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Measuring Celebrity Worship
 Most research on celebrity worship has used the Celebrity
Attitude Scale (CAS). This is a 17 item scale with the lower scores indicating more individualistic behaviour (e.g. watching and reading about celebrities) and higher scores indicating overidentification and obsession with celebrities. Maltby et al (2006) used this scale to produce the three levels of parasocial relationships (absorption addiction model) (See learning table
9).
How Common is Celebrity Worship?
 Although it is commonly assumed that celebrity worship is an uncommon phenomenon, a study by Maltby et al (2003) found that over one third of a combined sample of students and workers scored above mid-points on the CAS.
 Maltby et al (2004) found that in a sample of 372 people ages
18 – 47, 15% were at the entertainment-social level of celebrity worship, 5% at the intense personal level and less than 2% would be considered borderline pathological.
Celebrity Worship and Developmental Problems
 Celebrity worship has been associated with less desirable
 developmental outcomes. In a telephone survey of 833 Chinese teenagers, Cheung and Yue (2003) found that ‘idol worship’ was associated with lower levels of work and lower self-esteem.
Maltby et al (2001) concluded that celebrity worshippers have lower levels of psychological wellbeing than non-worshippers.
Data from 307 UK adults identified that scores on the entertainment-social subscale predicted patterns of social dysfunction, scores on the intense-personal subscale predicted both depression and anxiety scores. The authors conclude that celebrity worship is a behavioural representation of poor psychological well-being, which results from failed attempts to escape from or cope with the pressures of everyday life.
Research into Intense Fandom
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Celebrity Worship
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 Implications for Society
P: One strength of the research into celebrity worship is that it has important implications for the media in society.
E: For example, Phillips (1974) has shown that high profile celebrity suicides are often followed by increased numbers of suicides among the general population. Sheridan et al (2007) attempts to explain this phenomenon by suggesting that pathological worshippers are often drawn to more entertaining, even anti-social celebrities. This type of celebrity is more likely to commit suicide and therefore their fans are more likely to copy this behaviour.
E: This is a strength because research into celebrity worship can advise on ways to decrease this effect. Wasserman (1984) warns that when reporting celebrity suicides, the media should not let the glamour associated with that individual obscure any mental health or drug problems from which they may have been suffering.
L: As a consequence, this increases the credibility of research into celebrity worship.
 Evolutionary Explanation of Celebrity Worship
P: A further strength of the research into celebrity worship is that it can be explained in terms of evolution.
E: Psychologists suggest that is it natural for humans to look up to those individuals who receive attention because they have succeeded in our society.
For our ancestors, this would have been respecting good hunters or elders.
However, hunting is no longer an essential skill, we may look to celebrities, whose fame and fortune we would like to emulate (copy).
E: Therefore, it makes a good deal of sense to value individuals according to how successful they are, because whoever is getting more of what everybody wants is using above average methods to get them, therefore would serve as a valuable role model.
L: As a consequence, this increases the explanatory power of the research into celebrity worship as it can be explained using evolution.
 Subjectivity of Surveys
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P: One weakness of the research into celebrity worship is that a large body of evidence has been found using the
CAS.
E: For example, Maltby et al (2003) found that one third of his sample scores above mid-points on the CAS. The scale involves participants indicating to what extent they agree or disagree with such statements as ‘I consider my favourite celebrity to be my soul mate.’
E: This is an issue because the scale is subjective. What might be one persons’ ‘strongly agree’, may be another’s
‘agree’. This therefore impacts on the internal validity of the research into celebrity worship. Can we really measure people’s attitudes towards celebrities through the use of a subjective scale?
L: As a result, this casts doubt over the credibility of the research into celebrity worship as we may not be measuring what we set out to.
 Social Desirability
A weakness of the research into celebrity worship is that it may be subject to social desirability.
E: For example, Cheung and Yue (2003) and Maltby et al
(2001) both used surveys to conduct research into the link between developmental problems and celebrity worship.
E: This is an issue because asking questions about psychological wellbeing, levels of work and self-esteem may have forced participants to lie or exaggerate their behaviour in order to look good. They may have reported higher levels of self-esteem in order to look good.
Although Chueng and Yue did find evidence of low levels of self-esteem – in reality the effect may be even more exaggerated than reported.
L: As a consequence, this reduces the internal validity and therefore credibility of the research into celebrity worship.
Types of Stalker:
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Type 1: About one in five stalkers develop a love obsession or fixation with another person (such as a celebrity) with whom they have no personal relationship. Stalkers of this type suffer from delusional thought patterns and many suffer from a mental
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Celebrity Stalking
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Stalking as an indication of attachment difficulties
P: One strength of the research into celebrity stalking is that is supportive evidence for the assumption of abnormal attachment types being related to stalking. E: For example, Tonin (2004) used two self-report techniques to measure stalkers’ retrospective childhood
 Social Desirability
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P:A weakness of the research into celebrity worship is that it may be subject to social desirability.
E: For example, Tonin (2004) used self-report methods to conduct research into the link between attachment styles

disorder such as schizophrenia (Meloy, 2001). Since most are unable to develop normal personal relationships through conventional means (such as dating and going out), they retreat into fantasy relationships with individuals they hardly know, if at all.
They may invent fictional stories, casting celebrities in the lead role as their love interest. They then attempt to act out these fictional scripts in real life.
Type 2: This is a more common simple obsessional stalking-type and is distinguished by some previous personal relationship having existed between stalker and victim before the stalking began.
Attachment Styles
Bartholomew and Horowitz (1991): One attachment style, the ‘preoccupied’, has been linked to the phenomena of celebrity stalking.
Individuals with this type of attachment style have a negative selfmodel and a positive other-model. They have a poor self-image and a positive image of others. Because of this they seek approval and personal validation from others.
Meloy (1996) claims that celebrity stalking could be considered to be indicative of an abnormal attachment similar to the preoccupied attachment style. Individuals with this type of attachment style may engage in celebrity stalking because they overvalue others and perceive that contact with celebrities will indicate that they are acceptable and valued, which in turn challenges the negative views of self. attachment styles and their current adult attachment. She investigated whether stalkers being detained under the Mental Health Act were less securely attached than non-stalkers. She compared these two groups and also included a third comparison of a non-clinical community sample. She found that the stalkers had significantly more evidence of insecure adult attachment styles than the control group. E: This is a strength because it explains why some individuals may be more prone to stalking than others. This research establishes a link between attachment type and stalking behaviour, inline with the assumptions of Bartholomew and Horowitz’s (1991) research. L: As a consequence, this increases the reliability and credibility of research into celebrity stalking and intense fandom, and the assumption of different attachment styles being a contributor to the likelihood of celebrity stalking.
Anti-stalking legislation
P: One strength of the research into celebrity stalking is that it has led to the and celebrity stalking.
E: This is an issue because asking questions about attachment types and childhood experience may have forced participants to lie or exaggerate their behaviour in order to look good. They may have reported different childhood to their reality in order to look good.
L: As a consequence, this reduces the internal validity and therefore credibility of the research into celebrity stalking. development and improvement of anti-stalking legislation.
E: For example, the impact of stalking behaviour on its victims has led to the development of anti-stalking legislation being more heavily introduced in both the UK and the US. California has the broadest set of anti-stalking laws. For example in 1996 Robert Hoskins was given a ten-year prison sentence after he was convicted of stalking Madonna in her Hollywood home.
E: This is a strength because although many of the laws are effectively challenging human rights such as being in the same place as the victim, it offers safety and resolution for those who become victim of obsessive fan behaviour and may be put at risk. L: As a consequence, it increases the credibility of research into celebrity stalking as a type of intense fandom.
Real-world application: psychological profiles and clinical interventions
P: One strength of the research into celebrity stalking as a type of intense fandom is that there is real-world application. E: For example, Roberts (2007) suggests that using research into the different attachment types has developed policing techniques such as being able to draw a psychological profile of an unknown offender after persistent and unwanted attempts to contact a particular celebrity. Similarly, for persistent stalking offenders, clinical interventions may then be designed to help them overcome their attachment difficulties.
E: This is a strength because with research into attachment types and stalking behaviour we can see there is clearly an association between preoccupied attachment and the likelihood of approach behaviour towards celebrities. By developing means of profiling and intervention we can offer resolution for both the celebrity by tracking people and catching them earlier on and treatment for the stalker to help them live successfully, respectively.
L: As a consequence it increases the applicability of the research into intense fandom, specifically celebrity stalking and attachment types.