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Rubin, Perse, and Powel (1985) modify Levy’s scale into a
20-item scale, also to measure parasocial interaction with television
newscasters, with a range from “strongly disagree” to
“strongly agree”. They then eliminate nine redundant
items from the scale. Some items included in the scale are “I
feel sorry for my favorite newscaster when he makes a mistake”,
“ I look forward to watching my favorite newscaster on tonight’s
news”. Variations of the 20-item scale are used to measure
parasocial interaction with soap characters (Rubin, & Perse,
1987), comedians (Auter, 1992), TV shopping host (Grant, Guthrie,
& Rokeach, 1991), and favorite TV personalities (Rubin &
McHugh 1987; Turner, 1993). A. M. Rubin & Pearse (1987) condense
the scale to 10 items, still with high internal reliability and
internal correlation with the 20-item scale.
Qualitative research of parasocial interaction is undertaken by
scholars evaluating not only dimensions and sub-dimensions of parasocial
interaction (Sood & Rogers 2000), but also effects of entertainment-education
initiatives (Papa et. al. 2000).
According to Rubin & Pearse (1987) three dimensions of parasocial
interaction between the audience and the media character or the
media program can be identified. These dimensions are recognized
as affective interaction, cognitive interaction, and behavioral
interaction. Liebes & Katz (1986) identify audience referential
and critical involvement as components of the audience interaction
with the television soap opera Dallas. Sood & Rogers (2000)
argue that the concept of parasocial interaction should include
sub-dimensions of affective oriented, behavioral, cognitive, and
critical and referential involvement, which are further explained.
Affective oriented parasocial interaction refers to the level at
which an audience member reacts positively to or rejects a media
character. Sood (2000) extends this notion to audience identification
with important components of the program, such as the environment,
a place or a community (Sood, 2002). Researchers contend that the
greater the identification with a character, the more likely that
character’s behavior will influence the audience at the attitudinal
and behavioral level (Papa et. al. 2000).
In the case of this study, affective interaction is also translated
into the identification with the characters that represent the telenovela’s
Muslim world, and also its cultural theme. Affective oriented parasocial
interaction can be clearly identified in the following examples
from messages posted in “El Clon” Telenovela World’s
forum. All the messages presented in this study are in their original
form:
- GRRRRRRR!!! I was BEYOND FURIOUS when I saw Said give his bedroom
key to Nazira, making Jade look like a chump. All of la Medina
would have heard me cursing and screaming, that’s for sure!
If there’s one thing I value….it’s my PRIVACY.
That would have been the end of the marriage. HAH! I would never
tolerate my husband putting his sister before me like that. No
way toots! No way in hell would I tolerate such a marriage. I
would have packed my bags, said “Feet, don’t fail
me now”, and I would have never looked back. How outrageously
infuriating!
- Gloria Perez is a genius. She managed to take characters like
Nazira and, over time, make us change our opinions of them. In
the beginning I couldn't stand Nazira, she was so bossy, demanding,
nasty, etc.
But then came all the fairy-tale stories she told and I loved every
one of them. Those were some of the funniest scenes in the novela.
But the best Nazira moment was when she had pity on Jade and allowed
her to see Kadija behind Said's back. I thought she was magnificent
then, and it showed that beneath all the nastiness was a woman who's
dreams had been frustrated by her brothers but who had a woman's
tender heart after all--and a woman's courage. She did what was
right--and was always good to the children in the family.
Cognitive oriented parasocial interaction is the degree to which
viewers focus on a media character and reflect about the character’s
behavior (Papa et. al., 2000). In a broader understanding, Sood
& Rogers (2000) define cognitive interaction as: “…The
degree to which audience members pay careful attention to the educational
content of a soap opera episode, reflecting on its meaning and importance.”
(p.390)
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