Lesson 4.3.2.3

4.3.2.3 Online and parasocial relationships Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 3

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.3.2.3, Online and parasocial relationships: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Psychology (7182), Unit 3: Issues and options in Psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. How does the absence of gating affect online relationships?

    • Anyone can contact anyone else without the usual social barriers, so people may form relationships more easily
    • Online relationships are blocked from forming by platform rules
    • Online relationships are always restricted to people from the same country
    • Online contact requires both people to be physically present

  2. What does self-disclosure in online relationships tend to be like compared with face-to-face contact?

    • It is identical in every way to face-to-face disclosure
    • It can be faster and more intimate, because people feel less exposed and rely on text rather than appearance
    • It only happens when both partners have met in person
    • It is always less intimate, because text prevents any emotional disclosure

  3. What is deception in online relationships?

    • Telling a partner the truth about a difficult event in their past
    • Presenting a false identity or misrepresenting oneself to another person online
    • Ending an online relationship in a clear and honest way
    • Sharing a personal photograph with a close friend

  4. Which is a risk associated with the use of deception in online relationships?

    • Deception always improves the accuracy of self-disclosure
    • Trust is damaged when the other person discovers the true identity or the misrepresentation
    • Deception removes the need for any further contact
    • The relationship becomes automatically more committed

  5. What is a parasocial relationship?

    • A relationship formed only between two people who have never used social media
    • A two-way close friendship formed through face-to-face contact
    • A legal partnership between two people in a business arrangement
    • A one-sided relationship in which a person feels close to a media figure who does not know them personally

  6. Which level of parasocial relationship involves a moderate level of interest and a sense of being connected to a media figure?

    • The borderline pathological level
    • The social-exchange level
    • The intense-personal level
    • The entertainment-social level

  7. Which level of parasocial relationship is characterised by intense feelings and obsessive thinking about the media figure?

    • The filter level
    • The attachment-free level
    • The entertainment-social level
    • The intense-personal level

  8. What is the borderline pathological level of parasocial relationships?

    • The level at which the fan is simply entertained by a film
    • The level at which the fan buys a book written by a media figure
    • The most extreme level, involving compulsive behaviour and an inability to distinguish the media figure's life from one's own
    • The level at which the fan talks to friends about a television show

  9. What does the absorption-addiction model propose about parasocial relationships?

    • As a fan's absorption in a media figure increases, it may progress towards addictive, compulsive behaviour
    • Parasocial relationships always remain harmless regardless of how intense they become
    • Parasocial relationships are caused only by genetic inheritance
    • Parasocial relationships cannot involve any emotional attachment at all

  10. How does the attachment theory explanation account for parasocial relationships?

    • Attachment theory claims that parasocial relationships form only in adulthood
    • Attachment theory says parasocial relationships are caused only by reinforcement from television
    • Insecure attachment styles may lead people to seek a secure bond with a media figure that feels safe and predictable
    • Attachment theory states that parasocial bonds never relate to early experience

  11. Which is a strength of research into online relationships?

    • It proves that all online relationships are harmful
    • It always uses random allocation to conditions
    • It avoids the need for any ethical considerations
    • It can examine how behaviour differs when physical cues are absent, which helps clarify the role of appearance

  12. Which is a limitation of research into parasocial relationships?

    • Much of the evidence is correlational, so it cannot show that a particular cause produces the parasocial bond
    • It always involves the random allocation of participants to conditions
    • It is impossible to measure fan attitudes in any way
    • It relies entirely on animal studies

  13. A fan feels close to a television presenter and talks about them with friends, but has no intense or compulsive feelings. Which level does this best fit?

    • The intense-personal level
    • The absorption-addiction level
    • The borderline pathological level
    • The entertainment-social level

  14. A fan spends hours each day thinking about a celebrity and feels distressed when the celebrity is absent from the media. Which level does this best fit?

    • The social-exchange level
    • The filter level
    • The intense-personal level
    • The entertainment-social level

  15. Why might online relationships allow more self-disclosure than face-to-face relationships in some cases?

    • Face-to-face contact always prevents any kind of self-disclosure
    • Online relationships are always conducted in real time with video
    • Online relationships require people to be identical in age and background
    • Reduced physical cues and social exposure can make people feel safer to reveal personal information

  16. Evaluate the claim that parasocial relationships are always harmful.

    • This is correct, since parasocial relationships cannot provide any emotional benefit
    • This is an overgeneralisation, since many parasocial relationships are harmless and only some become compulsive or distressing
    • This is correct, since all parasocial relationships lead to addiction
    • This is correct, since parasocial relationships only exist among people with a diagnosed disorder

  17. Which combination of features best describes online relationships?

    • Physical proximity, complementary traits and no contact
    • Full gating, no self-disclosure and guaranteed honesty
    • Random allocation, a control group and no contact
    • Reduced gating, possibly greater self-disclosure and a risk of deception

  18. Why might a person disclose more personal information in an online relationship than they would in a face-to-face meeting?

    • Online relationships require both partners to share the same age and background
    • Reduced physical cues and social exposure can make disclosure feel safer and quicker
    • Online contact always takes place in real time with video
    • Face-to-face meetings always make disclosure impossible

  19. What does the absence of gating mean for people forming online relationships?

    • Only people with the same postal code can contact each other online
    • Online contact is blocked unless both people have met in person first
    • All online relationships are monitored by a central authority before they begin
    • Social and physical barriers that normally limit who can contact whom are reduced, so connections form more easily

  20. A researcher finds that people who report higher parasocial attachment also show more insecure attachment in their close relationships. Which explanation does this best support?

    • Hard determinism, in which parasocial attachment is fixed by chromosomes
    • Attachment theory, in which insecure attachment may make a one-sided bond with a media figure more attractive
    • Duck's phase model, in which parasocial attachment marks the dyadic phase
    • Filter theory, in which social demography determines parasocial attachment

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