Admiring celebs may help boost self-esteem
June 6th, 2008 - 1:47 pm ICT by ANIWashington, June 6 (ANI): Admiring your favourite celebs could certainly prove a great boost for your self-esteem, suggests a new study.
The study led by Jaye L. Derrick and Shira Gabriel of the University at Buffalo, State University of New York suggests that connecting yourself with your favourite celebrity i.e. building a parasocial relationship would significantly help people with low-self esteem to view themselves more positively.
People with low self-esteem can use their parasocial relationships to feel closer to the ideals they hold for themselves.
The study showed that parasocial relationships can have self-enhancing benefits for low self-esteem people who have a difficult time with real interpersonal relationships.
The researchers conducted three studies using approximately one hundred undergraduate university students each to examine the relationship between self-esteem, parasocial relationship closeness, and self-discrepancies.
Participants were asked to identify their favourite celebrity and described them in an open-ended essay. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale assessed global self-evaluations.
The findings revealed that people with low self-esteem saw their favourite celebrities as very similar to their ideal selves.
Low self-esteem people primed with their favourite celebrity felt more similar to their ideal selves than low self-esteem people primed with a control celebrity.
Also, people with low self-esteem primed with their favourite celebrity felt more similar to their ideal selves than low self-esteem people primed with a close relationship partner.
These parasocial relationships offer low self-esteem people an opportunity to reduce their self-discrepancies and feel closer to their ideal selves.
Even fake relationships with celebrities, relationships without any actual contact, can have benefits for the self, the authors conclude.
We found that parasocial relationships can sometimes have benefits for people with low-self esteem that real relationships do not, they added.
This study is published in the June 2008 issue of Personal Relationships (ANI)
- Low on self-esteem? Have a 'parasocial' relationship - Jun 06, 2008
- Undeserved self-praise can lead to dejection - Oct 20, 2011
- Food in small packets make people eat more - Oct 28, 2011
- Self-esteem rises as people age but starts declining around retirement - Apr 02, 2010
- For young people, sex and paychecks come after self-esteem - Jan 07, 2011
- Shedding pounds won't help teens' self-esteem - Mar 23, 2012
- Higher income, better health key to self-esteem - Apr 02, 2010
- Young Folks Crave Self-Esteem Even More Than Sexual Activities, As Per A New Psychological Study - Jan 12, 2011
- Study: Young people crave self-esteem more than sex - Jan 12, 2011
- Facebook can boost self-esteem: Study - Mar 06, 2011
- Low self-esteem makes you enjoy misfortune of others - Dec 13, 2011
- Beauty product ads lower consumers' self esteem - Oct 19, 2010
- Youngsters prefer self-esteem over sex, money - Jan 07, 2011
- Favourite characters on TV shows can drive away feelings of loneliness, rejection - Apr 23, 2009
- Lovers chisel partners to perfection - Dec 18, 2009
Tags: buffalo state university, celebrities, celebrity, closeness, derrick, discrepancies, interpersonal relationships, low self esteem, parasocial relationships, participants, relationship partner, rosenberg self esteem scale, self evaluations, shira gabriel, state university of new york, undergraduate university students, university at buffalo