According to Feilitzen and Linne (1975),
[Feilitzen, C., & Linne, O. (1975). Identifying with television characters. Journal of Communication, 25, 51–55.] wishful identification is the extension of
identification
Identification or identify may refer to:
*Identity document, any document used to verify a person's identity
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Identify'' (album) by Got7, 2014
* "Identify" (song), by Natalie Imbruglia, 1999
* Identification ( ...
, which refers to people’s desire to become or to act in the same way as a certain
media character. The majority of research about wishful identification has focused on its impacts on media users’
intimate relationship
An intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Although an intimate relationship is commonly a sexual relationship, it may also be a non-sexual relationship involving family, friends, or ...
s with, attachment to, identification with, imitation of, or interaction with
media figures. From this perspective, research into effects of wishful identification are helpful to understand how mediated messages can be effectively conveyed, and how mediated behaviors and figures can be shaped to positively influence
social attitude
In psychology, attitude is a psychological construct that is a mental and emotional entity that inheres or characterizes a person, their attitude to approach to something, or their personal view on it. Attitude involves their mindset, outlook an ...
s and
behaviors
Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as well ...
.
Participants in relevant
research
Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...
primarily consist of children and adolescents, as they do not have significant life and social experience (
Bandura, 1977;
Hoffner, 1996
[Hoffner, C. (1996). Children’s wishful identification and parasocial interaction with favorite television characters. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 40, 389–402.]). They have greater needs than adults for
role model
A role model is a person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people. The term ''role model'' is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton, who hypothesized that individuals compare themselves ...
s so that they as children may develop and adjust their own social behaviors. As mentioned by Comstock (1993),
[Comstock, G. (1993). The medium and the society: The role of television in American life. In G. L. Berry, & J. K. Asamen (Eds.), children and television: Images in a changing sociocultural world (pp. 117-131). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.] “
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
is a catalogue of modes of behavior; whether they affect what viewers do depends on their being taken as rewarding, acceptable, and applicable” (p. 128).
Wishful Identification & Identification
There has been some inconsistency in the definition of identification. Some researchers define identification as hoping to be a certain media figure, to be in a certain mediated situation of that media figure, or to act a similar way to that media figure. However, this definition is not applied as widely as the one introduced by Cohen (2001):
[Cohen, J. (2001). Defining identification: A theoretical look at identification of audiences with media characters. Mass Communication & Society, 4, 245-264.] “a mechanism through which
audience member
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), o ...
s experience reception and interpretation of the text from the inside, as if the events were happening to them.” While identification is characterized as sharing media figures’
points of view,
vicarious participation, and imaginability, wishful identification focuses on media users’ desire and tendency.
Wishful Identification & Perceived Similarity
Perceived similarity is found to be a significant predictor of wishful identification (Hoffner & Cantor, 1991).
[Hoffner, C., & Cantor, J. (1991). Perceiving and responding to mass media characters. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Responding to the screen: Reception and reaction processes (pp. 63–101). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.] Perceived similarity can predict not only media users’ desire to be a certain media character, but also the level of that desire.
Wishful Identification & Imitation
In early research and some recent research,
imitation
Imitation (from Latin ''imitatio'', "a copying, imitation") is a behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's behavior. Imitation is also a form of that leads to the "development of traditions, and ultimately our culture. I ...
is an interchangeable word for wishful identification. Hoffner (1996)
defines imitation as a “desire to be like or behave in ways similar to a character” (p. 19). The limitation of this conceptualization, however, is apparent. The essence of wishful identification is media users’ desire, but imitation is not about people’s expectations; rather, it is about modeling, either for
identity
Identity may refer to:
* Identity document
* Identity (philosophy)
* Identity (social science)
* Identity (mathematics)
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film
* ''Identity'' (2003 film), ...
or for behavior. While wishful identification implies anything but an actual
emulating action, the best nature of imitation is action.
References
{{reflist
Identity (social science)