Parasocial relationships are one-sided attachments to media figures. For AQA, you need to understand what these relationships are and how researchers classify them into different levels of involvement and intensity.

What are parasocial relationships?

A parasocial relationship is a one-sided bond in which a person feels they know and understand a celebrity, influencer, presenter, or fictional character, even though that figure does not know them personally. These relationships are usually formed through repeated media exposure.

Parasocial relationships can feel very real to the individual. A viewer may follow a celebrity’s interviews, social media, and personal updates, and may begin to feel loyalty, affection, or concern for them. However, unlike a mutual social relationship, the interaction is not genuinely reciprocal.

These relationships are important in psychology because they vary in strength and quality. Some are mild and harmless, while others become extreme and disruptive. Researchers therefore describe levels of parasocial relationships rather than treating all cases as the same.

Key features of parasocial involvement

Parasocial relationships usually include several common features:

• One-sided interaction: only one person is emotionally involved

• Emotional investment: the individual may care deeply about the media figure

• Illusion of intimacy: the person may feel as if they “know” the celebrity

• Media-based contact: the relationship develops through television, music, film, or online content

• Lack of reciprocity: the celebrity does not return the relationship in a personal way

A key related idea is celebrity worship, which refers to increasingly intense involvement with a famous person.

Researchers such as Maltby et al. describe celebrity worship as existing on a continuum, from ordinary admiration to extreme and maladaptive behavior.

Levels of parasocial relationships

Entertainment-social level

This is the least intense level. At this stage, a person is interested in a celebrity mainly because they are entertaining and provide enjoyment. The celebrity may be a topic of conversation with friends or a source of relaxation.

Typical features include:

• enjoying watching, reading about, or listening to the celebrity

• discussing the celebrity with other people

• seeing the celebrity as fun or socially interesting

• little impact on daily functioning

This level is often viewed as normal and common. Many people admire public figures in this way without it causing harm. The relationship is mainly about entertainment rather than deep emotional need.

Intense-personal level

This is a stronger and more emotional form of parasocial relationship. The person feels a deeper bond with the celebrity and may believe they have a special understanding of them.

Typical features include:

• frequent thoughts about the celebrity

• strong emotional reactions to their successes or problems

• feeling a personal connection or sense of closeness

• seeing the celebrity as especially meaningful in one’s own life

At this level, the relationship becomes more central to the individual’s identity and emotions. The person may feel possessive, protective, or unusually affected by news about the celebrity. The bond is still one-sided, but it feels highly personal.

Borderline-pathological level

This is the most extreme level. Interest in the celebrity becomes obsessive and may involve irrational beliefs or behavior. The person may be willing to do extreme things linked to the celebrity.

Typical features include:

• obsessive thinking about the celebrity

• loss of perspective about the relationship

• fantasies of special access or closeness

• extreme acts carried out in relation to the celebrity

This level is considered maladaptive because it may interfere with normal life, judgment, or well-being. It moves beyond admiration into behavior that may seem unrealistic or psychologically unhealthy.

The levels as a continuum

The three levels should be understood as a continuum of increasing intensity:

• Entertainment-social: mild interest

• Intense-personal: strong emotional attachment

• Borderline-pathological: extreme, obsessive involvement

Not everyone progresses from one level to the next. Many people remain at the entertainment-social level permanently. The continuum is useful because it shows that parasocial relationships are not all equally serious.

It also helps psychologists distinguish between ordinary fandom and more problematic forms of celebrity worship. This prevents over-pathologizing normal media enjoyment.

Measuring levels of parasocial relationships

Researchers often assess these levels using self-report measures such as the Celebrity Attitude Scale.

Figure showing a factor-analytic (SEM) model of the Celebrity Attitude Scale short form (CAS-7), where observed questionnaire items (squares) load onto underlying latent dimensions (ovals). This illustrates how psychologists operationalise ‘level of involvement’ by using patterns of item responses to estimate unobservable constructs like Entertainment–Social versus more intense/pathological involvement. Source

This scale asks people to respond to statements about celebrities, allowing psychologists to estimate how intense the parasocial involvement is.

Example item screen from the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS), showing typical Likert-response statements used to quantify celebrity-related attitudes. Seeing the response format helps clarify how ‘levels’ are inferred from self-report data by aggregating responses across items associated with different subscales. Source

The scale is useful because it reflects the three levels:

• items about enjoyment and conversation suggest entertainment-social

• items about emotional closeness suggest intense-personal

• items about extreme or irrational behavior suggest borderline-pathological

This gives psychologists a way to compare individuals and investigate links between level of involvement and other variables.

Research support and limitations

Research has found that higher levels of celebrity worship are associated with less healthy outcomes. For example, Maltby et al. reported links between more intense parasocial involvement and poorer psychological adjustment. This supports the idea that the levels differ not just in degree, but also in their consequences.

However, there are limitations. Much of the evidence relies on self-report questionnaires, which may reduce validity. People may underreport extreme feelings because they are embarrassed, or overreport interest to appear enthusiastic.

Another issue is that the categories may oversimplify real behavior. A person may show mostly entertainment-social features but occasionally display intense-personal feelings. This suggests the boundaries between levels are not always sharp.

There is also a cultural point. What counts as “normal” admiration may vary across cultures and media environments. Modern social media can make celebrities seem more accessible, which may blur the line between ordinary fan behavior and stronger parasocial involvement.

Even with these limitations, the three-level model remains useful because it organizes parasocial relationships clearly and helps psychologists identify when admiration becomes increasingly emotional or extreme.