The psychology of celebrity worship

Kerry Justich and Sam Matthews

When does being a fan of someone go from normal and healthy to a serious problem? Well, it depends on the person and the behavior — but there is a psychology to celebrity worship. Yahoo Life’s Kerry Justich explains how media trends led to the study of parasocial relationships and how psychologists categorize the phenomenon on a “celebrity attitude scale.”

Video Transcript

KERRY JUSTICH: When does being a fan of someone go from normal and healthy to a serious problem? Well, it depends on the person and the behavior. But there is a psychology to celebrity worship. Back in the 1950s, as television and television personalities became commonplace, social scientists developed the concept of parasocial relationships, one-sided relationships that people have with celebrities and public figures. The idea being that with more exposure to the details of a famous person's life, some people begin to feel like they actually know that person.

Now, celebrity worship takes that idea step further. And while it is considered a continuum, it's measured by a questionnaire called the Celebrity Attitude Scale, which breaks behaviors down into three levels. Level 1 is interest in a celebrity for entertainment purposes. Learning the life story of my favorite celebrity is a lot of fun. It's something you might agree with at this level of fandom.

Level 2 refers to a person who more deeply and personally identifies with their favorite celebrity. "I consider my favorite celebrity to be my soulmate" would be true for somebody at this level. Level 3 illustrates a more severe impact on a fan's behaviors or attitudes. "If I were lucky enough to meet my favorite celebrity and he or she asked me to do something illegal as a favor, I would probably do it" is a statement that a celebrity worshipper would agree with.

According to growing research, an extreme obsession with celebrities might also indicate certain psychological maladies that already exist in a person. But don't worry, embracing your inner fangirl isn't a problem on its own. One researcher I talked to told me that being a fan "can actually help young people to develop their sense of identity and what kind of person they want to be." And sharing fandom can be a way to cultivate community. Just don't take it too far.