What are Parasocial Relationships?

With the prevalence of media and the internet today, many of us have developed parasocial relationships without even realizing it. Think of your favorite character from a book or television show. If they died, you’d probably be pretty upset, right? It might even feel like you’ve lost a friend. It’s easy to feel like we’ve formed a connection to these characters, even though we know they’re not real. These connections are called parasocial relationships, and today we’re joined by Dr. Jaye Derrick from the University of Houston to learn all about them.