Developing Relationships With Media Characters
I’ve been exploring the emotional interactions we feel with media, specifically stories and characters. Feeling connected to the players in a story, from identifying with a novel’s characters to laughing with local DJs, taps many of the same mental processes as forming a physical relationship.
These relationships have been compared to cultivating an imaginary friend as a child—not because the media players are necessarily imaginary (though many are, and attributing fictional roles to the actors who play them is a topic for later discussion), but because the relationships are one way. This frames our connections with media characters not as pathologies, but instead as ways of learning about social issues and interactions. Rather than disconnecting with reality, these bonds with people we most likely will never meet allow us to experience new situations with emotional connections that encourage empathy and a desire to understand the situations and characters involved.
Known as parasocial relationships, the connections mainly are explored in communications research. I’m happy to see the new article in Perspectives on Psychological Science this month bringing the topic into modern psychological theory.
Further Reading:
Giles, David C. (2002). Parasocial interaction: A review of the literature and a model for future research. Media Psychology, 4(3), 279-304. Retrieved May 17, 2008, from informaworld.
Mar, Raymond & Oatley, Keith A. (May 2008). The function of fiction is the abstraction and simulation of social experience. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(3), 173-192.