Abstract
Anxiously attached individuals tend to report stronger parasocial relationships with their favorite media figures than people with other attachment orientations. Researchers have suggested that these individuals may be inclined to see their favorite media figures as safe and secure attachment figures. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate this possibility by assessing the qualities of people’s favorite media figures, particularly within a television context. A sample of 200 online participants filled out an attachment measure, reported their favorite television figure, and rated several aspects of the television figure’s personality. It was expected that anxiously attached individuals would be drawn to figures that are high in warmth, emotional stability, and sensitivity. Instead, results showed that these individuals preferred figures with greater anxious and insecure characteristics. These results suggest that anxiously attached individuals may not see their favorite media figures as safe and secure attachment figures as previously theorized. Exploratory analyses failed to show significant effects for the second attachment dimension, attachment avoidance, or for the interaction between anxiety and avoidance.
Highlights
People often form intimate bonds with celebrities and fictional characters they encounter in the media (Hartmann, 2016; Rosaen & Dibble, 2016; Schramm & Hartmann, 2008)
Pearson correlations were used to assess the bivariate relationships between attachment anxiety and each of the television figure descriptors, as well as attachment avoidance and the television figure descriptors
Researchers have suggested that anxiously attached individuals see their favorite media figures as surrogate attachment figures that offer a greater degree of safety and security than their real-life attachment figures
Summary
People often form intimate bonds with celebrities and fictional characters they encounter in the media (Hartmann, 2016; Rosaen & Dibble, 2016; Schramm & Hartmann, 2008) These “parasocial” relationships are one-sided and nonreciprocal in nature, they appear to be closely related to the social relationships that people develop with real, flesh-and-blood humans. Parasocial relationships can provide individuals with feelings of belonging and help fill the void that they experience when they are having problems meeting their social needs (Derrick et al, 2009; Gardner et al, 2005) Based on these and similar findings, researchers have suggested that theories of social relationships may be a useful means of advancing our understanding of relationships with media figures (e.g., Eyal & Dailey, 2012; Rubin & McHugh, 1987). One such theory that has received an increasing amount of attention in recent years is attachment theory
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