Parasocial interaction PSI refers to a kind of psychological relationship experienced by an audience in their mediated encounters with performers in the mass media , particularly on television and online platforms. PSI is described as an illusory experience , such that media audiences interact with personas e.
The term was coined by Donald Horton and Richard Wohl in A parasocial interaction, an exposure that garners interest in a persona, [ 6 ] becomes a parasocial relationship after repeated exposure to the media persona causes the media user to develop illusions of intimacy, friendship, and identification.
Media users are loyal and feel directly connected to the persona, much as they are connected to their close friends, by observing and interpreting their appearance, gestures, voice, conversation, and conduct. Studies involving longitudinal effects of parasocial interactions on children are still relatively new, according to developmental psychologist Sandra L.
Social media introduces additional opportunities for parasocial relationships to intensify because it provides more opportunities for intimate, reciprocal, and frequent interactions between the user and persona. The consistency in which the persona appears could also lead to a more intimate perception in the eyes of the user.
Parasocial interaction was first described from the perspective of media and communication studies. In , Horton and Wohl explored the different interactions between mass media users and media figures and determined the existence of a parasocial relationship PSR , where the user acts as though they are involved in a typical social relationship.
