Intense Fandom

Question 1

What is used to assess celebrity worship?

Answer 1

Maltby’s Celebrity Attitude Scale

Question 2

What did Maltby find using the Celebrity Attitude Scale?

Answer 2

372 people aged 18-47
15% - entertainment-social
5% - intense-personal
2% - borderline-pathological

Question 3

What did Maltby et al conclude about celebrity worshipers, and how did they come to this conclusion?

Answer 3

Celebrity worshipers have lower levels of psychological well being than non-worshipers.
Data from 307 UK adults showed that scores on the intense-personal sub-scale predicted both depression and anxiety scores, which they concluded resulted from failed attempts to escape from the pressures of everyday life.

Question 4

What study did Cheung and Yue carry out, relating to celebrity worship? (Method, findings, 2 criticisms).

Answer 4

Telephone survey of 833 teenagers.
Found - celebrity worship was associated w/ lower levels of work or study, lower self esteem and less successful identity achievement.
1. Telephone survey - social desirability bias - low int val.
2. Teenagers - can’t gen - low pop and ext val.

Question 5

What else did Cheung and Yue find, relating to celebrity worship vs real life models?

Answer 5

Teenagers who worshiped key family members or teachers has higher levels of self-esteem and educational achievement than those who worshiped celebrities.
Admiration of those who provided tangible benefits would be more likely to create a postivie impact than a parasocial relationship with a celebrity.

Question 6

What are 2 negative consequences of celebrity worship?

Answer 6

1. Research has shown that high profile celebrity suicides are often followed by an increased number of suicides among the general population.
2. Research has show that pathological worshipers are often drawn to antisocial celebrities, so we expect fans of rebellious/antisocial celebrities to emulate them with negative consequences.

Question 7

What are the 2 types of stalking?

Answer 7

1. A love obsession with someone they’ve never met - stalkers have delusional thoughts and live in a fantasy world where they invent scripts and act them out,
2. Distinguished by a previous personal relationship.

Question 8

What are the 3 theories of stalking?

Answer 8

1. The attachment theory
2. The absorption-addiction model
3. Relationship goal pursuit

Question 9

What does the attachment theory of stalking suggest?

Answer 9

Attachments developed in childhood are reflected later on in life. Early attachment problems can lead to social and emotional problems later on in adulthood.

Question 10

What did McCutcheon hypothesise relating to the attachment theory of stalking?

Answer 10

Insecure attachments may result in attraction to celebrities because there is no risk of rejection - they were rejected as a child and they don’t want to be rejected again.

Question 11

What study did Tonin carry out that supported the attachment theory of stalking? (Method, findings, 2 criticisms).

Answer 11

Measured stalkers childhood attachment styles and their current adult attachment type using self-report measures.
Used a sample of detained stalkers, detained non-stalkers and a non-clinical sample.
Found - stalkers had more insecure adult attachment styles.
1. Self-report - social desirability bias - low int val.
2. Suggests childhood determinism but doesn’t consider other variables.

Question 12

Relating to the attachment theory, what else has research shown a positive correlation between and what is one criticism of this?

Answer 12

Insecure-resistant attachment types and attempts at contacting favourite celebrities.
1. Correlation - cause and effect.

Question 13

What does the absorption-addiction model theory of stalking suggest?

Answer 13

A weak sense of identity in people will lead them to be absorbed with a celebrity and develop a closeness with them. This produces a state of addiction where the individual craves a greater closeness to the celebrity and indulges in delusional forms of behaviour.

Question 14

What did Mullen find, relating the the absorption-addiction model theory of stalking? (Method, findings, what does this suggest?).

Answer 14

Studies 20,000 cases of stalking involving members of the royal family.
Found - 80% of stalkers had serious mental health disorders.
Suggests a link between stalking and a confused sense of identity/reality.

Question 15

What does the relationship goal pursuit theory of stalking suggest?

Answer 15

People who engage in the obsessional pursuit of a relationship that is rejected by the other person tend to magnify the importance of their relationship goal.

So - the more someone obsesses of a relationship and get rejected, the more they obsess over it and the more significant and important it becomes.

Question 16

Why may stalking becoming more common?

Answer 16

Cyber stalking - the internet gives people anonymity which makes them more likely to do something.

Question 17

What did Fisher and Cullen do and find, relating to cyber stalking?

Answer 17

Surveyed 4,000 female undergrads

Found - 13% had been cyber stalked.

Question 18

What did Alexy et al find, relating to cyber stalking, that suggests that it is not taken as seriously as other kinds of stalking?

Answer 18

Gave students brief descriptions of a real life case of cyber stalking that resulted in prosecution.
Found - only 30% of students judged the behaviour to be dangerous.
1. Students - used to online behaviour - may be desensitised.

Question 19

What is the link between celebrity worship and religion?

Answer 19

Seems to be a decline in religious worship and an increase in fascination with celebrity culture. Humans have a “fundamental need to worship” and there seems to be a shift from religious figures to celebrities.