Parasocial Contact Research Articles

Reducing Prejudice Through Narrative Writing: The Effects of Contact Type and Linguistic Authenticity

This study investigates how the content and style of narrative writing about an outgroup reduce prejudice. The study compares cooperative contact, where writers describe working with an outgroup character, with parasocial contact, where writers describe the character alone. It further examines whether the contact effects vary with linguistic authenticity. In two experiments, I manipulated the types of contact and measured authenticity through language patterns. Study 1 ( N = 719) found that having contact with an outgroup character elicited more positive affect toward the character, which reduced the desire for distance from the outgroup. Cooperative and parasocial contact showed similar effects, but their impacts varied with linguistic authenticity. Authentic language was associated with stronger impacts in cooperative contact but not in parasocial contact. Study 2 ( N = 287) replicated that linguistic authenticity moderated the effect of cooperative contact on affect toward the character. These findings highlight linguistic dynamics in intergroup contact.

Narrative interventions in conflict settings: Harnessing the power of narratives to prevent violence and promote peace

ABSTRACT Narrative intervention has emerged as a promising strategy for violence prevention and reconciliation in contexts of intergroup conflict. In this article, I synthesise the research on fictional narrative interventions disseminated via media and present a model elucidating the pathways of influence on attitudes and behaviours related to intergroup conflict and reconciliation. The article identifies the different psychological mechanisms typically embedded in media-based narrative interventions, such as communication of social norms, role modelling of behaviours, perspective-taking, awareness-raising, and parasocial contact. I discuss how narrative interventions influence intergroup outcomes by shaping social interactions and discussions, and address heterogeneous effects by considering three sets of factors: (1) the combination of theoretical principles embedded in the intervention; (2) intervention design and implementation; and (3) the characteristics of the conflict context. Finally, I consider the benefits of narrative interventions over other forms of intergroup conflict interventions and highlight avenues for future research.

Reducing Prejudice through Mediated Exposure

Abstract It is widely recognized that “representation matters” in entertainment media, but why? What do screen representations of different demographic groups, especially historically marginalized minority groups, accomplish that further the aims of diversity, equity, and inclusion? How might current theory in cognitive psychology contribute to the understanding of how film can contribute to the reduction of invidious prejudice? This article describes the past, present, and future of the parasocial contact hypothesis (PCH). I begin by identifying important antecedents of the PCH, including early film effects research and later studies on television's cultivation effects. Then, after briefly explicating the contact hypothesis, also known as intergroup contact theory, I explicate the core tenets of the PCH, describe some of the research that has emerged in support of the PCH, and end by suggesting ways in which future research can explore when and how film and other media can reduce prejudice.

Understanding The Role of Attractiveness and Parasocial Interaction on Hedonics Consumption: Cognitive Assimilation as Mediating

In the digital era, technological advancement has provided many benefits to the public in all aspects of life, including consumption. One example is the live-streaming phenomenon practised by beauty influencers. Live streaming is a feature that allows beauty influencers to communicate in real-time with their viewers. Gorgeous people are more liked and admired by others. Attractiveness and parasocial contact can affect hedonic consumption. The study distributed questionnaires to 205 social media users familiar with TF and who have used or previously used a product from brand X, particularly those who live in the Sukoharjo area. Based on the analysis using SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) and SMART PLS (Partial Least Squares), this study found that: 1. Attractiveness is positively associated with cognitive assimilation; 2. Attractiveness is not associated with hedonic consumption; 3. Cognitive assimilation positively influences hedonic consumption; 4. Parasocial interaction is positively connected to cognitive assimilation; 5. Parasocial interaction is positively associated with hedonic consumption; 6. Cognitive assimilation fully mediates the relationship between attractiveness and hedonic consumption, and similarly, cognitive assimilation also partially mediates the effect of parasocial interaction on hedonic consumption.

News coverage on transgender celebrities in Belgium: Parasocial contact, attitudes, and policy support

ABSTRACT The role of media representations of transgender people in ameliorating attitudes towards transgender people and related policies has recently aroused attention. Since real-life transgender contact is rather seldom for most people, positive media representations may stimulate the formation of parasocial relationships, resulting in more supportive attitudes and policies, and thus less prejudices and discrimination. Current studies predominantly focus on entertainment narratives, approach attitudes towards transgender people one-dimensionally, and have shown interpersonal transgender contact is a predictor. This online cross-sectional study (N = 388, M age = 32.34, SD = 10.76) contributes to the literature by examining the indirect relationship between evaluation of news coverage on transgender celebrities' coming out and policy support through transphobia and transnegativity, and the moderating role of interpersonal transgender contact. Findings indicated that a positive news coverage evaluation, rather than mere exposure, relates to more policy support directly and indirectly via lower transphobia and lower transnegativity. Interpersonal contact strengthened the association between transphobia and policy support, but did not moderate the indirect associations. Taken together, the results point to the importance of disentangling transgender attitudes into transphobia and transnegativity, and highlight the parasocial role of a positive news coverage evaluation in enhancing attitudes and policy support.

Tidying Up Attitudes, Queer Eye Style

Abstract: The parasocial contact hypotheses (PCH) posits that mediated contact with social outgroups can result in more positive attitudes. The present study includes Asian women as a specific identity group that has yet to be studied in the context of PCH. It also includes gay men as a comparison group for the same processes. Participants ( n = 241) were exposed in a two-condition experiment to either Queer Eye (2018 version; gay men as target group) or Tidying Up With Marie Kondo (Asian women as target group). Only social attraction significantly mediated the relationship between exposure to Queer Eye and attitudes toward gay men. Attitudes toward Asian women were measured with positive and negative subscales; social and task attraction significantly mediated a reduction in negative attitudes. Uncertainty reduction had an ambivalence effect; it mediated increases in both positive and negative attitudes. These results support the general hypothesis of PCH, with mixed effects.

Signaling theory and the job interview

PurposeThis paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.Design/methodology/approachThis briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.FindingsA job candidate who presents as an IotAS is less likely to be selected for employment than a candidate who presents as neurotypical. Parasocial contact has no effect but providing information does improve assessments of suitability for the job and likelihood of selection for the job.Originality/valueThe briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Unveiling the Black Box of Influencer Marketing: The moderating role of Parasocial interaction and persuasion knowledge

The digital era has significantly transformed the manner in which consumers perceive and interact with brands, primarily due to the emergence of influencer marketing. This study examines the complex relationship between influencer attributes—attractiveness, trustworthiness, and familiarity—and customer-perceived quality. Furthermore, it explores the moderating role of parasocial and persuasion knowledge on the relationship between customer-perceived quality and purchase intention. The study employed a quantitative research design, utilizing survey questionnaires to collect data from 390 consumers across a diverse range of consumers. Data analysis was conducted using Smart PLS. The results revealed that influencer familiarity, customer-perceived quality, and the moderating effects of parasocial and persuasion knowledge were all found to be significant. However, Influencer attractiveness and Influencer trustworthiness were insignificant. This study examines how parasocial interaction and persuasion knowledge moderate the influencer marketing-purchase intention relationship on social media. This research may help influencer marketers build more effective ads that consider parasocial interaction and persuasion knowledge in generating purchase intention. The study makes a valuable contribution to the developing area of influencer marketing by providing insights into the relationship between influencer characteristics, customer-perceived quality, and purchase intention. The results provide valuable insights for marketers seeking to enhance influencer selection and campaign strategies in a practical manner. Moreover, by an examination of the moderating effects of parasocial contact and persuasion knowledge, this study offers a more elaborate understanding of influencer marketing, thereby increasing its significance and efficacy within the contemporary digital marketplace.

Using the Culture Diamond Model to Analyze the Relations between the Artists on Audiences through Music Videos under Vietnamese Social Context Based on Case Study MV “There’s No One At All”: Perspective from Students at FPT University

The parasocial contact between artists/creators and audiences is partly established and maintained by media products. Media products such as music videos (MVs) and songs may contain not only the creators’ experiences but also their ideals, philosophy, and enthusiasm. Media products provide a means for audiences to approach admired icons. Audiences can comprehend the message and value the artist wants to impart. However, external factors such as cultural and social context may impact the process of generating music videos and perceiving the message from the creator(s). Sometimes, the messages of creators may not be consumed, or accepted in ways that the creators wish, causing controversy in social and public contexts. This paper aims at testing the relations in Vietnam’s social context through the case study MV "There's No One At All" performed by Son Tung M-TP. The MV was removed in Vietnam since its contents are accused of being "contrary to national norms and customs, negatively harming religion, ethics, public health, and psychosocial," regardless that Son Tung M-TP is one of the singers with the largest fan base in Vietnam currently. The authors use Griswold’s Cultural Diamond Model (CDM) as a theoretical framework and conduct a survey to collect perspectives from 257 Vietnamese youth who are studying at FPT University to understand their thinking and feelings about the MV and compare the findings with what the signers wanted to convey through the MV and common opinions regarding the MV. The findings show that more than half of the responses agreed that the MV's image, content, and lyrics contained negative, suicidal elements. However, nearly a quarter of the respondents accepted the appropriate positive message that Son Tung desired to convey. This study is one of the very first studies that test whether the CDM is applicable in Vietnamese culture and society and plays a milestone in studying the relationship between famous artists and mass audiences in Vietnam’s entertainment industry.

Valenced Media Effects on Robot-Related Attitudes and Mental Models: A Parasocial Contact Approach

Despite rapid advancements in robotics, most people still only come into contact with robots via mass media. Consequently, robot-related attitudes are often discussed as the result of habituation and cultivation processes, as they unfold during repeated media exposure. In this paper, we introduce parasocial contact theory to this line of research— arguing that it better acknowledges interpersonal and intergroup dynamics found in modern human–robot interactions. Moreover, conceptualizing mediated robot encounters as parasocial contact integrates both qualitative and quantitative aspects into one comprehensive approach. A multi-method experiment offers empirical support for our arguments: Although many elements of participants’ beliefs and attitudes persisted through media exposures, valenced parasocial contact resulted in small but meaningful changes to mental models and desired social distance for humanoid robots.

Influence of Perceived Media Support on Negative Experiences of LGBTQ+ Individuals

Few studies have scrutinized the use of popular media as a practical tool for reducing homophobia and providing services for LGBTQ+ people. This survey study sought to gauge the association of LGBTQ+ individuals’ subjective judgment that social support is available through media (Perceived Media Support; PMS) with their identity and psychological status. We turn to Cultivation Theory and the Parasocial Contact Hypothesis as guiding frameworks to develop the Perceived Media Support Inventory (PMSI), capturing the emotional, instrumental, informational and esteem support that LGBTQ+ individuals perceive from popular media. We collected data from 200 self-identified participants in Iran. Factor and item analyses verified the robustness of the PSMI. PMS was revealed as associated with identity certainty in gays, lesbians and transgender people, identity affirmation in bisexuals, decreased acceptance concerns in transgender people, reduced anxiety in gays, and elevated resilience to stressful circumstances in LGBTQ+s. Besides, surprisingly, PMS was linked to several ramifications, such as identity uncertainty in bisexuals, identity superiority and concealment motivation in gays, internalized homonegativity in transgender people, difficult orientation/identity development process in gays, anxiety in LGBTQ+s in general, a feeling of psychological distance from the community in lesbians and feeling of hatred toward the community in gays. Findings suggest that perceived media support has positive and negative psychological consequences on Iranian LGBTQ+ people, leading us to theorize the dialectics of cultivated media support.

Seeing past different signals in the job interview: information improves ratings of candidates on the autism spectrum

PurposeThe authors used signaling theory to explain negative perceptions of individuals on the autism spectrum (IotAS) in the job interview and explored whether parasocial contact could improve perceptions.Design/methodology/approachParticipants were randomly assigned across six experimental conditions. Some received information that IotAS' social and communication differences prevent them from attaining jobs they could perform (information), some received this information and watched a video showing IotAS working competently (parasocial contact) and others were exposed to neither information nor video (control). Participants then watched a mock interview of a job candidate presenting as an IotAS or neurotypical and gave their first impressions of him, perceptions of his job suitability and selection decision.FindingsParticipants had less favorable first impressions of the IotAS-presenting candidate and perceived him as having lower job suitability and were therefore less likely to select him. Parasocial contact had no effect. However, participants who had received information that IotAS' differences keep them from being hired for jobs they could do perceived the IotAS-presenting candidate as more suitable for the job and had greater intentions to interact with and select him.Originality/valueThe authors enhance understanding of autism in the workplace by explaining how IotAS' signaling behavior during a job interview impedes their selection. The authors also provide evidence that a brief message that IotAS' social and communication differences keep them from securing jobs they could perform can promote IotAS' selection by focusing decision-makers on their job-relevant qualifications.

Fine for Adam & Eve but not Adam & Steve? Homonegativity bias, parasocial contact, and public support for surrogacy

ABSTRACT The use of gestational surrogacy as a means of family construction is on the rise, and several legislatures and governments across the globe are currently considering repealing prohibitions on the process. Little is known about the public's attitudes towards this means of conception used by both opposite-sex and same-sex couples. In this paper, I present original experimental evidence from Britain to demonstrate the prevalent role of homonegativity in shaping preferences for surrogacy. Empirically, I leverage a pre-registered experiment to model the independent and combined effects of homonegativity and parasocial (celebrity) contact on support for commercial gestational surrogacy. On average, citizens are largely supportive of the practice. Experimental manipulations, however, provide robust causal evidence that homonegative discrimination exhibits a sizeable negative effect on support for the policy, while exposure to celebrity reliance on surrogacy provides mixed effects. Isolating the underlying causal mechanisms via which treatment assignment shapes outcomes, quantitative text analysis of open-ended survey responses establishes that assignment to different treatment conditions actively influences survey respondents’ explicit reasoning for their revealed preferences, providing additional purchase to causal interpretations of the experimental exposure

Parasocial relationships on YouTube reduce prejudice towards mental health issues

Intergroup contact has long been established as a way to reduce prejudice among society, but in-person interventions can be resource intensive and limited in reach. Parasocial relationships (PSRs) might navigate these problems by reaching large audiences with minimal resources and have been shown to help reduce prejudice in an extended version of contact theory. However, previous studies have shown inconsistent success. We assessed whether parasocial interventions reduce prejudice towards people with mental health issues by first creating a new PSR with a YouTube creator disclosing their experiences with borderline personality disorder. Our intervention successfully reduced explicit prejudice and intergroup anxiety. We corroborated these effects through causal analyses, where lower prejudice levels were mediated by the strength of parasocial bond. Preliminary findings suggest that this lower prejudice is sustained over time. Our results support the parasocial contact hypothesis and provide an organic method to passively reduce prejudice on a large scale.

Predicting and Changing Attitudes toward Same-Gender Parenting: Informational Influence, Parasocial Contact, and Religious Fundamentalism

Attitudes toward same-gender parenting are of timely relevance, given increasing recognition of LGBTQ+ rights around the world. Two studies examined the influence of 2 predictors of attitudes toward same-gender parenting. The first was informational influence, which was manipulated via a newspaper-style article dispelling misconceptions about gender identity of children reared by same-gender parents. The second was social influence via parasocial contact measured as prior exposure to a same-gender adoptive parents TV show. Religious fundamentalism (RF) was assessed as an individual difference moderator of informational or social influence. Outcome variables were beliefs about same-gender parenting, perceived problems with same-gender parenting, and social distance from same-gender adoptive parents. We studied these relationships in Canada (Study 1, where same-gender couples’ adoption is legal) and in Italy (Study 2, where same-gender couples’ adoption is not legal). RF moderated the results of informational and social influence in the Canadian context, such that those high in RF tended to be favorably influenced. In Italy, results of informational influence were typically observed among those low in RF, and social influence directly predicted favorable attitudes toward same-gender parenting. Informational and social influence can improve attitudes toward same-gender parenting, but RF and legal/cultural context are also important to consider.

Can Exposure to Celebrities Reduce Prejudice? The Effect of Mohamed Salah on Islamophobic Behaviors and Attitudes

Can exposure to celebrities from stigmatized groups reduce prejudice? To address this question, we study the case of Mohamed Salah, a visibly Muslim, elite soccer player. Using data on hate crime reports throughout England and 15 million tweets from British soccer fans, we find that after Salah joined Liverpool F.C., hate crimes in the Liverpool area dropped by 16% compared with a synthetic control, and Liverpool F.C. fans halved their rates of posting anti-Muslim tweets relative to fans of other top-flight clubs. An original survey experiment suggests that the salience of Salah’s Muslim identity enabled positive feelings toward Salah to generalize to Muslims more broadly. Our findings provide support for the parasocial contact hypothesis—indicating that positive exposure to out-group celebrities can spark real-world behavioral changes in prejudice.

The Effects of Parasocial Contact and Vicarious Contact News on Attitude Toward Foreign Immigrants in Korea

The Effects of Parasocial Contact and Vicarious Contact News on Attitude Toward Foreign Immigrants in Korea

Exploring the boundaries of the parasocial contact hypothesis: an experimental analysis of the effects of the “bury your gays” media trope on homophobic and sexist attitudes

ABSTRACT Once ignored by the popular media, sexual and gender minority (SGM) characters have become increasingly visible in recent decades. According to the parasocial contact hypothesis, favorable media portrayals of minority communities can reduce prejudicial attitudes, especially among audience members who have limited real-life relationships with minorities. To explore the boundaries of this hypothesis, we designed an experimental vignette study in which we randomly exposed participants to an unfavorable portrayal of SGM characters, the Bury Your Gays (BYG) trope, which involves SGM characters (typically lesbians and bisexual women) dying in violent ways. Findings indicated that, among the women in the sample, exposure to the trope was associated with more favorable attitudes toward SGM individuals and less sexist attitudes. This effect was especially pronounced among women with SGM friends. We argue that these surprising findings have the potential to broaden the scope of the social contact hypothesis by suggesting a variety of portrayals of minority characters may produce favorable attitudes toward minority groups. Future research should seek to refine the parameters of this hypothesis by exploring effects of a range of portrayals of SGM characters on attitudes among individuals with various types of relationships with SGM individuals.

Meeting the (Trans)parent: Test of Parasocial Contact with Transgender Characters on Reducing Stigma toward Transgender People

ABSTRACT This study examined the role parasocial contact with a transgender character on an online TV show (Transparent) may play in reducing prejudice toward transgender people. An experiment was conducted with participants randomly assigned to view either a video depicting a transgender character, or a non-transgender character portrayed by the same actor. Results were consistent with predictions derived from the intergroup contact mediation model for explaining how intergroup contact reduces prejudice toward an outgroup. Critical to reduction of prejudice toward transgender people is the quality of the parasocial interaction with the transgender character. Poor quality of parasocial contact may have unintended negative effects on prejudice toward transgender people based on the data. Limitations and implications of the study for the use of entertainment media to reduce stigma toward transgender people are discussed.

Beyond direct contact: The theoretical and societal relevance of indirect contact for improving intergroup relations

AbstractToday, physical and psychological barriers can reduce opportunities for the type of direct face‐to‐face intergroup contact first identified by Gordon Allport. Consequently, social psychological researchers have identified, developed and tested a burgeoning array of different forms of indirect contact, including, extended contact, Electronic‐ or E‐contact, imagined contact, vicarious contact and parasocial contact. In addition to providing a critical review of each of these forms, we argue that indirect contact is more than just a simple “replacement” for direct contact, but instead has the potential to improve intergroup relations for both minority and majority members in its own right. Relatedly, we acknowledge that indirect contact occurs within specific normative contexts embodied in legislation, institutions, and media and political contents. In fact, we recognize that indirect contact requires an integrative understanding of the role of intergroup norms and affective processes in order to effectively achieve public policy objectives to optimize effects on prejudice reduction.