parasocial

adjective

para·​so·​cial ˌper-ə-ˈsō-shəl 

ˌpa-rə-

: relating to or involving a one-sided emotional connection with someone (especially a celebrity or fictional character) whom one does not know personally

… parasocial …—a term coined in 1956 to describe the connection between television viewers and a new class of entertainment personalities, including announcers, game-show hosts and anyone else who spoke in direct address to the camera.

—Jamie Lauren Keiles

"Most of these relationships originate when someone is admired at a distance," says Gayle Stever, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Empire State College/State University of New York who researches parasocial attachment. "Lack of reciprocity is a defining feature." Most occur through media, but they may also form in other settings, like with a professor, pastor, or someone you see around campus, she notes.

—Jake Smith

… we all partake in parasocial interactions. We mentally interact with characters we watch on TV, or the characters in books we're reading, or podcasts we listen to.

—Shayla Love

Platforms like Twitter have transformed the nature of parasocial relationships, both intensifying them and making them harder to define, as more celebrities actively interact with fans and share personal information.

—Lauren Young

Word History

Etymology

para- entry 1 + social entry 1

Note: The word was introduced by the American sociologists Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl (1921-57) in "Mass Communication and Para-social Interaction: Observations on Intimacy at a Distance," Psychiatry, vol. 19 (1956), issue 3, pp. 215-29.

First Known Use

1956, in the meaning defined above