Celebrity-Persona Identification Scale

Abstract

The celebrity-persona parasocial identification scale (CPI) is designed to measure how media consumers develop identification with celebrities or popular fictional characters. Identification is defined as a persuasion process that occurs when an individual adopts the behavior or attitudes of another individual or group based on a self-defining relationship (Kelman, 1961, p. 63). Identification is a psychological orientation through which individuals define themselves based on their group membership and derive “strength and a sense of identity” from the affiliation (Kelman, 1961, p.64). Identification is a fundamental process of social change that has been discussed by several important theorists and social scientists. Freud (1922, p. 29) defined identification as “the earliest expression of an emotional tie with another person.” Lasswell (1965) also discussed the concept, referring to mass identifications such as nationalism. Johnson, Johnson and Heimberg (1999) traced the concept of identification to both Freud and Lasswell.