Parasocial - SCARS Institute - Encyclopedia Of Scans - World's #1 Anti-Scam Website

Parasocial — Parasocial describes a one-sided psychological connection in which a person feels familiarity, affection, loyalty, or intimacy toward someone who does not know them personally or share a reciprocal relationship with them. Such as when a romance scam victim retains their one sided relationship with an impersonated person. These connections develop around celebrities, performers, influencers, media personalities, and fictional characters through repeated exposure to their appearance, voice, stories, or content. The feelings are real for the person experiencing them, even though the perceived closeness does not reflect mutual personal knowledge or commitment. In celebrity impersonation scams, criminals exploit an existing parasocial attachment to make fraudulent claims of personal attention, friendship, or romance more emotionally convincing. Social Psychology

Added September 30, 2026

SCARS Institute Editorial Team2026-09-30T03:05:03-04:00September 30th, 2026|

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