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

Giles, David

doi:10.1207/s1532785xmep0403_04

Cited by 832 publications

(676 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…In addition to building and strengthening affective relationships with others, media-induced emotions can also serve to cultivate parasocial relationships with the characters, persons, or avatars on screen (Klimmt, Hartmann, Schramm, & Vorderer, 2003;Rubin & Perse, 1987). Unlike the premise of early theories such parasocial relationships do not seem to serve as a compensation for deficiencies in social life, but rather as a complementary source of social and emotional gratification (cf., Giles, 2002).…”

Section: The Role Of Emotional Entertainment Experiences In the Satismentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Gratification in Entertainment Experience. Why Viewers of Movies and Television Series Find it Rewarding to Experience Emotions

2012

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Section: The Role Of Emotional Entertainment Experiences In the Satismentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Gratification in Entertainment Experience. Why Viewers of Movies and Television Series Find it Rewarding to Experience Emotions

2012

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“…People actively interpret what they have seen in the media to attribute specific meaning to, for example, their social relations or their identities (Brown, Dykers, Steele, & White, 1994;Cohen, 2001;Gauntlett, 2002;Giles, 2002;Giles & Maltby, 2004). In the case of video games, the reception of media content has a specific character because of the games' interactive nature.…”

Section: Previous Research About the Portrayal Of Gender And Race In mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Lara Phenomenon: Powerful Female Characters in Video Games

2007

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The content of games is an understudied area in social scientific research about video games. The purpose of the present study is to contribute to the understanding of the portrayal of gender and race in games. Previous research on game content has revealed that stereotypical masculine characters dominate video games and that those characters are generally White. Nowadays, quite a few video games have women in leading parts; Tomb Raider's Lara Croft is the prototypical example. In our study we investigated the so-called 'Lara phenomenon,' that is, the appearance of a competent female character in a dominant position. We also studied the portrayal of men and the race of both male and female characters. We did a content analysis on the introductory films of 12 contemporary video games. Our results show that female characters appeared as often in leading parts as male characters did. They were portrayed with a sexualized emphasis on female features. Most game characters belonged to the dominant White race, the heroes exclusively so.Keywords Video games . Gender . Race . StereotypesPlaying electronic games on a personal computer, a game console, a handheld device, or on the Internet is a relatively new, but increasingly popular, kind of mediated entertainment. The popularity of video games 1 has arisen alongside the public's expression of serious concerns, in particular with respect to the effects of violent games (Grossman & DeGaetano, 1999;Thompson, 2002). The scientific community has responded to these worries by executing dozens of studies about the effects of playing video games (e.g., Anderson & Bushman, 2001;Sherry, 2001).Far less attention has been devoted to game content. A small number of research projects have been done to analyze the way the world is represented in video games. Generally, the results of these content analyses show two things: first, the ubiquity of violence (Braun & Giroux, 1989; Children Now, 2001;Dietz, 1998;Haninger & Thompson, 2004;Smith, Lachlan, & Tamborini, 2003;Thompson & Haninger, 2001), and second, the stereotypic portrayal of gender and race -men hold dominant positions, women are submissive, and the majority of game characters are White (Beasley & Standley, 2002;Brand, Knight, & Majewski, 2003; Children Now, 2001;Dietz, 1998;Gailey, 1993;Provenzo, 1991;Ramírez, Forteza, Hernando, & Martorell, 2002).The purpose of the present study was to contribute to the tradition of research on the portrayal of gender and race in video games. Our first principal theme was gender. Anyone even slightly familiar with video games must have noted the recent advance of tough and competent female characters (Labre & Duke, 2004). The massive popularity of female protagonist Lara Croft ever since the release of the first Tomb Raider game in 1996 seems to have paved the way for a woman who contrasts the dominant Sex Roles (2007) In this paper we employ 'video games' as shorthand that includes games that are played in arcades or on game consoles (e.g., Playstation2, X-box, GameCube and the G...

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“…Wishful identification: the viewer admires the character and wants to be or act like him (Giles, 2002;Hoffner and Buchanan, 2005). Researches have shown that audience members change their appearance, attitudes, values and behaviour to resemble celebrities they admire (Boone and Lomore, 2001;Basil, 1996).…”

Section: Involvement With the Charactermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parasocial Interaction (PSI): It was initially described as the apparent "face-to-face" relationship between the spectator and the interpreter during a media situation (Horton and Wohl, 1956), although later researches use it to refer to an affective bond which persists outside the context of media use (Giles, 2002). This interaction has similar characteristics to a traditional interpersonal relationship, with the exception of reciprocity, which makes the viewers to perceive a character as part of their social life and affects their emotions and behaviours (Hoffner and Tian, 2010;Rubin, Perse and Powell, 1985).…”

Section: Involvement With the Charactermentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Effectiveness of Narrative Persuasion on Facebook: Change of Attitude and Intention towards HPV

Cambra

Martínez

Cuesta

2022

Humanities Today: Proceedings

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Information, detection and prevention are very important factors in sexually transmitted diseases such as human papillomavirus, which is linked to cervical cancer and other cancers (WHO, 2015). This paper aims to demonstrate empirically whether the use of narrative in new media, such as Facebook, produces a greater impact on attitudes and intention in sex education issues, such as human papillomavirus, than the same information presented in non-narrative. Also, the role of the viewer's involvement in this persuasive effect is analysed. A group of young university students was tested before and after viewing a Facebook profile on HPV in a narrative vs non-narrative format. The narrative proved to be more effective than the non-narrative, provoking a more positive attitude towards periodic medical check-ups and towards the intention of being tested for HPV. Additionally, narrative transportation proved to have a direct effect on attitude, while involvement with both the story and the character play a moderating role on intention. In conclusion, this paper demonstrates that structured narrative format in Facebook is an effective tool in the field of health education and prevention of HPV, which could also play a role in preventing cervical cancer.

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

Cited by 832 publications

References 46 publications

Emotional Gratification in Entertainment Experience. Why Viewers of Movies and Television Series Find it Rewarding to Experience Emotions

Emotional Gratification in Entertainment Experience. Why Viewers of Movies and Television Series Find it Rewarding to Experience Emotions

The Lara Phenomenon: Powerful Female Characters in Video Games

Effectiveness of Narrative Persuasion on Facebook: Change of Attitude and Intention towards HPV

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