'Just a media figure or something else?' : Psychologists explain why people are so interested in Taylor Swift's wedding

So it's gonna be forever... While Taylor Swift may have said she feels 'so high school' being with her now-husband Travis Kelce, the couple's fans are no less. It seems like the entire world has been scouring through the depths of the internet to find out some photos or details about the much-awaited wedding between the country singer and Chief's player.

From wedding guests to wedding favours and even the bouquet, some information has finally started to seep in from the hush-hush affair, but still, the world is waiting with bated breath for the wedding photos or videos.While Swift and Kelce form a popular pair due to their professional backgrounds, it seems it is not just professionally that people are interested in the pair's vows. There is something deeply personal about the attachment that the world has to this love story and psychologists have explained just what it is.

A stalking interest

We were all there when they fell in love, went public with their relationship, got engaged and belted out cheers for each other across stadiums. But when she walked down the aisle and he cried during the vows, no one got a glimpse. And this sheer fact has been eating away at thousands of people across the globe."Love Taylor and I'm excited for her wedding… hopefully we see a picture," wrote one Reddit user."I BADLY WANT her to be happy," wrote another.

Those who didn't comment on Reddit or scroll through their phones obsessively, were down at the Madison Square Garden, awaiting an unexpected glimpse or just supporting their favourite couple in spirit. To non-Swifties, this level of investment might seem a bit over the top or too much.But according to psychologists, feeling socially or emotionally close to a media figure, so much so that they feel like a friend, isn't necessarily an obsession.

'It's nice to have a friend...'

According to Bradley Bond, who researches media psychology at the University of San Diego (USD), these types of responses are perfectly normal. In fact, they may even be beneficial.The professional takes a social psychological approach to investigating our relationships with celebrities and fictional characters. He told ScienceAlert that research suggests we have similar emotional responses to media figures as we do to people we know personally, though they are typically less intense."Basically, our minds process personhood similarly regardless of whether we are processing the person standing in front of us or on a screen," Bond explained. He added that humans know the difference between interpersonal interactions and watching television, for example, but our minds are still processing individuals as persons and in turn considering them as people.Being online has led to the development of parasocial relationships, where one becomes particularly invested in the life of an on-screen person.

It is the outcome of the human brain being primed for empathy and for syncing up with the emotions of others.This is one of the only examples of modern media being used for positive psychological well-being. While parasocial relationships may be one-sided and unrequited, recent psychology studies suggest that media figures can help people feel less hopeless and may provide them with a stronger identity and well-being."When something good happens to a media figure that we feel socially connected to, we are happy for them," said Bond. "When something bad happens, we can get sad for them. Really, it's the basic nature of empathy underlying these potential emotional effects of milestones."Swift has always been public with her relationships, often revealing great details about them in her songs. Thus, her fans have mostly been privy to her love life and being shooed away from what is considered the epitome of it has them anxious.

Lindsey Conlin Maxwell, a psychologist at the University of Southern Mississippi and a self-identified Swiftie, largely agrees with Bond.She told the media outlet that strong parasocial relationships "could definitely explain" why Swifties are emotionally invested in the upcoming wedding. "We have spent the last 20 years listening to her music and building up these relationships with her, and so even though it's a one-sided relationship where she doesn't know us individually, we as Swifties feel as if we know her and like we've been through the emotional ups and downs with her," Maxwell said.

"So, the wedding is no different; we feel like we're involved."

Feelings and facts

Moreover, Maxwell thinks that part of the reason why fans feel so close to Swift is due to the power of music, which can evoke strong emotions and help people feel connected to others. "Even though most of her fans have never met her personally, the parasocial bond we have through the music makes it feel real," she said.Though, the experts want everyone to be clear that the love for Swift is not identical to a person's feelings for a real friend or family member.

Maxwell added that an average fan, even those with strong parasocial relationships and a lot of investment in the singer's music can recognise that it's her life and her milestone, not theirs."The negative connotation is that people with parasocial relationships are obsessed or unhealthily preoccupied, when in reality most people can easily recognise that the relationship is one-sided, and that's okay."Brain scan studies, support the idea. They suggest that the human brain doesn't treat celebrities like Taylor Swift as a person you actually know, but they are strangers to the nervous system.

For instance, in a 2020 study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, scientists conducted brain scans on 43 participants while they thought about themselves, loved ones, or celebrities. They found that the human brain maps people based on whether they are in our social network and how close we are to them.

Celebrities were processed slightly further from the 'self' than family or friends were.Another brain scan study, published in Brain Sciences in 2023, revealed that the human brain "clearly distinguishes between influencers or other celebrities and close people out of real life even though subjective feelings of closeness and trust can be similar."But are there no negative outcomes at all? According to Bond, if parasocial relationships replace real-life friends or interfere with everyday lives and routines, that is when they can have a negative effect on the mind. "If we transition from feeling like a media figure is a friend to perceiving a media figure as a deity, this can be problematic," he said.Friendship is okay, just don't level up to motherhood, maybe.