Qualitative and Quantitative Investigations of Office Fans’ Connections With Fictional and Celebrity Couples

Perry Reed, Ph.D.

Media Psychology faculty publish in the peer-reviewed journal, Psychology of Popular Media, with the paper “Qualitative and Quantitative Investigations of Office Fans’ Connections With Fictional and Celebrity Couples: Identification, Parasocial Relationships, and Beyond.” Perry Reed, Associate Faculty at Fielding, is the first author of the paper about identification and parasocial relationships with fictional and celebrity couples. Dr. Reed collaborated with fellow authors Drs. Karen Shackleford, J. David Cohen, and M.J. Robbins. 

Abstract

Though fans commonly view and follow fictional and celebrity couples, there is a dearth of research on audience involvement with media couples. Using a mixed-methods approach, we examined fan experiences with a fictional couple and actors’ real-life relationships vis-à-vis identification (psychological merging with media personae) and parasocial relationships (PSRs; one-sided relationships between fans and media personae). We recruited fans of The Office (US), emphasizing a central fictional couple, Jim and Pam, and the celebrity relationships of actors John Krasinski (Jim) and Jenna Fischer (Pam). In Study 1, we conducted semistructured qualitative interviews. Thematic analysis revealed that fans do not naturally differentiate between perspectives such as identification and PSRs. Fans struggle to separate the character from the actor in ways that color how they see the actor’s spouse; some think that other fans struggle with this more than they do, the latter being a third-person effect. In survey Studies 2 and 3, we demonstrated that fans identify with and form PSRs with a couple as a unit. Both greater couple identification and couple PSRs predicted greater parasocial relationship investment in Jim/ Pam. Greater couple PSRs with Jim/Pam, but not greater couple identification, predicted greater discomfort with the celebrity relationship of John Krasinski and his wife, actor Emily Blunt. Furthermore, Studies 2 and 3 provide quantitative evidence for a unique instantiation of the third-person effect related to real and fictional couples.

Reed, P. A., Shackleford, K. E., Cohen, J. D., & Robbins, M. J. (2024). Qualitative and quantitative investigations of Office fans’ connections with fictional and celebrity couples: Identification, parasocial relationships, and beyond. Psychology of Popular Media. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000552

About Psychology of Popular Media

Karen Shackleford, Ph.D.

Psychology of Popular Media^® is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal dedicated to publishing empirical research concerning the psychological experience and effects of human interaction with popular media in all of its forms including social media, games, apps, and fictional narratives in all of their forms (e.g., film, television, books).

Psychology of Popular Media reports cutting-edge research that illuminates the human experience of living in a culture where popular media are ubiquitous and influential. The journal publishes both quantitative and qualitative empirical research as well as reviews, meta-analyses, and replications that contribute significantly to the field.

We encourage contributions that demonstrate and/or acknowledge that there are both risks and benefits of popular media on human psychological functioning. The editor of Psychology of Popular Media^® is Dr. Karen Shackleford, Ph.D.