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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 consumption and high parasocial interaction are those who seek compensation for an impoverished social life resulting from certain personality characteristics. The Global-Use paradigm posits that media use behavior need not be governed by such a compensation motive. The results of an empirical test indicated that the Deficiency paradigm prevailed when sheer amounts of viewing were considered. When it came to parasocial interaction, the Global-Use paradigm received more support. Theoretical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
The term parasocial interaction was created by Horton and Wohl (1956) to depict a tendency of regular media users to construct imaginative relationships with characters on television and radio similar to the relationships they create with people in their orthosocial, or face-to-face, settings. Television producers, in fact, employ many technical devices such as conversational styles, camera angles, and studio audiences to foster in viewers an illusion of intimacy with the characters (or personae) of television programs.
Horton and Wohl's (1956) early formulation of parasocial interaction contained two competing explanations for people's motivation and capability for parasocial interaction. On the one hand, they posited that individuals who are "socially inept" are motivated to engage in parasocial interaction to compensate for their lack of rewarding relationships and to enjoy vicariously the pleasure of a normal social life. On the other hand, Horton and Wohl argued that parasocial interaction appeals to a majority of people and draws upon viewers' ability to understand, assimilate, and act upon a set of rules and dynamics that are identical to those found in everyday, face-to-face, social interactions (see also Horton & Strauss, 1957). While the first explanation leads to the conclusion that parasocial interaction grows out of a desire to compensate for inadequate relationships, the second implies that parasocial interaction reflects a more general motive and, in fact, cannot be engaged in without certain skills that can only be acquired through orthosocial interactions.
These contradictory conclusions provide the grounding for two competing paradigms in explaining the phenomenon of parasocial interaction. The Deficiency paradigm assumes that parasocial interaction acts as a surrogate for face-to-face interpersonal relationships and sees it as...