People who are obsessed with celebrities tend to score lower on measures of cognitive ability
by Eric W. Dolan January 3, 2022 in Cognitive Science
Cognitive performance is slightly reduced among those with higher levels of celebrity worship, according to a new study published in BMC Psychology.
“Interest in the topic of celebrity worshipers spans almost two decades. From several studies, over that period, research showed a weak to moderate tendency for those who showed the strongest admiration for their favorite celebrity to have lower cognitive skills, using a variety of cognitive measures,” explained study authors Lynn E. McCutcheon, Ágnes Zsila, and Zsolt Demetrovics in a joint statement to PsyPost.
“However, most of these studies did not control for a variety of extraneous variables. The current study did control for several possibly relevant variables.”
In the study, 1,763 Hungarian adults completed a 30-word vocabulary test and a digit symbol substitution test, a validated assessment of fluid intelligence. The researchers also collected data about the participants’ self-esteem, current family income, material wealth, and highest level of education.
Celebrity worship was measured using a scientific questionnaire known as the Celebrity Attitude Scale. The scale asks participants the extent to which they agree or disagree with statements such as “I often feel compelled to learn the personal habits of my favorite celebrity,” “I am obsessed by details of my favorite celebrity’s life,” and “If I were lucky enough to meet my favorite celebrity, and he/she asked me to do something illegal as a favor I would probably do it.”
Even after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic variables, the researchers found that high scores on the Celebrity Attitude Scale were associated with lower performance on the two cognitive ability tests.
“We found a weak tendency for those who showed the strongest admiration for their favorite celebrity to have lower cognitive skills, suggesting that the earlier results were not due just to chance,” the authors of the study said. “Our results also support previous findings showing that excessive behaviors such as celebrity worshiping can possibly impair cognitive functioning, presumably due to the increased focus and energy invested in this behavior that becomes dominant in the individual’s life.”
“Although celebrity admiration seems not to be a strong precursor of poorer cognitive performance, high levels of admiration can be regarded as one contributing factor to lowered performance in tasks requiring cognitive effort, independently from education or age.”
But it is unclear whether celebrity worship is the cause or consequence of reduced cognitive ability. For example, it “may be that individuals with higher levels of cognitive skills are more likely to understand the marketing strategies behind a famous person,” and thus less vulnerable to celebrity worship, the researchers explained. But it is also possible that celebrity worship functions like an addictive behavior and requires cognitive effort to be maintained.
Previous research has found that celebrity worship is associated with addictive and problematic social media use.
“Future studies should seek further support for our suggestion that the cognitive effort invested in maintaining the absorption in a favorite celebrity may interfere with the person’s performance in tasks that require attention and other cognitive skills,” the authors told PsyPost.
“Although our research does not prove that developing a powerful obsession with one’s favorite celebrity causes one to score lower on cognitive tests, it suggests that it might be wise to carefully monitor feelings for one’s favorite celebrity, keeping in mind that most celebrities are human beings who have some flaws just like average persons have.”
btw kajian ni berkenaan rabid fans yg 24/7 berkuntum di socmeds, setiap saat nak tahu perkembangan artis kesayangan - sanggup gaduh dgn sesiapa yg tak sealiran. apa yg sedeyh... the celebs wouldn't pee on them if they were on fire.
ai minat ikut musim... bosan la minat tahap kipas susah mati dgn celebs yg sama berthn2.
kalau teringat, datang balik la minat tu... mcm sleeper agent konsepnya
tu la. pernah terbaca kat twitter dan tumblr, bbrp artis ai minat dikutuk2 dan dicerca...
tp ai takda tenaga dan masa la nak defend. bukan dia org bg ai gaji dan medal pun
Post time 9-1-2022 10:48 PMFrom the mobile phone|Show all posts
Edited by Minami2013 at 9-1-2022 02:53 PM
I agak setuju dgn finding research ni. Setelah lama bergelumang kat bodgos. Sekarang i nk chill2 saje. Lebih tenang hidup. Mana betul kita puji. Mana tak betul kita maki (kalau lah boleh, nk maki dlm hati je). In the end, artis2 tu semua bkn boleh tlg kita ke syurga, silap haribulan tarik kita ke neraka.
Anyway, i tak mengefan mana2 artis. Cuma dulu suka backup artis2 yg i rase betul. Sekarang ni, lantak je lah.
Anyways... ai do love me some celeb drama, but not because of parasociality reasons.
It's for the same reasons peasants went to watch the rich get publicly guillotined in 1700s France.
Post time 10-1-2022 06:44 AMFrom the mobile phone|Show all posts
Edited by Dwdrum at 9-1-2022 02:51 PM
Obsess aka die hard fan akak memang tidak into celebrity personal life ikuti gossip depa.. Lebih kepada buang masa...yang boleh di penuhi activity dengan issue yang lebih penting dan ber guna... Somehow akak memang minat dan admire talent.. Ability dan hardwork depa..effort depa above avarage dari orang lain .... Mostly akak suka classical music compossers few djs... Sama seperti cabang arts yang lain.... Dunia akan sepi tanpa music...
Iols x pernah minat artis tahap obeses....cuma minat lagu2 je. lagu2 BBNU skrg pun iols obses wpun umur dah nk 50an..BTW iols minat sgt haqiem rusli dan ismail izani...muzik depa cool!
Post time 10-1-2022 07:49 AMFrom the mobile phone|Show all posts
mas zmn remaja tu ada juga mengidolakan diaorg tp zmn tu xde socmed jd hanya taw melalui surat khabar atau majalah, dah msk uni smp dah purba hanya minat lagu atau talent aje
kowser nk beriya menghentam yg ngutuk retis tu
Post time 10-1-2022 08:22 AMFrom the mobile phone|Show all posts
Back in those days, zaman dinasour I sgt into nkotb..minat gila ngan diaorg semua lagu hafal semua cassette ada poster beli magazine obesi yg harga rm10 a piece which was a lot that time sampai kena marah ngan my mum .siap pasang angan2 nak belajar kat USA because of them. Then somehow masuk sekolah menengah terus slowly lost interest then I discovered the Beatles and smashing pumpkins in that order.
Those were the days, yang takde soc med..seronok je minat retid that time.
Post time 9-1-2022 10:00 PM
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Post time 9-1-2022 11:05 PM
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