“I learned it from watching YOU!”
Parasocial relationships with YouTubers and self-efficacy
Keywords:
Parasocial relationships, YouTube, Self-EfficacyAbstract
A survey (N = 424) was used to examine the effect that parasocial relationships with lifestyle YouTubers have on self-efficacy. Primary results indicate that parasocial relationships with lifestyle YouTubers significantly influence an increase in self-efficacy in audience members (p < .001), and the amount of cumulative weekly viewing hours of lifestyle YouTubers’ videos marginally predicted levels of self-efficacy (p = .058). We theorize that parasocial relationships with YouTubers may take place primarily through “imagined interactions” (Honeycutt, 2003).
References
Agee, M. E. (2014). I listen to you every day: Parasocial relationships and self-disclosure in Christian radio. The University of Texas at Arlington. Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1614530507). Retrieved from: https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/i-listen-you-every-day-parasocial-relationships/docview/1614530507/se-2
Alperstein, N. M. (2019). Introduction: Mediated Social Connections: Place, Imagination and Togetherness. In: Celebrity and Mediated Social Connections. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Auter, P. J. (1992). Psychometric: TV that talks back: An experimental validation of a parasocial interaction scale. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 36(2),173-181. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838159209364165
Auter, P. J., & Davis, D. M. (1991). When characters speak directly to viewers: Breaking the fourth wall in television. Journalism Quarterly, 68(1-2), 165-171. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769909106800117
Auter, P. J., & Palmgreen, P. (2000). Development and validation of a parasocial interaction measure: The audience‐persona interaction scale. Communication Research Reports, 17(1), 79-89.
Baek, Y. M., Bae, Y., & Jang, H. (2013). Social and parasocial relationships on social network sites and their differential relationships with users' psychological well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(7), 512-517.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological review, 84(2), 191.
Bandura, A. (1994). Self-efficacy In VS Ramachaudran (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Human Behavior, 4, 71-81.
Bandura A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control. New York, NY: Freeman.
Bandura, A., & Adams, N. E. (1977). Analysis of self-efficacy theory of behavioral change. Cognitive therapy and research, 1(4), 287-310.
BarNir, A., Watson, W. E., & Hutchins, H. M. (2011). Mediation and moderated mediation in the relationship among role models, self‐efficacy, entrepreneurial career intention, and gender. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(2), 270-297.
Burnham, M. J., Le, Y. K., & Piedmont, R. L. (2018). Who is Mturk? Personal characteristics and sample consistency of these online workers. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 21(9-10), 934-944.
Caughey, J. L. (1984). Imaginary Social Worlds: A Cultural Approach. University of Nebraska Press.
Chen, C.-P. (2016). Forming digital self and parasocial relationships on YouTube. Journal of Consumer Culture, 16(1), 232–254. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540514521081
Chiang, H. S., & Hsiao, K. L. (2015). YouTube stickiness: the needs, personal, and environmental perspective. Internet Research.
Cohen, J. (2004). Para-social breakup from favorite television characters: The role of attachment styles and relationship intensity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 21, 187–202.
Dunn, S. G. S. (2019). Why? Because I Like You: Effects of Familiarity on Perceptions of Media Trustworthiness. Iowa Journal of Communication, 51(1).
Fred, S. (2015). Examining endorsement and viewership effects on the source credibility of YouTubers. University of South Florida.
Giles, D. C. (2002). Parasocial interaction: A review of the literature and a model for future research. Media psychology, 4(3), 279-305.
Gleason, T. R. (2013). Imaginary relationships. In M. Taylor (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the development of imagination (pp. 251–271). Oxford University Press.
Hartmann, T., & Goldhoorn, C. (2011). Horton and Wohl revisited: Exploring viewers' experience of parasocial interaction. Journal of communication, 61(6), 1104-1121.
Hocevar, K. P., Flanagin, A. J., & Metzger, M. J. (2014). Social media self-efficacy and information evaluation online. Computers in Human Behavior, 39, 254-262.
Hoffner, C. (1996). Children's wishful identification and parasocial interaction with favorite television characters. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 40(3), 389-402.
Honeycutt, J. M. (2003). Imagined interactions: Daydreaming about communication. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Horton, D., & Wohl, R. R. (1956). Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction. Psychiatry, 19(3), 215–229. doi: 10.1080/00332747.1956.11023049
Hu, S., Liu, H., & Gu, J. (2018). What role does self-efficacy play in developing cultural intelligence from social media usage? Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 28, 172-180.
Judge, T. A., Jackson, C., Shaw, J. C., Scott, B. A., & Rich, B. L. (2007). Is the effect of self-efficacy on job/task performance an epiphenomenon. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 107-127.
Khan, M. L. (2017). Social media engagement: What motivates user participation and consumption on YouTube? Computers in human behavior, 66, 236-247.
Kurtin, K. S., O'Brien, N., Roy, D., & Dam, L. (2018). The development of parasocial interaction relationships on YouTube. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 7(1),233- 252.
Liebers, N., & Schramm, H. (2019). Parasocial Interactions and Relationships with Media Characters–An Inventory of 60 Years of Research. Communication Research Trends, 38(2), 4-31.
Lim, J. S., Choe, M. J., Zhang, J., & Noh, G. Y. (2020). The role of wishful identification, emotional engagement, and parasocial relationships in repeated viewing of live-streaming games: A social cognitive theory perspective. Computers in Human Behavior, 108, 106327.
Madison, T. P., Porter, L. V., & Greule, A. (2015). Parasocial Compensation Hypothesis. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 35(3), 258–279. https://doi.org/10.1177/0276236615595232
McCredie, M. N., & Morey, L. C. (2018). Evaluating new supplemental indicators for the personality assessment inventory: Standardization and cross-validation. Psychological Assessment, 30(10), 1292–1299. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000574
McLeod, S. (2007). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply psychology, 1(1-18).
McPherson, M.; Smith-Lovin, L.; Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415–444. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415
Morgenroth, T., Ryan, M. K., & Peters, K. (2015). The Motivational Theory of Role Modeling: How Role Models Influence Role Aspirants’ Goals. Review of General Psychology, 19(4), 465–483. https://doi.org/10.1037/gpr0000059
Munnukka, J., Maity, D., Reinikainen, H., & Luoma-aho, V. (2019). “Thanks for watching.” The effectiveness of YouTube vlogendorsements. Computers in Human Behavior, 93, 226- 234.
Newton, T. (August 16, 2023). 30 Lifestyle YouTube Video Ideas to Boost Engagement. Retrieved from: https://www.scalefluence.com/lifestyle-youtube-video-ideas/
Nouri, M. (2018). The power of influence: Traditional celebrity vs social media influencer.
Perse, E. M., & Rubin, A. M. (1988). Audience activity and satisfaction with favorite television soap opera. Journalism Quarterly, 65, 368-375.
Perse, E. M., & Rubin, R. B. (1989). Attribution in social and parasocial relationship. Communication Research, 16, 59–77.
Rasmussen, L. (2018). Parasocial interaction in the digital age: An examination of relationship building and the effectiveness of YouTube celebrities. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 7(1), 280-294.
Ross, J., Irani, L., Silberman, M. S., Zaldivar, A., & Tomlinson, B. (2010). Who are the crowdworkers? Shifting demographics in Mechanical Turk. In CHI'10 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 2863-2872).
Rotman, D., & Preece, J. (2010). The'WeTube'in YouTube–creating an online community through video sharing. International Journal of Web Based Communities, 6(3), 317-333.
Rubin, A. M. (1993). Audience activity and media use. Communication Monographs, 60(1), 98-105.
Rubin, A. M., & Step, M. M. (2000). Impact of motivation, attraction, and parasocial interaction on talk radio listening. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44(4), 635-654.
Rubin, A. M. Perse, E. M, & Powell, R. A. (1985). Loneliness, parasocial interaction, and local television news viewing. Human Communication Research, 12,155-180.
Rubin, R. B. & McHugh, M.P. (1987). Development of parasocial interaction relationships. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 31(3), 279-292.
Schmitt, N. (2007). The interaction of neuroticism and gender and its impact on self-efficacy and performance. Human Performance, 21(1), 49-61.
Schwarzer, R., & Jerusalem, M. (1995). Generalized self-efficacy scale. Measures in health psychology: A user’s portfolio. Causal and control beliefs, 1(1), 35-37.
Sharma, G. (2017). Pros and cons of different sampling techniques. International Journal of Applied Research, 3(7), 749–752.
Shedlosky-Shoemaker, R. (2006). Rewatching as a component of the entertainment experience: Potential implications for narrative persuasion (Master’s Thesis, The Ohio State University).
Sokolova, K., & Perez, C. (2021). You follow fitness influencers on YouTube. But do you actually exercise? How parasocial relationships, and watching fitness influencers, relate to intentions to exercise. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 58, 102276.
Stever, G. S., & Lawson, K. (2013). Twitter as a way for Celebrities to Communicate with Fans: Implications for the Study of Parasocial Interaction. North American journal of psychology, 15 (2), 339-354.
Tian, Y., & Yoo, J. (2014). Connecting With The Biggest Loser: An Extended Model of Parasocial Interaction and Identification in Health-Related Reality TV Shows. Health Communication, 30, 1-7.
Tolbert, A. N., & Drogos, K. L. (2019). Tweens’ Wishful Identification and Parasocial Relationships With YouTubers. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2781.
Tolson, A. (2010). A new authenticity? Communicative practices on YouTube. Critical Discourse Studies, 7(4), 277-289. DOI: 10.1080/17405904.2010.511834
Tukachinsky, R., & Sangalang, A. (2016). The effect of relational and interactive aspects of parasocial experiences on attitudes and message resistance. Communication Reports, 29(3), 175-188.
Tukachinsky, R., & Stokunaga, R. (2013). 10 The effects of engagement with entertainment. Annals of the International Communication Association, 37(1), 287-322.
Turcotte, J., York, C., Irving, J., Scholl, R. M., & Pingree, R. J. (2015). News recommendations from social media opinion leaders: Effects on media trust and information seeking. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 20(5), 520-535.
van Eldik, A. K., Kneer, J., Lutkenhaus, R. O., & Jansz, J. (2019). Urban influencers: An analysis of urban identity in YouTube content of local social media influencers in a super-diverse city. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 2876.
van Zandvoort, M., Irwin, J. D., & Morrow, D. (2009). The impact of Co-active Life Coaching on female university students with obesity. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching & Mentoring, 7(1).
Yang, C., Hsu, Y. C., & Tan, S. (2010). Predicting the determinants of users' intentions for using YouTube to share video: moderating gender effects. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 13(2), 141-152.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
