Celebrity Worship: Absorption Addiction Model

Question 1

What does Giles say about parasociability?

Answer 1

2003: normal step to developing independence and identity in as teens seek idols and role models beyond immediate social environment

Question 2

What happens to fans with severe deficits in sense of personal identity and problems in real life?

Answer 2

go to extremes: caught up in celeb life to escape from reality, achieve fulfilment and sense of personal identity (absorption), develop feeling of closeness

Question 3

What can absorption lead to?

Answer 3

state of addiction, individual craves closeness with celeb, indulges in delusional thinking and behaviour

Question 4

What is the advantage of research into the AA model?

Answer 4

practical application: better understand and treat eating disorders

Question 5

What research has looked at eating disorders and celebrity worship?

Answer 5

Maltby 2005: when celebrity worship associated with eating disorders, the group at risk affected some female teens those who didn’t discuss celeb with friends but had intense personal relationship with celeb