4 ms·

What does "para-" mean? Edit: Right, 'beside', 'outside', like in paranormal. Now, are parasocial relationships "human connection"?

by cess11 7mo ago

jihadjihad 7mo ago
para- has a variety of meanings [0] depending on which word it’s used to form. Parasocial itself means “one-sided” in a relationship [1]. 0: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/para-#English https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/para-#English 1: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parasocial https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parasocial
jfengel 7mo ago
It means that it shares some, but not all, aspects of a social relationship. It's often applied to one-sided relationships with celebrities, where you feel a personal connection to them but they literally don't know you exist.
- cess11 7mo ago
  Social relationship is much broader than human connection. If I fall in love with Harry Potter, is that a human connection?
  - jfengel 7mo ago
    The term "parasocial relationship" is usually reserved for actual people. You could stretch it to include fictional characters, but it misses out on some of the reasons we coined the term. For example, you can't stalk Harry Potter. There are surely people stalking JK Rowling, and that is a better example of a parasocial relationship. Not all parasocial relationships are pathological. It's just a useful extreme to illustrated why the distinction exists.
alwa 7mo ago
“Para-“ tends to mean “around” or “beside,” kind of in the sense of “close to" or "almost”--paraprofessional teachers or lawyers, paramilitary groups, parallel lines, parasitic symbiotes. In this specific context, American sociologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl (1956) [0] coined the notion of “para-social" relations, in order to describe audience members’ intensifying, one-sided sensations-of-relationships with media characters as American-style mass media came into its own: > The most remote and illustrious men are met as if they were in the circle of one's peers; the same is true of a character in a story who comes to life in these media in an especially vivid and arresting way. We propose to call this seeming face-to-face relationship between spectator and performer a para-social relationship. They contrast para-social relations with face-to-face ones, which they call ortho-social: > The crucial difference in experience obviously lies in the lack of effective reciprocity [...] To be sure, the audience is free to choose among the relationships offered, but it cannot create new ones. Whoever finds the experience unsatisfying has only the option to withdraw. > ...the media present opportunities for the playing of roles to which the spectator has–or feels he has–a legitimate claim, but for which he finds no opportunity in his social environment. This function of the para-social then can properly be called compensatory, inasmuch as it provides the socially and psychologically isolated with a chance to enjoy the elixir of sociability. It's a brisk accessible read, and spookily still relevant. Thanks for the impetus to dust it off :) Anyway—in the 2010s, social scientists began to use the idea to think about the emerging class of even-more-intimate, confessional celebrities—like the Kardashians—as those celebrities started to use the socials ‘round the clock and to broadcast seemingly intimate, unguarded moments [1]. “Healthy” doesn’t seem to be the word the researchers and clinicians tend to choose... [0] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00332747.1956.11023049 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00332747.1956.11... [1] e.g. https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research_all/7/ https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research_all/7/
steve_adams_86 7mo ago
> Now, are parasocial relationships "human connection"? No, they are a proxy people attempt to use as a substitute for more genuine, two-sided relationships. It's quite common. I think lonely people are most susceptible to it, though.

What does "para-" mean? Edit: Right, 'beside', 'outside', like in paranormal. Now, are parasocial relationships "human connection"?

by cess11 7mo ago

What does "para-" mean? Edit: Right, 'beside', 'outside', like in paranormal. Now, are parasocial relationships "human connection"?

jihadjihad 7mo ago

para- has a variety of meanings [0] depending on which word it’s used to form. Parasocial itself means “one-sided” in a relationship [1]. 0: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/para-#English https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/para-#English 1: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parasocial https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/parasocial

jfengel 7mo ago

It means that it shares some, but not all, aspects of a social relationship. It's often applied to one-sided relationships with celebrities, where you feel a personal connection to them but they literally don't know you exist.

cess11 7mo ago
Social relationship is much broader than human connection. If I fall in love with Harry Potter, is that a human connection?
- jfengel 7mo ago
  The term "parasocial relationship" is usually reserved for actual people. You could stretch it to include fictional characters, but it misses out on some of the reasons we coined the term. For example, you can't stalk Harry Potter. There are surely people stalking JK Rowling, and that is a better example of a parasocial relationship. Not all parasocial relationships are pathological. It's just a useful extreme to illustrated why the distinction exists.

alwa 7mo ago

“Para-“ tends to mean “around” or “beside,” kind of in the sense of “close to" or "almost”--paraprofessional teachers or lawyers, paramilitary groups, parallel lines, parasitic symbiotes. In this specific context, American sociologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl (1956) [0] coined the notion of “para-social" relations, in order to describe audience members’ intensifying, one-sided sensations-of-relationships with media characters as American-style mass media came into its own: > The most remote and illustrious men are met as if they were in the circle of one's peers; the same is true of a character in a story who comes to life in these media in an especially vivid and arresting way. We propose to call this seeming face-to-face relationship between spectator and performer a para-social relationship. They contrast para-social relations with face-to-face ones, which they call ortho-social: > The crucial difference in experience obviously lies in the lack of effective reciprocity [...] To be sure, the audience is free to choose among the relationships offered, but it cannot create new ones. Whoever finds the experience unsatisfying has only the option to withdraw. > ...the media present opportunities for the playing of roles to which the spectator has–or feels he has–a legitimate claim, but for which he finds no opportunity in his social environment. This function of the para-social then can properly be called compensatory, inasmuch as it provides the socially and psychologically isolated with a chance to enjoy the elixir of sociability. It's a brisk accessible read, and spookily still relevant. Thanks for the impetus to dust it off :) Anyway—in the 2010s, social scientists began to use the idea to think about the emerging class of even-more-intimate, confessional celebrities—like the Kardashians—as those celebrities started to use the socials ‘round the clock and to broadcast seemingly intimate, unguarded moments [1]. “Healthy” doesn’t seem to be the word the researchers and clinicians tend to choose... [0] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00332747.1956.11023049 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00332747.1956.11... [1] e.g. https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research_all/7/ https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research_all/7/

steve_adams_86 7mo ago

> Now, are parasocial relationships "human connection"? No, they are a proxy people attempt to use as a substitute for more genuine, two-sided relationships. It's quite common. I think lonely people are most susceptible to it, though.