FANatics: Systematic literature review of factors associated with celebrity worship, and suggested directions for future research

Samantha K Brooks

doi:10.1007/s12144-018-9978-4

Abstract

A ‘culture of celebrity’ began to emerge in the twentieth century, profoundly impacting the social world. Recent years have seen the publication of an increasing wealth of literature focusing on people who are enthralled with celebrities – often to the point of obsession – termed ‘celebrity worshippers’. The current paper systematically reviews this literature to gain a comprehensive understanding of the various factors associated with celebrity worship and to identify gaps in the literature. Papers were identified through a systematic literature search and 62 were deemed relevant for inclusion in the review. These provided evidence that celebrity worship may be related to demographic factors (e.g. age); personality factors (e.g. dimensions of the psychoticism-extraversion-neuroticism model, materialism); religiosity; behavioural and cognitive-behavioural factors (e.g. fantasy proneness, obsessive behaviours); feelings about the self or the world (e.g. self-esteem); cognitive factors (e.g. cognitive flexibility, critical thinking); relationships with others (e.g. attachment style, romantic relationship style); attitudes towards the body, eating, and cosmetic surgery; and psychological wellbeing (e.g. depression, anxiety). The results are used to help researchers understand the individual and psychosocial factors associated with celebrity worship, and directions for future research in this area are identified.

Highlights

The proliferation of the media and rise of ‘celebrity culture’ in the late twentieth century has led psychologists to begin exploring the meanings that celebrities have in the lives of their audiences
Most used the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS) as a measure of CW; other scales included the Idol Worship Questionnaire (Yue and Cheung 2000), Expression of Idolization Scale (Raviv et al 1996), Obsessive Relational Intrusion and Celebrity Stalking Scale (McCutcheon et al 2006b), a short form of the Relationship Rating Form (Fraley and Davis 1997) to assess relationships with celebrities, the Public Figure Preoccupation Inventory (Sheridan et al 2006) and unique scales developed for the specific studies
This study found significant correlations between both intense-personal and borderline-pathological CW and obsessive, intrusive behaviours towards celebrities, in particular ‘persistent pursuit’ and ‘threat’

Summary

Introduction

The proliferation of the media and rise of ‘celebrity culture’ in the late twentieth century has led psychologists to begin exploring the meanings that celebrities have in the lives of their audiences. Research has considered fans’ attachments to their favourite celebrities; these (typically one-sided) relationships are taken very seriously and seen as central to the identities and emotional lives of fans (Hackley and Hackley 2016). Many researchers recommend viewing parasocial relationships with celebrities as an extension of normal, everyday social interaction not dissimilar to real relationships (Branch et al 2013; Giles 2002; Greenwood et al 2008), and attachment to celebrities as a normal part of development in the areas of intimacy and identity (Greene and Adams-Price 1990; Stever 2011a; Larson 1995)

Methods

Results

Conclusion