Conceptualization and measurement of celebrity worship

Abstract

Celebrity worship has been conceptualized as having pathological and nonpathological forms. To avoid problems associated with item-level factor analysis, 'top-down purification' was used to test the validity of this conceptualization. The respondents (N = 249) completed items modelled after existing celebrity worship questionnaires. A subset of 17 unidimensional and Rasch scalable items was discovered (the local reliability ranged from.71 to.96), which showed no biases related to age and gender. This subset was dubbed the Celebrity Worship Scale (CWS). The items also showed no celebrity bias, indicating that CWS applies equally to acting, music, sports, and 'other' celebrities. The Rasch nature of the items defines celebrity worship as consisting of three qualitatively different stages. Low worship involves individualistic behaviours such as watching and reading about a celebrity. At slightly higher levels, celebrity worship takes on a social character. Lastly, the highest levels are characterized by a mixture of empathy with the celebrity's successes and failures, over-identification with the celebrity, compulsive behaviours, as well as obsession with details of the celebrity's life. Based on these findings, the authors propose a model of celebrity worship based on psychological absorption (leading to delusions of actual relationships with celebrities) and addiction (fostering the need for progressively stronger involvement to feel connected with the celebrity).

Sports idols of senior athletes

“…The attractiveness of the celebrity relies on the similarity, familiarity and liking of that celebrity by consumers (Erdogan 1999;Erdogan, Baker, & Tagg, 2001;Maddux & Rogers, 1980;McGuire, 1985). Adolescents view sport celebrities as the most heroic celebrities and that is why appealing athletic skills, pro-social behaviors, and traits of a star player can contribute to adolescents' identity construction (Stevens, Lathrop, & Bradish, 2003) and later as adults, they idolize sport celebrities more intensely than other celebrities (McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002).…”

Celebrity worship, addiction and criminality

“…The ''absorption Áaddiction'' model of celebrity worship was proposed by McCutcheon, Lange, and Houran (2002), based on responses to the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS). The model comprises three levels of celebrity worship, with distinct sets of attitudes and behaviours associated with each.…”

“…Note also that a study by North and Hargreaves (2006), identified the existence of a fourth factor within the CAS, namely ''Deleterious Imitation'' in which participants express willingness to copy the licentious actions of their favourite celebrity. McCutcheon et al (2002) speculated that an introverted nature and lack of meaningful relationships among celebrity worshippers ''facilitate psychological absorption in an attempt to establish an identity and a sense of fulfilment. We further propose that the dynamics of the motivational forces driving this absorption resemble those of addiction.…”

Expanding celebrity studies’ research agenda: theoretical opportunities and methodological challenges in interviewing celebrities

“…The first is Kerry Ferris (2007), an American sociologist who specialises in ethnographic research on celebrity, including local celebrities (Ferris 2004(Ferris , 2010. She observed two dominant strands within the literature on celebrity: celebrity and celebrity worship as a pathology (e.g., McCutcheon et al 2002) and critical thinking on celebrity as a cultural commodity (King 2010, Marshall 1997. Although the dominance of these two angles is debatable and it is possible for them to be complemented or replaced by effect studies on celebrity endorsement (e.g., Erdogan 1999) or the subfield of celebrity politics (e.g., Street 2004), few would disagree that the approach of celebrity as a commodity is central in the literature.…”