Reconceptualizing Address in Television Programming: The Effect of Address and Affective Empathy on Viewer Experience of Parasocial Interaction

Abstract

Much scholarship has examined the parasocial bonds between audiences and media personalities. However, recent research differentiated between the development of parasocial relationships and the actual experience of parasocial interaction (EPSI) that can result from structural elements of a message such as style of address (Hartmann & Goldhoorn, 2011

Parasocial Interaction and Parasocial Relationship: Conceptual Clarification and a Critical Assessment of Measures

“…Hartmann and Goldhoorn argued that certain cues provided by a media performer (e.g., eye‐gazing, bodily addressing cues) effectively trigger automatic mindreading activities in users that, in turn, give rise to a parasocial experience, understood as a user's intuitive (gut) feeling of taking part in a normal social interaction. Two experimental studies provided preliminary evidence for the idea that particularly bodily addressing and eye‐gazing effectively trigger users' parasocial interaction experience (Cummins & Cui, ; Hartmann & Goldhoorn, ).…”

“…Several scholars suggest that parasocial interaction, understood as illusory experiences that are confined to the media exposure situation, should be distinguished from more enduring (positive or negative) long‐term parasocial relationships or socioemotional bonds that users develop with media performers (e.g., Cummins & Cui, ; Dibble & Rosaen, ; Hartmann & Goldhoorn, ; Klimmt, Hartmann, & Schramm, ; Rosaen & Dibble, ; Tukachinsky, ). Such a distinction appears to be in line with Horton and Wohl's () original conceptualization.…”

“…Below we review some of the more prominent measures in use today. In the review, we follow the notion that a theoretical distinction between parasocial interaction and parasocial relationship has been laid out in Horton and Wohl's () original conceptualization, and that assessing both concepts differently may prove fruitful for the field (e.g., Cummins & Cui, ). Accordingly, we pay particular attention to operational definitions, that is, the theoretical concept implied by each measure.…”

“…The scale intends to measure users' experience of parasocial interaction, defined as an intuitive feeling of mutual awareness, attention, and adjustment with a media character in an exposure situation. In three experimental examinations, the EPSI‐Scale demonstrated strong reliability and validity (Cummins & Cui, ; Dibble & Rosaen, ; Hartmann & Goldhoorn, ). Parasocial interaction, if assessed by the EPSI‐Scale, seems to be specifically triggered by forms of bodily addressing and eye‐gazing of a media character (Cummins & Cui, ; Hartmann & Goldhoorn, ).…”

“…Auter and Davis () referred to this as breaking the invisible fourth wall. Researchers have consistently found stronger parasocial interaction when the performer broke the fourth wall by bodily addressing the viewer and looking into the camera than when the performer did not (e.g., Cummins & Cui, ; Hartmann & Goldhoorn, ; Mancini, ).…”