Abstract
Critical Analysis
Research in progress for PSYC 2301: General Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Joshua Arduengo, PhD
It is with great pleasure that I introduce Phoenix Disher’s “Parasocial Relationships and Depression,” a critical analysis paper he wrote for my Psychology 2301 course in the Fall 2022 semester. The assignment was designed to ask students to deeply analyze a psychology-related topic of their choice. Having recently experienced COVID-19, the world was a new place, and the nature of human relationships had changed significantly. Coming out of the pandemic, we related to our families differently, not necessarily worse, just differently. We also relied on social media to a significantly greater degree during the pandemic than we ever did before the lockdowns and quarantines.
For this assignment, Phoenix was interested in examining a unique kind of relationship described as a one-way relationship between an average person and the persona of a famous actor, actress, or social media influencer. These relationships are known as Parasocial Relationships (PSRs), and they have flourished since the advent of social media. In PSRs, ordinary people follow and know the ongoings of famous people’s lives, most commonly via social media. Typically, this is not a problem, and people maintain healthy boundaries with the famous people they follow. However, Phoenix also chose to conduct a deeper analysis of PSRs and how they might relate to depression, particularly when people get deeply involved with a relationship that is not giving them anything in return. Notably, Phoenix includes an interesting and consequential pre- internet history of a famous actress in the 1950s, and he takes a closer look at the potential outcomes when people heavily invest themselves in parasocial relationships.
Phoenix has worked diligently and patiently to get this paper to publication. He not only took on the work of dissecting scholarly sources and completing a paper for my course, but he also persevered through challenges beyond his control to produce this final manuscript. I am so proud of Phoenix for producing a nuanced analysis of a topic with which many people unwittingly engage. Whether we like to admit it or not, we can all enjoy seeing what rich or famous people are doing in their daily lives. Interesting outcomes occur as we get more involved with people who care nothing about us. To conclude, this paper is an excellent exercise in scholarship, research, and professional collaboration.
Recommended Citation
Disher, Phoenix
(2025)
"Parasocial Relationships and Depression,"
Quest: Vol. 9, Article 4.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/quest/vol9/iss1/4
Faculty Mentor
Joshua Arduengo
jarduengo@collin.edu