Explanations for the attraction of celebrity Flashcards
Giles (2000)
Distinguished between the words ‘celebrity’ and ‘famous’. Being famous mean to be deserving of recognition because of significant personal achievement. Celebrity is a more modern term meaning well known, so are not recognised for their talent.
Para-social relationships
- Repeated encounters with celebrities give us a strong sense of familiarity and enables us to create what we feel like are real relationships.
- However in a real relationships both people are involved with each other, whereas in a para-social relationship it is one-sided. Where one person knows a lot about the other but the recipient may be unaware of the others existence.
Giles distinguished three types of media figures with whom we can form para-social relationships with…
- Real people such as TV presenters
- Fictional human characters such as soap operas of films
- Fictional non-human characters, such as cartoon characters which are not visually presented by humans.
Transportation…
One reason for para-social relationships is ‘transportation’ which is getting immersed in a story, bringing about strong emotions.
Evaluation of para-social relationships
The ending of real relationships has been found to lead to depression, Meyrowitz described extreme reactions exhibited at the death of celebrities such as Elvis Presley and John Lennon. This similarity between real and para-social relationships therefore supports the explanation.
Eyal and Cohen:
-Whether this could be extended with fictional characters
-Following the ending of ‘Friends’ 279 students completed surveys. The researchers found that the amount of break-up distress was best predicted by the intensity of their para-social relationship with their favourite character. (Supporting para-social explanations)
-A general problem with the explanation is that is does not explain why having a para-social relationship is more of an attraction to some than others.
Attachment theory as an explanation
Ainsworth identified:
- Insecure avoidant (fearful and withdrawing) Type A
- Secure (strong and positive) Type B
- Insecure resistant (both seeking and resisting contact) Type C
-Attachments remain fairly stable over a lifetime because children develop an internal working model of relationships
The attachment theory suggests
- Insecure resistant are very emotional but have negative view about themselves; intense attraction to a celeb allows them to express their emotions without fear of rejection.
- Secure are in-between
- Insecure avoidant show the least celeb attraction; unwillingness to form para-social relationships reflects commitment to relationships in real life.
Evaluation of Attachment theory
- The strength is that is can explain why having para-social relationships is more of an attraction to some than others.
- Cole and Leets supports this as 63 females and 52 males completed a Likert scale for TV attraction and one for attachment. Participants also had to chose which Hazan & Shaver paragraph about their partner is most similar to them.
- They found that Type C (insecure resistant) were found most likely to form a para-social relationship, Type A (insecure avoidant) least likely, with Type B (secure) n the middle.
- While these participants were from the same ethnic background, evidence from Cohen shows that within Israeli participants the most negative responses to a questionnaire about the ending of a para-social relationships were from resistant attachments.
Evolutionary theory of celebrity attraction
- The brain consists of module like components or circuits e.g. for vision, sexual desire etc.
- Therefore these have evolved over time because they were adaptive in the hunter gatherer environment
EEA
Environment of Evolutionary adaptiveness
-Our ancestors evolved to deal with problems like finding mates, hunting, negotiating with friends and defending oneself.
Gossip Theory
- Our ancestors lived in much smaller social groups then we do now. Knwoing the ‘gossip’ was a survival and reproductive advantage. e.g. knowing potential mates, threats and high status people.
- Those who were good at gossiping, would therefore pass their genes on, giving rise to genetic hardwiring.
- The media allows genuine insight into celebrities life, and because of their high status and so we imitate the gossiping about them.
- Gossiping is a way of bonding social groups together.
Evaluation of gossip theory
De Backer (2007)
- She did a survey of 838 pps, and in-depth interviews 103
- She found that older people were interested in celeb gossip because it form social networks with other people, supporting the theory of social grooming. She says that celebrities can act as out mutual friends.
- She also found that young participants showed interest in celeb gossip, even if it was about celebs who were a lot older than them and even when they did not know them- and most interest in internationally known celebs because they are seen as more prestigious, supporting the theory of high status and power from gossiping.
Ornamental mind theory
- Humans posses a love of novelty (‘neophilia’) Music, art and humour are highly valued by humans and in choosing a mate.
- Miller (2000) says that this is pron to inventing imaginative fantasies and because actors and musicians have these talents then we are more drawn to them.
- Fisher’s ‘runaway’ sexual selection theory says that females will choose males to mate with based on characteristics, then the traits from the males and the preferences of the female will be passed on to children. The increasingly attractive male trait being selected by more females attracted to it, both becoming fixed in the gene pool.
Evaluation of Ornamental mind theory
- Shiraishi et al. found that a brain enzyme MAOA correlated with novelty seeking tendencies - supporting theory.
- Duck supported that boredom is often a reason for ending romantic relationships, and it follows from Miller’s idea that creative individuals would be more successful at attracting mate
- Supported by Nettle and Clegg who found that poets and artists had significantly more sexual partners than people who either art/poet ‘hobbyists’ or were not at all
- Holt & Lewis also found that over two thirds of readership of celeb gossip mags are female.
- A limitation is that some people are attracted to celebs with no particular talent.
