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Transcript
Chapter 14 Update - September 2005 I’m your biggest fan - what makes a celebrity worshipper worship Shakespeare, in his day, probably had his fervent fans, but the explosion of media available in the 21st century means that people can gorge themselves on as much information about celebrities as they want. According to research, fans (or ‘celebrity worshippers’) tend to be adolescents or young adults and enjoy ‘game-playing’ in romantic relationships. They appear to be no more or less shy or lonely than is normal but the degree of worship has been associated with psychological disorder. Some fans can cross the conventional line between worshipping at a distance and becoming overlyobsessed by their idol. Maltby, McCutcheon and their colleagues have developed a scale in which celebrity worship is characterised in three ways (Maltby et al, 2001; McCutcheon et al, 2002). Low levels of worship are characterised as having entertainment-social value (e.g., ‘My friends and I like to discuss what my favourite celebrity has done’). Intermediate levels are expressed in attitudes such as ‘I consider my favourite celebrity to be my soul mate’ (intense-personal value). Extreme levels, called borderline-pathological, are expressed in views such as ‘If I were lucky enough to meet my celebrity, and he/she asked me to do something illegal as a favour, I would probably do it’. These three variants of worship may be underpinned by Eysenck’s three personality types: extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism. Those expressing low levels of worship, for example, tend to be extravert (sociable, lively, active, etc), those expressing intermediate levels tend to be neurotic (tense, moody, emotional), and those showing evidence of borderline pathological attitudes express some of the traits seen in the psychoticism scale, such as impulsivity and anti-social behaviour (Maltby et al, 2003). To examine the relationship between celebrity worship, personality and mental health, Maltby et al (2004) administered measures of celebrity worship, personality, coping style, stress, general health and life satisfaction to 372 members of the public, recruited from workplaces and community areas in the north of England. No attempt was made to control for previous or current history of mental illness. In the sample, 15% were classified as showing the entertainment-social attitudes; 55 the intense-personal attitudes and 1% the pathological attitudes. The researchers found that, as predicted in their previous study, the three levels of worship were significantly correlated with personality type. They suggest that celebrity worshippers who follow their idols for entertainment or social reasons are extravert, seek information and support and are open in showing their emotions. Those who follow their idols for intense or personal reasons are neurotic. Those at the extreme end were more likely to use humour to cope with life, to use drink and drugs and to be non-religious. Surprisingly, only one level of worship was associated with mental health problems. Those celebrity worshipping for intense-personal reasons had poorer general health (depression, anxiety and social dysfunction), expressed more negative affect (stress and low life satisfaction) and did not cope effectively with everyday life events. The researchers suggest that these problems may be underpinned by personality style (neuroticism) - one that reflects a disengagement from life. Maltby, J., Day, L., McCutcheon, L.E., Gillett, R., Houran, J. & Ashe, D.D. (2004). Personality and coping: A context for examining celebrity worship and mental health. British Journal of Psychology, 95, 411-428. Maltby, J., Houran, J. & McCutcheon, L.E. (2003). Locating celebrity worship within Eysenck’s personality dimensions. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 191, 25-29. Maltby, J., McCutcheon, L.E., Ashe, D.D. & Houran, J. (2001). The self-reported psychological well-being of celebrity worshippers. North American Journal of Psychology, 3, 441-452. McCutcheon, L.E., Lange, R. & Houran, J. (2002). Conceptualization and measurement of celebrity worship. British Journal of Psychology, 93, 67-87.