Self-Expansion through Fictional Characters

The prevalence of entertainment media in everyday life might offer unexpected social opportunities. The present paper examined whether cognitive overlap with the character and self-expansion occur as a result of exposure to fictional characters. Results of two studies indicated that transportation into a narrative leads to greater cognitive overlap with the character and perceived self-expansion. Providing a distinction between these two concepts, we found that cognitive overlap with the character increases to the extent the character represents one's actual self-guide; perceived self-expansion increases to the extent the character represents one's ideal self-guide. Together, these findings illustrate the nature of parasocial relationships and impact of entertainment media on the self.