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An Attachment Perspective on Favorite Media Figures.

A Luke MacNeill¹, Enrico DiTommaso¹

¹Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick, Canada.

Psychological Reports

|March 26, 2021

Summary

Anxious attachment is linked to parasocial relationships. Contrary to theory, anxiously attached individuals prefer media figures exhibiting insecurity, not secure traits, challenging previous assumptions about attachment figures.

Keywords:

Attachment theory attachment anxiety media figures parasocial relationships

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Area of Science:

Psychology
Media Studies
Attachment Theory

Background:

Anxious attachment is associated with stronger parasocial relationships with media figures.
It's theorized that these figures serve as secure attachment figures for anxiously attached individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if anxiously attached individuals perceive their favorite media figures as safe and secure.
To assess the personality characteristics of favorite television figures preferred by individuals with different attachment styles.

Main Methods:

200 online participants completed an attachment measure.
Participants reported their favorite television figure and rated its personality traits.
Data analyzed to correlate attachment style with preferred figure characteristics.

Main Results:

Anxiously attached individuals did not prefer figures high in warmth or stability.
Instead, they preferred figures displaying anxious and insecure characteristics.
Attachment avoidance and the interaction between anxiety and avoidance showed no significant effects.

Conclusions:

Findings challenge the notion that anxiously attached individuals view media figures as secure attachment figures.
Results suggest a preference for relatable insecurity rather than idealized security in media figures.
Further research is needed to fully understand the complex relationship between attachment styles and parasocial interactions.