{"id":2970,"date":"2025-12-17T10:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T13:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ufpb.br\/efopli\/?page_id=2970"},"modified":"2025-12-19T16:02:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T19:02:32","slug":"parasocial","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ufpb.br\/efopli\/projeto-saber-conectado\/word-of-the-year-series\/parasocial\/","title":{"rendered":"Parasocial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Saber Conectado, 18 December 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year the Cambridge Dictionary team reunites to search and study data to decide which word deserves the title of Word of the Year. The team explains how the selection process works: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we choose the Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year, we have three considerations: user data, zeitgeist, and language. Which word was looked up most, or spiked? Which one really captures what was happening in that year? And what is interesting about this word from a language point of view?\u201d\u202f(Rundell, 2024).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, on November 18th, the chosen word was parasocial<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As social media intensifies the intimacy that fans feel with their adored celebrities, and with the rise in popularity of AI companions that can take on personalities, the word for these one-way relationships \u2013 parasocial \u2013 is having its own moment.” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parasocial definition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cambridge dictionary defines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

parasocial – adjective<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc., or an artificial intelligence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collocations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

parasocial relationship, parasocial relation, parasocial interaction, parasocial connection, parasocial grief, and parasocial breakup<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parasocial relationship: Psychologists have long known that people can engage in parasocial relationships with fictional characters;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parasocial relation<\/em>: Parasocial relations could bring the same benefits to young people as social relationships;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parasocial interaction<\/em>: People who experience parasocial interactions (PSIs) come to consider media personalities, such as movie stars and influencers, as friends, despite having no interactions with them;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parasocial connection<\/em>: parasocial connection Toddlers have a tendency to form parasocial connections with characters they encounter in TV shows;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parasocial grief<\/strong>: Grieving someone you’ve never met is called parasocial grief, and a lot of us are feeling it over the death of the young star;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parasocial breakup<\/strong>: Those who go through the termination of a parasocial relationship \u2013 a parasocial breakup \u2013 can experience feelings of grief and loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Context<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the editorial by the Cambridge Dictionary (2025), “Lookups of parasocial<\/em> on the Cambridge Dictionary spiked on June 30, 2025, when the YouTube streamer IShowSpeed blocked a fan who identified as his \u201cnumber 1 parasocial\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the public figure’s context, when Taylor Swift announced her engagement with Travis Kelce, many fans felt a deep connection to them, even though most had never met them; \u201cMillions of fans related to Taylor Swift\u2019s confessional lyrics about dating, heartbreak and desire, leading to what psychologists describe as “parasocial” bonds with stars\u201d (Cambridge English, 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is an article writen bu Milmo (2025) on The Guardian<\/a>, with an example of the word parasocial<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Image source: The Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the video below, Professor Simone Schnall (Professor of Experimental Social Psychology, University of Cambridge) explanes how and why people form parasocial relationships:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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