Abstract
Previous research indicates that extradyadic sexual behaviors and other behaviors including emotional infidelity, pornography use, and online infidelity are considered to be acts of betrayal. However, perceptions of infidelity occurring through social media and of romantic parasocial relationships (one-sided romantic attachments formed with media figures) have not been well researched. In two exploratory studies, I examined a) the extent to which participants rated parasocial, sexual, emotional, and social media behaviors as infidelity, and b) how hurtful these behaviors would be if a partner were to enact them. I also examined how often participants reported having been negatively affected by their partner’s parasocial romances. Results indicate that activities such as sexting and sexy Snapchatting are perceived similarly to both cybersex and physical sexual infidelity, and that parasocial infidelity is seen similarly to pornography use. These similarities apply to whether the acts are seen as infidelity, and in terms of the emotional pain the acts may cause. These results indicate that extradyadic social media and parasocial behaviors can be negatively perceived, and may be likely to negatively affect real-life romantic relationships.
Highlights
Previous research indicates that extradyadic sexual behaviors and other behaviors including emotional infidelity, pornography use, and online infidelity are considered to be acts of betrayal
Much research has focused on the effects of sexual of emotional infidelity, and online infidelity (Guadagno & Sagarin, 2010; Whitty, 2003; 2005), less research has examined how other behaviors are perceived in terms of infidelity, such as those conducted through social media (e.g., Facebook or Snapchat) or parasocial attachments
Pornography use was included in the Parasocial Fantasy factor, sending or receiving nude selfies was clearly grouped with Sexual infidelity
Summary
Previous research indicates that extradyadic sexual behaviors and other behaviors including emotional infidelity, pornography use, and online infidelity are considered to be acts of betrayal. These similarities apply to whether the acts are seen as infidelity, and in terms of the emotional pain the acts may cause These results indicate that extradyadic social media and parasocial behaviors can be negatively perceived, and may be likely to negatively affect real-life romantic relationships. Whitty found that behaviors related to pornography use were seen as the least likely to be infidelity, but computer-mediated behaviors such as cybersex were perceived to face-to-face sexual behavior, and not as a separate form of cheating These results indicate that physical or emotional infidelity doesn’t have to occur in face-to-face situations to be perceived as betrayal. One purpose of the current studies was to explore how behavior related to infidelity via social media compared to other more traditionally computer-mediated and sexual infidelity
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