Broadcasting and schizophrenia

The seeming face-to-face relationship between spectator and performer they called a pan-social relationship, and para-social interaction was the simulacrum of conversational give and take between the two roles. Though they paid most attention to the psychology of fans, they were clear that media performers actively put on interactive styles. Every attempt possible is made by broadcast institutions to strengthen the illusion of reciprocity and rapport in order to offset the inherent impersonality of the media themselves. Here, Peters explores the peculiar ways that the practitioners and audiences of broadcasting had to learn to think about impersonal and interpersonal address, pushing media history into the rich and under-explored field of psychiatry. He also examines thought broadcasting, a key first-rank symptom of schizophrenia.