From Fan To Fanatic
July 01, 2021, by Psychosexology W/ Gayatri
From Fan To Fanatic
I'm sure many of you had crush on some TV star or media personality at least once in your life. This is quite normal. But, you might have heard some news where fan stalked celebrity or murdered their favorite TV star or committed suicide as a failure of not being able to meet their favourite celebrity. So, what's the reason behind this?? Why some people get so attached with media personalities????
Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships, where one person extends emotional energy, interest and time, and the other person is completely unaware of the other’s existence. In 1956, social scientists Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl first described an interesting phenomenon called “parasocial relationships” or the “illusion of a face-to-face relationship,”. Parasocial relationships are most common with celebrities, organizations or TV stars. Parasocial relationships are enhanced due to trust and self-disclosure provided by the media persona. Media users are loyal and feel directly connected to the persona, much as they are connected to their close friends, by observing and interpreting their appearance, gestures, voice, conversation, and conduct.
For some people, the one sided nature of the relationship is a relief from strained complementary relationships in their real life. With the help of media viewers get to know more information about their celebrities, this in turn helps to form bonding between them as viewers feel connected with them, and they start romanticizing about their favourite TV personality. Historically parasocial relationships were viewed as pathological and a symptom of loneliness, isolation and social anxieties. However, one study found that there was no correlation between loneliness and the intensity of viewers’ parasocial relationship with onscreen characters. Parasocial relationships can be good as viewers get different kind of strength when they see their favourite celebrities. The successful journey of those celebrities motivate and help their fans to get through tough times. Those certain TV characters play the role of guide to their viewers. Unlike real life relationships, this relationship lack the fear of rejection and thus allows people to form relationship as they don't have fear of emabarrassment by getting rejected. And viewers are able to end the relationship any time they want without any hesitation of fear of any negative consequences as it is one sided relationship.
Even if these relationships are not unhealthy or abnormal, but still there are some disadvantages of these relationships. Sometimes, viewers forget that their love for celebrity is one sided and they start thinking that they are real friends with celebrities. When some viewers are too attached with their TV star, they start comparing their real life partner with the celebrity they are romanticising with. And this in turn affects their real life relationships. Not only this, but some viewers have great impact of their favourite character that they start forgetting their own identity and start following or doing everything what that celebrity loves to do. For example, they might try to look like their favourite TV start and dress up like them or try to get the kind of figure they have and when they fail to look like them or to do something like them, they get anxious, sad and irritated. This in turn affects their mental health.
Liking or loving a star is okay, but what happens when that love turns into the obsession??? Someetimes some fans cross the limit and kill the one they are fan of. There are lot of incidents where fan murdered their favourite celebrity
So, why do they do it???? What is this obsession and hate is all about??
Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships, where one person extends emotional energy, interest and time, and the other person is completely unaware of the other’s existence. In 1956, social scientists Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl first described an interesting phenomenon called “parasocial relationships” or the “illusion of a face-to-face relationship,”. Parasocial relationships are most common with celebrities, organizations or TV stars. Parasocial relationships are enhanced due to trust and self-disclosure provided by the media persona. Media users are loyal and feel directly connected to the persona, much as they are connected to their close friends, by observing and interpreting their appearance, gestures, voice, conversation, and conduct.
For some people, the one sided nature of the relationship is a relief from strained complementary relationships in their real life. With the help of media viewers get to know more information about their celebrities, this in turn helps to form bonding between them as viewers feel connected with them, and they start romanticizing about their favourite TV personality. Historically parasocial relationships were viewed as pathological and a symptom of loneliness, isolation and social anxieties. However, one study found that there was no correlation between loneliness and the intensity of viewers’ parasocial relationship with onscreen characters. Parasocial relationships can be good as viewers get different kind of strength when they see their favourite celebrities. The successful journey of those celebrities motivate and help their fans to get through tough times. Those certain TV characters play the role of guide to their viewers. Unlike real life relationships, this relationship lack the fear of rejection and thus allows people to form relationship as they don't have fear of emabarrassment by getting rejected. And viewers are able to end the relationship any time they want without any hesitation of fear of any negative consequences as it is one sided relationship.
Even if these relationships are not unhealthy or abnormal, but still there are some disadvantages of these relationships. Sometimes, viewers forget that their love for celebrity is one sided and they start thinking that they are real friends with celebrities. When some viewers are too attached with their TV star, they start comparing their real life partner with the celebrity they are romanticising with. And this in turn affects their real life relationships. Not only this, but some viewers have great impact of their favourite character that they start forgetting their own identity and start following or doing everything what that celebrity loves to do. For example, they might try to look like their favourite TV start and dress up like them or try to get the kind of figure they have and when they fail to look like them or to do something like them, they get anxious, sad and irritated. This in turn affects their mental health.
Liking or loving a star is okay, but what happens when that love turns into the obsession??? Someetimes some fans cross the limit and kill the one they are fan of. There are lot of incidents where fan murdered their favourite celebrity
So, why do they do it???? What is this obsession and hate is all about??
Absorption Addiction Model -
Giles and Maltby (2006) identified three levels of celebrity worship, using the Celebrity Attitude Scale in a large-scale survey.
Stage 1 Entertain – Social:
Giles and Maltby suggest that most people engage in parasocial relationship stay at the first level where celebrities are seen as a source of entertainment and as a topic for gossips with friends. This is the least intense level of celebrity worship.
Stage 2 Intense – Personal:
This is a deeper level of parasocial relationships. At this level a person has a more intense relationship with a celebrity. For example, they may see them as a soulmate and they have an intense interest in the celebrity’s personal life, such as their dress sense, food they like & entertainment in which they take part. This type of parasocial relationship is typical for teenagers who seem to be obsessed with every little detail of their favourite celebrity’s lifestyle.
Stage 3 Borderline pathological:
This is the most intense level of parasocial relationships. At this level, a person takes celebrity worship to an extreme, has obsessive fantasies about the celebrity, may engage in illegal activities such as stalking.
McCutcheon (2002) proposed the Absorption-Addiction Model to explain parasocial relationships. She suggests that people engage in celebrity worship to compensate for some deficiencies in their life such as difficulty forming an intimate relationships, poor psychological adjustment and lack of identity. Forming parasocial relationships with a celebrity allows them to achieve the fulfilment they lack in everyday life and adds a sense of purpose and excitement. This sense of fulfilment then becomes addictive for the person, leading them to engage in more risky behaviour such as stalking, in order to get mentally & sometimes physically closer to the celebrity they worship.
Bowlby’s theory predicts that individuals who didn’t form a strong bond with a primary caregiver in early childhood will try to find an attachment substitute as adults, and engaging in parasocial relationships allows them to do so.
Celebrity worship syndrome (CWS) is an obsessive addictive disorder in which a person becomes overly involved with the details of a celebrity's personal & professional life.
Simple obsessional stalker are the one who have an inability to have successful personal relationships in their own lives, social awkwardness, feelings of powerlessness, a sense of insecurity, and very low self-esteem.
If this individual is unable to have any sort of connection to the celebrity with which they are obsessed, their own sense of self-worth may decline.
Love obsessional individuals develop a love obsession with somebody who they have no personal relation to. Such people are likely to suffer from a mental disorder, commonly either paranoia or schizophrenia.
Erotomanic individuals tend to believe that the celebrity with whom they are obsessed with is utilizing the media as a way to communicate with them by sending special messages or signals. Although these stalkers have unrealistic beliefs, they are less likely to seek any form of face-to-face interaction with their celebrity obsession, therefore posing less of a threat to them.
Borderline - pathological is the most severe level of celebrity worship. People with this tendency have pathological attitudes & behaviors. This includes willingness to commit crime on behalf of the celebrity who is the object of worship.
Parasocial relationships are quite normal but there should be a limit to which you should connect with your favourite TV personality.
McCutcheon (2002) proposed the Absorption-Addiction Model to explain parasocial relationships. She suggests that people engage in celebrity worship to compensate for some deficiencies in their life such as difficulty forming an intimate relationships, poor psychological adjustment and lack of identity. Forming parasocial relationships with a celebrity allows them to achieve the fulfilment they lack in everyday life and adds a sense of purpose and excitement. This sense of fulfilment then becomes addictive for the person, leading them to engage in more risky behaviour such as stalking, in order to get mentally & sometimes physically closer to the celebrity they worship.
Bowlby’s theory predicts that individuals who didn’t form a strong bond with a primary caregiver in early childhood will try to find an attachment substitute as adults, and engaging in parasocial relationships allows them to do so.
Celebrity worship syndrome (CWS) is an obsessive addictive disorder in which a person becomes overly involved with the details of a celebrity's personal & professional life.
Simple obsessional stalker are the one who have an inability to have successful personal relationships in their own lives, social awkwardness, feelings of powerlessness, a sense of insecurity, and very low self-esteem.
If this individual is unable to have any sort of connection to the celebrity with which they are obsessed, their own sense of self-worth may decline.
Love obsessional individuals develop a love obsession with somebody who they have no personal relation to. Such people are likely to suffer from a mental disorder, commonly either paranoia or schizophrenia.
Erotomanic individuals tend to believe that the celebrity with whom they are obsessed with is utilizing the media as a way to communicate with them by sending special messages or signals. Although these stalkers have unrealistic beliefs, they are less likely to seek any form of face-to-face interaction with their celebrity obsession, therefore posing less of a threat to them.
Borderline - pathological is the most severe level of celebrity worship. People with this tendency have pathological attitudes & behaviors. This includes willingness to commit crime on behalf of the celebrity who is the object of worship.
Parasocial relationships are quite normal but there should be a limit to which you should connect with your favourite TV personality.
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