Horton and Wohl Revisited: Exploring Viewers' Experience of Parasocial Interaction

@article{Hartmann2011HortonAW,
  title={Horton and Wohl Revisited: Exploring Viewers' Experience of Parasocial Interaction},
  author={Tilo Hartmann and Charlotte Goldhoorn},
  journal={Journal of Communication},
  year={2011},
  volume={61},
  pages={1104-1121}
}
Linking back to D. Horton and R. Wohl (1956), the present approach conceptualizes and empirically examines viewers’ parasocial interaction experience with a TV performer. Causes and outcomes of parasocial interaction experience are examined. To this end, a new Experience of Parasocial Interaction (EPSI) scale is introduced. In a 2 (Bodily Addressing) × 2 (Verbal Addressing) between-subjects experiment (N = 198) viewers reported a more intense parasocial experience if they were addressed by a TV… 
View via Publisher
research.vu.nl
292 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
24
Background Citations
110
Methods Citations
25
Results Citations
13

Figures and Tables from this paper

292 Citations

Reconceptualizing address in television programming: The effect of address and affective empathy on viewer experience of parasocial interaction

Much scholarship has examined the parasocial bonds between audiences and media personalities. However, recent research differentiated between the development of parasocial relationships and the…

Parasocial interaction and parasocial relationship: Conceptual clarification and a critical assessment of measures

Parasocial interaction and parasocial relationship are often conflated conceptually and methodologically, leaving researchers unclear as to which concept is being tapped. This research clarifies…

Does the Experience of Parasocial Interaction Enhance Persuasiveness of Video Public Service Messages?

Does the experience of parasocial interaction (EPSI) increase the persuasiveness of a video message? In a between-subjects experiment (N = 465) we used bodily addressing to successfully vary EPSI in…

Parasocial Interaction as More Than Friendship

This study supports the refinement of the concept of parasocial interaction (PSI) to apply to mediated personae that viewers might dislike by revealing that participants did experience PSI with disliked characters as well as liked characters, and that the two measures of PSI did not appear to assess the same construct.

Cognitive and Imagery Attributes of Parasocial Relationships

In today’s rapidly changing “TV everywhere” environment of ubiquitous and always-connected screens, and instant social media interaction around and with complex and compelling television storylines…

The Effect of Relational and Interactive Aspects of Parasocial Experiences on Attitudes and Message Resistance

This study examines direct and interaction effects of parasocial interactions (PSIs) and relationships (PSRs) on message resistance (reactance and counterarguing) and message-consistent attitudes.…

How vloggers embrace their viewers: Focusing on the roles of para-social interactions and flow experience

Exploring the Influence of Parasocial Relationships and Experiences on Radio Listeners’ Consumer Behaviors

The purpose of the present study was to explore the influence of radio listener experiences on radio listening behaviors, consumer perceptions and behaviors, and social media involvement. A national…

Artists and Attributions: How Music Platform Implementation Affects Parasocial Experiences and Support Intentions

ABSTRACT We expand the experience of mediated relationships to include not only audience members’ perceptions of cognitive and emotional investments toward media figures, but also investment they…

Theorizing Parasocial Interactions Based on Authenticity: The Development of a Media Figure Classification Scheme

The relationships viewers develop with media figures have received substantial attention in the scholarship of entertainment. The present research proposes an original four-dimension classification…
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 58 REFERENCES

Interpersonal and psychological predictors of parasocial interaction with different television performers

The study examined the relationship of interpersonal homophily and self‐esteem with the development of parasocial interaction. “Attitude”; homophily was found to be the strongest predictor, among the…

Audience Activity and Soap Opera Involvement: A Uses and Effects Investigation.

This investigation examined the role of motives, attitudes, and audience activity in explaining the affective, cognitive, and behavioral involvement of 328 daytime soap opera viewers. Because inter…

Television Characters as Significant Others and the Process of Vicarious Role Taking

This article develops two ideas pertaining to television and role taking from the perspective of symbolic interactionism. First, viewers may take the role of salient television personalities, during…

Parasocial Interaction: A Review of the Literature and a Model for Future Research

This paper considers the phenomenon of parasocial interaction (PSI) used by media researchers to describe the relationship between media users and media figures (from celebrities to fictional…

Development and validation of a parasocial interaction measure: The audience‐persona interaction scale

This research attempted to develop a multidimensional measure of parasocial interaction. A 47‐item questionnaire derived from qualitative responses was submitted to principal components analysis ‐…

Research on Parasocial Involvement: An Overview

Parasocial involvement, an illusion of intimacy between media consumers and media professionals, is one of the most intriguing communication phenomena ever witnessed in media Hyphen saturated…

Compensatory media use: An exploration of two paradigms

This study explores two major theoretical positions concerning social and parasocial interaction. The Deficiency paradigm predicts that individuals most likely to engage in high television…

The PSI-Process Scales. A new measure to assess the intensity and breadth of parasocial processes

Abstract Research on parasocial interactions (PSI) and parasocial relationships (PSR) refers back to a tradition of 50 years. However, research on both phenomena still suffers from overlapping…

Hopelessness and Loneliness as Predictors of Older Adults' Involvement With Favorite Television Performers

This study examined viewer involvement by investigating the relationships between parasocial interaction, wishful identification, identification, and interest, and hopelessness and loneliness among…

Development of parasocial interaction relationships

The parasocial interaction relationship development process was explored by applying principles of uncertainty reduction theory. Results suggested that parasocial relationship development follows a…
...