Brief exposure to social media during the COVID-19 pandemic: Doom-scrolling has negative emotional consequences, but kindness-scrolling does not.

People often seek out information as a means of coping with challenging situations. Attuning to negative information can be adaptive because it alerts people to the risks in their environment, thereby preparing them for similar threats in the future. But is this behaviour adaptive during a pandemic when bad news is ubiquitous? We examine the emotional consequences of exposure to brief snippets of COVID-related news via a Twitter feed (Study 1), or a YouTube reaction video (Study 2). Compared to a no-information exposure group, consumption of just 2-4 minutes of COVID-related news led to immediate and significant reductions in positive affect (Studies 1 and 2) and optimism (Study 2). Exposure to COVID-related kind acts did not have the same negative consequences, suggesting that not all social media exposure is detrimental for well-being. We discuss strategies to counteract the negative emotional consequences of exposure to negative news on social media

People perceive parasocial relationships to be effective at fulfilling emotional needs

People regularly form one-sided, “parasocial” relationships (PSRs) with targets incapable of returning the sentiment. Past work has shown that people engage with PSRs to support complex psychological needs (e.g., feeling less lonely after watching a favorite movie). However, we do not know how people rate these relationships relative to traditional two-sided relationships in terms of their effectiveness in supporting psychological needs. The current research (Ntotal = 3085) examined how PSRs help people fulfil emotion regulation needs. In Studies 1 and 2, participants felt that both their YouTube creator and non-YouTube creator PSRs were more effective at fulfilling their emotional needs than in-person acquaintances, albeit less effective than close others. In Study 3, people with high self-esteem thought PSRs would be responsive to their needs when their sociometer was activated, just as they do with two-sided relationships

Parasocial relationships on YouTube reduce prejudice towards mental health issues

Intergroup contact has long been established as a way to reduce prejudice among society, but in-person interventions can be resource intensive and limited in reach. Parasocial relationships (PSRs) might navigate these problems by reaching large audiences with minimal resources and have been shown to help reduce prejudice in an extended version of contact theory. However, previous studies have shown inconsistent success. We assessed whether parasocial interventions reduce prejudice towards people with mental health issues by first creating a new PSR with a YouTube creator disclosing their experiences with borderline personality disorder. Our intervention successfully reduced explicit prejudice and intergroup anxiety. We corroborated these effects through causal analyses, where lower prejudice levels were mediated by the strength of parasocial bond. Preliminary findings suggest that this lower prejudice is sustained over time. Our results support the parasocial contact hypothesis and provide an organic method to passively reduce prejudice on a large scale

Social Media For Social Good : Understanding, creating, and harnessing the strength of parasocial relationships

Social media is often criticised for detracting users from the benefits of the ‘real’ world, but are there situations where the connections we form with social media personalities benefit us, despite them not knowing we exist? Across seven studies (n = 4491), this thesis focuses on the concept of parasocial relationships. Such one-sided connections formed by masses of viewers towards single parasocial targets can develop in multiple environments, but this research uses social media as a tool - specifically the connections formed by viewers towards creators on the YouTube platform - to explore parasocial relationships in three ways. Firstly, to understand the place of parasocial relationships in our social networks, and their influence on emotion regulation, wellbeing, and behaviour. Secondly, to determine the psychological mechanisms that create and strengthen one-sided relationships with parasocial targets, and thirdly, to establish whether the power of these relationships can be harnessed for prosocial change. The present research found that unidirectional parasocial ties were considered to be more effective at fulfilling emotional needs than bidirectional weak ties, and in some contexts, just as effective as bidirectional strong ties (e.g., close friends and family; Studies 1 & 2). Parasocial targets were also perceived as closer than, and just as responsive as, weak ties (e.g., acquaintances; Studies 1 & 2), perceptions that increased when participants felt strong ties were under threat (Study 3). Parasocial relationship strength also intensified wellbeing and behavioural outcomes of emotion regulation strategies (such as seeking information or focusing on positivity) during the coronavirus pandemic (Study 4). Further, unidirectional self-disclosure, in various forms, was established as a mechanism for creating parasocial relationships (Studies 5 & 6). Finally, parasocial relationships with someone disclosing about mental health issues resulted in lower levels of prejudice among society, encouraging prosocial societal change (Study 7)

People perceive parasocial relationships to be effective at fulfilling emotional needs

People regularly form one-sided, “parasocial” relationships (PSRs) with targets incapable of returning the sentiment. Past work has shown that people engage with PSRs to support complex psychological needs (e.g., feeling less lonely after watching a favorite movie). However, we do not know how people rate these relationships relative to traditional two-sided relationships in terms of their effectiveness in supporting psychological needs. The current research (Ntotal=3,085) examined how PSRs help people fulfil emotion regulation needs. In Studies 1 and 2, participants felt that both their YouTube creator and non-YouTube creator PSRs were more effective at fulfilling their emotional needs than in-person acquaintances, albeit less effective than close others. In Study 3, people with high self-esteem thought PSRs would be responsive to their needs when their sociometer was activated, just as they do with in-person relationships.</p