours begin to occur, such as stalking.
The Absorption Addiction Model and Three Levels of Parasocial Relationships
The absorption addiction model has close ties to the different levels of parasocial relationships described above (entertainment-social, intense-personal, and borderline-pathological).
- When a person is in the absorption stage of the model, they are engaging in the first level of parasocial relationships. They engage in celebrity worship that gradually worsens or becomes more intense.
- If this obsession becomes addictive, they enter the second and third levels of parasocial relationships, engaging in intense obsession, entertaining unrealistic thoughts and fantasies, and potentially reaching the level of stalking.
Absorption-Addiction Model of Parasocial Relationships Evaluation
We need to evaluate the absorption addiction model to understand its strengths and limitations.
Strengths of the Absorption Addiction Model
First, let's examine the strengths of the absorption addiction model. A few prominent studies explored the concept and its merits.
- Maltby et al. (2001): In this study, they found a connection between parasocial relationships and their effects on mental health, suggesting there is a link between obsession and how a person operates mentally. They tested the validity of the absorption addiction model through the CAS and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), administering them to 126 men and 181 women from the UK. Those who were absorbed into the idealisation of celebrities and parasocial relationships were less functional (psychologically) than those who didn’t engage in such behaviours. Anxiety and depression, for instance, were positively correlated with extreme parasocial relationships. They suggested this was due to the failed attempts at coping with daily life and attempting to escape it.
- Maltby et al. (2006): in this study, they found that celebrity worship for intense-personal reasons (one of the parameters of parasocial relationships) was correlated with fantasy proneness. Celebrity worship for borderline-pathological reasons was correlated with fantasy proneness and dissociation.
- Entertainment-social level: most people admire a celebrity or prominent figure. For instance, supporting a public figure in a government office, or a favourite musician, or actor. This theory supports the first level of parasocial relationships, why people tend to float around this level, and why a small minority descend into the other, more obsessive levels.
Limitations of the Absorption Addiction Model
Now, let's explore the limitations of the absorption addiction model.
- Schiappa et al. (2007): in this study, they analysed the findings of multiple studies that looked into parasocial relationships and found that these relationships could be mostly defined as normal developments or in the scope of acceptableness and in most cases, expected. Unlike what some studies suggest about personality traits and obsessing over celebrities, no such associations exist, suggesting poor mental health is not as closely correlated to parasocial relationships as once thought.
- It’s too descriptive: the absorption addiction model is great at describing what is happening to an extent. It depicts the relationships but fails to identify why they may occur or what is causing them. For instance, what is the cognitive process that leads someone to go from intense-personal to borderline-pathological?
- It’s stigmatising: labelling this behaviour as unhealthy or obsessive may unfairly ascribe this nature to all fans, even though most simply admire a celebrity for their work. The absorption addiction model ignores the ‘good’ parts of being a fan and labels them as being obsessive and having poor mental health.
- Correlation but no causation: the supporting studies of this model tend to suggest a correlation between poor mental health and parasocial relationships. They identify self-esteem and mental health problems within those who form parasocial relationships, but this is just a correlation. The studies can’t prove that poor mental health causes parasocial relationship formation.
- It’s ethnocentric: The model is based on Western ideas and conducted primarily in Western countries, so the theory is not generalisable to the population or other cultures. It needs to be conducted on different cultures to see if the model applies universally. Until then, it is ethnocentric.
- Self-reporting techniques: the research on the absorption addiction model is mainly done using self-reporting techniques, which has issues with validity, as we all know. People can lie, perceive their relationship with a celebrity differently, and fall victim to social desirability bias.
The absorption addiction model - Key takeaways
- The absorption addiction model was proposed by McCutcheon et al. (2002). They stated that those with a weak sense of self-identity form parasocial relationships with celebrities to escape the reality of their daily lives.
- According to McCutcheon et al. (2002), parasocial relationships develop due to dissatisfaction with life and failure to form intimate relationships with peers.
- Absorption is where the person becomes absorbed in following the celebrity in question. The first level of parasocial relationships, entertainment-social, occurs here.
- Addiction is when the person becomes addicted to the feeling of fulfilment and satisfaction that absorption in the celebrity's life has given them. In turn, they become more obsessed with the celebrity. The following two levels (intense-personal and borderline-pathological) of the three levels of parasocial relationships occur here.
- Some studies show that the absorption addiction model has demonstrated links between parasocial relationships and poor mental health or functioning.
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