Comment on AI-created “virtual influencers” are stealing business from humans

• GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Not sure if “friend” is quite the right word, but parasocial interaction is extremely common. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasocial_interaction

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  • wikibot@lemmy.world [bot] ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Here’s the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:

    Parasocial interaction (PSI) refers to a kind of psychological relationship experienced by an audience in their mediated encounters with performers in the mass media, particularly on television and on online platforms. Viewers or listeners come to consider media personalities as friends, despite having no or limited interactions with them. PSI is described as an illusory experience, such that media audiences interact with personas (e.g., talk show hosts, celebrities, fictional characters, social media influencers) as if they are engaged in a reciprocal relationship with them. The term was coined by Donald Horton and Richard Wohl in 1956.A parasocial interaction, an exposure that garners interest in a persona, becomes a parasocial relationship after repeated exposure to the media persona causes the media user to develop illusions of intimacy, friendship, and identification. Positive information learned about the media persona results in increased attraction, and the relationship progresses. Parasocial relationships are enhanced due to trust and self-disclosure provided by the media persona.Media users are loyal and feel directly connected to the persona, much as they are connected to their close friends, by observing and interpreting their appearance, gestures, voice, conversation, and conduct. Media personas have a significant amount of influence over media users, positive or negative, informing the way that they perceive certain topics or even their purchasing habits. Studies involving longitudinal effects of parasocial interactions on children are still relatively new, according to developmental psychologist Sandra L. Calvert.Social media introduces additional opportunities for parasocial relationships to intensify because it provides more opportunities for intimate, reciprocal, and frequent interactions between the user and persona. These virtual interactions may involve commenting, following, liking, or direct messaging. The consistency in which the persona appears could also lead to a more intimate perception in the eyes of the user.

    ^article^ ^|^ ^about^

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• General_Effort@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I guess it’s answered. On some level, our brain decides that some perfect strangers are friends or family. How else would one explain that we follow gossip about the lives and relationships of people that we, almost certainly, will never meet?

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  • voidMainVoid@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It seems reasonable to me that you could admire somebody without thinking that they’re a friend or family. That’s what being a fan is. Some of the more extreme fans are going to want to know intimate details about the object of their admiration. I don’t see how it’s different from any other obsessive hobbyist.

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    • General_Effort@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      That’s probably true in some contexts. But how many, EG, Raspberry Pi enthusiasts know the name of the senior engineer, let alone their relationship status?

      I’m sure you can admire someone’s music or writing without caring one bit about their personal life. But I don’t think you could say the same about an actor. What’s more important for your life: movies or smartphones? So why do we know the names of so many actors but not scientists or engineers?

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