Examining Four Processes of Audience Involvement With Media Personae: Transportation, Parasocial Interaction, Identification, and Worship

Abstract

The proliferation of visual media worldwide during the past 50 years has made mediated personalities, both real people and fictional characters, powerful agents of social change. Communication theorists have explored various forms of involvement with these personalities, generally referred to as media personae. The current academic literature that explores various forms of audience involvement with media personae lacks conceptual clarity. The present article discusses distinctions among four processes of involvement—transportation, parasocial interaction, identification, and worship—and provides an integrated theoretical model for assessing these powerful forms of social influence.