The identification with characters of fictional productions is one of the reasons that attract a large number of people to the screen. After all, this is the way that many find to observe themselves and even to know themselves. This isn't just common sense either, as a study published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media concluded that people who identify with characters series have endorsed personality traits.
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Is it common to identify with characters?
The study relates the association with characters to a parasocial type of behavior, where there is a unilateral identification. That's because ordinary people are able to bond with characters that are fictional and on shows where they are just spectators. This relationship can be born precisely from identification with the character, his attitudes and personality.
In this way, many people, especially young people, begin not only to find the character similar to them, but also to imitate what they see in fiction. Including, a classic form of expression of this involvement is the participation in fan groups. Generally, these groups bring together individuals who not only share a taste for the series, but also personality traits.
How do you meet fans?
To reach this conclusion, researchers conducted interviews with 829 fans of the cartoon “My Little Pony” in a Discord group. In this case, the scientists developed a questionnaire about how each fan identified with each of the characters through categories. Thus, it was studied how there was an identification relationship in questions such as humor, generosity, loyalty, honesty, kindness and friendship.
Thus, the results showed that people can identify more personality traits in characters that they also identify in themselves. This means that the way each person relates to a fictitious identity manages to reveal much of what each person is. Therefore, this study comes to the conclusion that parasocial relationships are more important than many people imagine.