The Characteristics And Theories Of The Imaginary Interaction Theory

Imaginary Interaction Theory

The Imaginary Interaction theory along with PSI, PSR can have an impact on changes in behavior and how the person using II perceives them self. From Oxford Research Encyclopedia, “Imagined interactions (II) are a type of social cognition and mental imagery grounded in symbolic interactionism in which individuals imagine conversations with significant others for a variety of purposes” (Honeycutt, 2003). Since Imagined Interactions come from cognitive and mental pictures to form an interaction, it is easy to see why these are linked. Imaginary Interaction and PSI, PSR have similarities because they both have the ability to change a subject’s behavior and involve a certain amount of cognitive intake.

Honeycutt referred

Over the years various scholars have done studies on the parasocial phenomenon’s impact and how viewers are motivated to make parasocial bonds. First a summary of a study from Tian and Hoffner 2010, a survey was sent out to measure 174 respondents to liked, neutral, or disliked character from the TV show Lost on ABC. From the survey, researchers reported respondents had “perceived similarity, identification while viewing, and parasocial interaction with the character, as well as the extent to which they had tried to change aspects of themselves to be more like the character. (‘‘change=influence’’)” This shows that parasocial interactions do make an impact and have the ability to change the viewer’s perception by emulating a characters

There are two motives for forming a parasocial relationship, simply the viewer likes the show and character or, the viewer has a shortage of interpersonal relationships in their life. Often time’s that shortage of interpersonal relationships will result in insecurely forming relations.

Tim Cole and Laure Leets conducted a study called “Attachment styles and intimate television viewing: Insecurely forming relationships in a parasocial way”. To summarize, they used Attachment Theory to understand how viewers form PSR with TV characters and personalities. Researchers investigated to see if attachment style and the amount of engagement made an impact on parasocial