4 - Online celebrity culture (L4; Giles & Maltby; Liebers & Schramm)

Question 1

What are three ways to get famous? (HC)

Answer 1

1. Ascribed
2. Achieved
3. Attributed

Question 2

What does ‘ascribed’ fame mean? (HC)

Answer 2

Fame that is ascribed to you. You receive it. Mostly because of your background, they dont choose to be famous. Dont have any talents. E.g. the royal family.

Question 3

What does ‘achieved’ fame mean? (HC)

Answer 3

Fame that you achieved because you did something special. This is what we mostly see as ‘fame’. E.g. singer, actor, sports, social influencers (=creative talent).

Question 4

What does ‘attributed’ fame mean? (HC)

Answer 4

You become famous for a very short time, it peaks and then it declines again. Fame is a consequence of something they did and its not necessarily something they are looking for. E.g. participation in a reality-tv show or you did something heroic and you come in the news.

Question 5

We need to see celebrities as a construct. Explain this (HC)

Answer 5

There is a backstage: personality of celebrity. Frontstage is the representation of the celebrity in the media. How does the celebrity want to represent themselves in front of everybody? And Interpretation that is made by audience. Audiences can make their own presentations, and can impact how the celebrity is going to present themselves in the future.

Question 6

What are four motives/gratifications why there is an interest in celebrities? (HC)

Answer 6

1. Information
2. Entertainment
3. Role modelling function
4. Social bonding

Question 7

Explain ‘information’ motive why celebreties are interesting (HC)

Answer 7

In literature we see two types of learning, 1) cultural learning what is you learn something about the social norms in society. For example what kind of behavior is acceptable and what is not, e.g. a celebrity is being punished for something they said, and then you see its not okay to make a statement like that or the impact of drugs. And 2) vicarious learning has to do with how to become famous and how do you behave to be famous.

Question 8

Explain ‘entertainment’ motive why celebreties are interesting (HC)

Answer 8

Funny and nice to follow. It’s a playful way of showing off and playing with other people’s values and judgements (Hermes). Its safe to gossip about them because it looks like there is not negative consequence about it.

Question 9

Definition Schadenfreude (HC)

Answer 9

Schadenfreude is that especially rumors and negative celebrity gossip make you feel better about your own life.

Question 10

Explain ‘role modelling function’ motive why celebreties are interesting (HC)

Answer 10

Refers to someone you look up to, you want to be like this person. Celebrities are used a lot as role models, especially in adolescence when they work on their identity development. There is a social transition stage in adolescence where celebrities become important (between parents and peers), where they get much inspiration online.

Question 11

What does the Prestige bias theory says? (HC)

Answer 11

The prestige bias theory says that people are more likely to take over attitudes or behavior from people that are more prestigious then they are.

Question 12

Explain ‘social bonding’ motive why celebreties are interesting (HC)

Answer 12

The relationship you develop with celebrities is called secondary attachments, which means its not the most important one and not in your direct environment, but the people you know via indirect environment. They have social and emotional functions, e.g. feeling less lonelily. And that is possible through parasocial interactions.

Question 13

Definition Parasocial interactions (HC)

Answer 13

These are interactions between a media figure and someone from the audience. The person of the audience has the feeling or an intimate social interaction with a media figure, despite knowing that it is only a illusion.

Question 14

What does the life span development theory says about parasocial relationships? (HC)

Answer 14

During our life we have several transitional stages wherein we change a lot in identity development. During these stages we doubt a lot about who we are and who we want to be, so you are in an instable situation and in those stages we see that more parasocial relationships have been developed. They look for stability in relationship they create with media figures.

Question 15

What are three levels of parasocial relationships? (HC)

Answer 15

1. Innocent
2. Absorption
3. Addiction

Question 16

Explain the level ‘innocent’ of parasocial relationship (HC)

Answer 16

Glorifying celebrity mostly for entertainment reasons. You like the work of the celebrity, e.g. big fan of the music or a big fan of a certain actor and you want to see every movie. Not interest in private life, only in their work and talents.

Question 17

Explain the level ‘absorption’ of parasocial relationship (HC)

Answer 17

More intense, stronger absorption for their lives and parasocial relationships/break-ups. More involved in their personal life, e.g. who they are dating or you want to know is the rumor is about. In this stage there is really a parasocial relationship. A parasocial break-up is when a celebrity is having another relationship, you can feel sad or bad about it. You still realize it’s a delusion.

Question 18

Explain the level ‘addiction’ of parasocial relationship (HC)

Answer 18

Mild pathological adoration, negative behaviors such as stalking. This stage is problematic. You don’t realize it’s a delusion that the celebrity will never fall in love with you.

Question 19

How are parasocial relationships changed due to development of social media? (HC)

Answer 19

With TV the celebrity wasnt even aware abouty ou existing, because you just watched TV one-sided. With social media this changed. You can interact more with celebrities.

Question 20

What are strategic ways influencers use to increase the feelings of a relationship with the audience? (HC)

Answer 20

• Direct address to the viewer. E.g. ‘you guys’. Gives the viewer a feeling that the influencers knows that the viewer is there.
• Emotional display. ‘Reaction’ videos, moments of revelation (pranks). Gives viewers a feeling that they are very close, and not afraid of showing emotions to them.
• Confession. About life’s struggles, involving recorded tears.
• Spontaneity/’Liveness’. All the mistakes left in (or highlighted; ‘bloopers’), moments of transparency that legitimate their makers as genuine.
• Spontaneity. YTs speak ‘like a normal person… chattering’. It feels that you are really there with the influencer

Question 21

What are examples of outcomes when you are in a positive parasocial relationship? (HC)

Answer 21

Intense personal interest, loving the celebrity, following all content of the celebrity and positive expressions towards celebrity.

Question 22

What are examples of outcomes when you are in a negative parasocial relationship? (HC)

Answer 22

Hating the celebrity, following all content of the celebrity and negative expressions towards celebrity.

Question 23

What are positive and negative implications for adolescents’ development with parasocial relationships? (HC)

Answer 23

Positive: practicing for actual relationships in a safe way, compensation for lack of security and closeness and link with loneliness is double.
Negative: development Schadenfreude and higher chances of other negative behaviors such as aggressive behavior (online).

Question 24

What is online celebrity bashing? (HC)

Answer 24

Online attacking and abuse of celebrities by journalists, the audience and celebrities themselves.

Question 25

What are mild and severe forms of celebrity bashing? (HC)

Answer 25

Mild: impulsive and indirect, e.g. with a comment on a news website, insulting comments about physical appearance, indirect forms of bashing, using course words and calling celebrities a slut
Severe: conscious that you are doing it, you need to invest more time, such as adapting videos in an embarrassing way, hacking social media accounts, threaten a celebrity and cancelation.

Question 26

Definition Media celebrity bashing (HC)

Answer 26

When magazines use the life of celebrities to write ‘juicy’ stories. There is a difference in culture. In the Netherlands it is less negative because there are a lot of rules and in the UK its very negative.

Question 27

Definition Audience celebrity bashing (HC)

Answer 27

Negative comments are coming from people from the audience. Mostly on social media, but also on comment sections on news website. If we compare media and audience celebrity bashing, audience is way worse and more negative.

Question 28

What are the three criteria that the behavior of celebrity bashing has to meet with in what we can say that there is cyberbullying? (HC)

Answer 28

1. Harm
2. Repetition
3. Power imbalance

Question 29

Explain what ‘harm’ means within celebrity bashing for meeting criteria to say that there is cyberbullying (HC)

Answer 29

In cyberbullying is that the victim experiences harm, negative feelings or bad that something happens. The perpetrator wanted to create harm. That is not the case with celebrity bashing. Within celebrity bashing the perpetrator is often not aware of them creating harm.

Question 30

Explain what ‘repetition’ means within celebrity bashing for meeting criteria to say that there is cyberbullying (HC)

Answer 30

The behavior needs to happen more than once in order to say its cyberbullying. In an online environment that’s almost always the case, because if someone likes or reposts the comment we can already say that there is repetition (for the victim). We also see that its often the same type of celebrity that’s becoming a victim: often females and/or having a more problematic background (addiction e.g.).

Question 31

Explain what ‘power imbalance’ means within celebrity bashing for meeting criteria to say that there is cyberbullying (HC)

Answer 31

In cyberbullying it means that there is a power imbalance between the perpetrator and the victim. For instance, because the perpetrator is older than the victim or the perpetrator has more experience than the victim. For celebrity bashing, there is also a power imbalance but it has to do with the massive audience. So, the number of people that share and attack these celebrities. Celebrities can feel really powerless.

Question 32

What is an important difference between cyberbullying and celebrity bashing? (HC)

Answer 32

Distance towards the victim. In cyberbullying most of the time the perpetrator knows the victim. For celebrity bashing that isn’t the case. This is an important difference because it has clear implications about how people perceive this behavior. It seems like the victim is so far away that they think the victim is not hurt by it and that the celebrity wont read the comments. That’s why people think its acceptable to celebrity bash.

Question 33

What are three different ways of being involved with cyberbullying or celebrity bashing and explain them (HC)

Answer 33

1. Bystanders. People that observe cases of celebrity bashing. Research shows that 60% of the people see cases of celebrity bashing online every week.
2. Perpetrators. People that participate in cases of online celebrity bashing. Research shows that 11-27% have participated in forms of celebrity bashing the last 6 months. Mostly mild forms. Its difficult to measure perpetrators behavior because not everyone would admit that they perpetrate.
3. Victims. People who experience cases of celebrity bashing. Most difficult group to investigate, because you can not ask celebrities in your study. Research have focused on interviews and surveys.

Question 34

Explain the General Aggression Model (HC)

Answer 34

You have personal and situational factors (things that happen in the background and they define the context). On the moment you are exposed to aggressive situation, three levels can be activated: cognition, affect and arousal. The interaction of these three factors will determine how you will behave or react to the aggressive situation.

Question 35

Explain the factor ‘cognition’ of the General Aggression Model (HC)

Answer 35

Everything that happens in your head: what you think about it, what is your opinion, what is your attitude. On this level research was interested what happens on cognitive level. They found that they have acceptable attitudes to celebrity bashing. They think: it’s intent to be funny, harmless and part of being a celebrity.

Question 36

Explain the factor ‘affect’ of the General Aggression Model (HC)

Answer 36

Everything that has to do with your emotions: how do you feel about the situation when you got confronted with an aggressive situation or celebrity bashing. Research wanted to measure adolescents their emotions. The group that saw the negative bashing examples experience more negative feelings afterwards (angry, sad, frustration). The positive emotions decreased after exposure, they were feeling less amused.

Question 37

Explain the factor ‘arousal’ of the General Aggression Model (HC)

Answer 37

Everything that has to do with your neurophysiological reactions. Happens in your body. E.g. sweat, heartbeat. You can’t control this. Most objective level. Research looked at heartrate and skin conductance with a watch. The group that saw the celebrity bashings, their heartrate and skin conductance increased.

Question 38

What has the General Aggression Model has to do with celebrity bashing? (HC)

Answer 38

We see on all three levels a reaction when exposed to celebrity bashing. There is no causal evidence yet for being exposed to celebrity bashing will also lead to be a perpetrator. But there is evidence that these three levels are activated and the combination makes it quite likely that exposure leads to participation. There is also indirect evidence to that: when there is more negativity, future comments become more negative. Look likes people take over the negative comments, what is known as a negativity spiral.

Question 39

What are implications of the research of celebrity bashing? (HC)

Answer 39

1. Awareness. People don’t see celebrity bashing as a problem. We need to work on increasing the awareness if we want to change celebrity bashing.
2. Restrictions. For example pop up system: when someone writes a negative word or comment, there was a pop up that this person may be hurt by the comment and they were blocked for a few seconds. That was meant to force them to think about it, this decreased cyberbullying. Makes them less impulsive. On a governmental level there are very little rules.
3. Better communication. Within celebrities need to improve. And how they have to deal with the negative comments.

Question 40

What means ‘secondary attachments’ according to Erikson? (G&M)

Answer 40

Suggesting that distant figures serve transitional roles. These attachments act as a kind of rehearsal for adult relationships.

Question 41

Definition Parasocial relationships and where does it play a significant role in (G&M)

Answer 41

Perceived as real relationship though one-sided with media figures. Plays a role in identity development, autonomy and the exploration of various possible selves.

Question 42

What does the study of Giles & Maltby explores?

Answer 42

The link between adolescent autonomy and parasocial relationships with celebrities. Aims to uncover the functions of secondary attachments in adolescence and their relationship with different aspects of attachment.

Question 43

What does the study of Giles & Maltby conclude?

Answer 43

The study found that as teenagers grow up, they become more emotionally independent and develop stronger connections with celebrities. These two aspects are related, and it’s not just because of age. The study also discovered that liking celebrities is connected to how attached teenagers are to their parents and peers. Teens who feel less connected to their parents tend to like celebrities more, while those with strong connections to friends have a greater interest in celebrities.

Question 44

What is linked to high peer attachment and low parental attachment? (G&M)

Answer 44

The celebrity interest entertainment/social.