Religion is a Mental Illness

"The cold, hard truth is that nobody gives a fuck about your political opinions anymore. You are some of the least qualified people in the world to be lecturing normal people on how to think and vote. Because you're not normal people. You don't work normal jobs. You don't live normal lives. You exist in a nice, comfortable bubble that protects and insulates you from reality, where you're surrounded by other people just like yourselves.

And the thing is, we don't actually hate you for that. There's nothing wrong with being rich and successful if you've earned it. And part of being rich and successful is that you get a bit detached from the mundane reality of daily life. Again, we understand.

And let's be honest. It's kind of fucking cool to be an actor. You guys get to do stuff and go places that most of us could never dream of. And we're happy to cheer and boo the characters that you play. We're happy to be captivated by the performances you deliver. We're happy to listen to you talk about your craft and share stories and insights into what it's like making movies.

But what we're not prepared to do anymore is be lectured by you, or told what causes we're supposed to support by you, or how to think and vote by you. This next bit is going to take a bit of humility and self-reflection, which I realize are two qualities you're not exactly hot on, but it's time to shut the fuck up about this stuff.

It's none of your business, it's not your area of expertise and it never was. Learn that lesson and you might just get back the respect and attention that you won. Learn it not, and, well, you might just find out how fickle a mistress fame really is."

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People who are obsessed with celebrities tend to score lower on measures of cognitive ability

"Our results also support previous findings showing that excessive behaviors such as celebrity worshiping can possibly impair cognitive func

PsyPost - Psychology News

Cognitive performance is slightly reduced among those with higher levels of celebrity worship, according to a new study published in BMC Psychology.

“Interest in the topic of celebrity worshipers spans almost two decades. From several studies, over that period, research showed a weak to moderate tendency for those who showed the strongest admiration for their favorite celebrity to have lower cognitive skills, using a variety of cognitive measures,” explained study authors Lynn E. McCutcheon, Ágnes Zsila, and Zsolt Demetrovics in a joint statement to PsyPost.

“However, most of these studies did not control for a variety of extraneous variables. The current study did control for several possibly relevant variables.”

In the study, 1,763 Hungarian adults completed a 30-word vocabulary test and a digit symbol substitution test, a validated assessment of fluid intelligence. The researchers also collected data about the participants’ self-esteem, current family income, material wealth, and highest level of education.

Celebrity worship was measured using a scientific questionnaire known as the Celebrity Attitude Scale. The scale asks participants the extent to which they agree or disagree with statements such as “I often feel compelled to learn the personal habits of my favorite celebrity,” “I am obsessed by details of my favorite celebrity’s life,” and “If I were lucky enough to meet my favorite celebrity, and he/she asked me to do something illegal as a favor I would probably do it.”

Even after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic variables, the researchers found that high scores on the Celebrity Attitude Scale were associated with lower performance on the two cognitive ability tests.

“We found a weak tendency for those who showed the strongest admiration for their favorite celebrity to have lower cognitive skills, suggesting that the earlier results were not due just to chance,” the authors of the study said. “Our results also support previous findings showing that excessive behaviors such as celebrity worshiping can possibly impair cognitive functioning, presumably due to the increased focus and energy invested in this behavior that becomes dominant in the individual’s life.”

“Although celebrity admiration seems not to be a strong precursor of poorer cognitive performance, high levels of admiration can be regarded as one contributing factor to lowered performance in tasks requiring cognitive effort, independently from education or age.”

But it is unclear whether celebrity worship is the cause or consequence of reduced cognitive ability. For example, it “may be that individuals with higher levels of cognitive skills are more likely to understand the marketing strategies behind a famous person,” and thus less vulnerable to celebrity worship, the researchers explained. But it is also possible that celebrity worship functions like an addictive behavior and requires cognitive effort to be maintained.

Previous research has found that celebrity worship is associated with addictive and problematic social media use.

“Future studies should seek further support for our suggestion that the cognitive effort invested in maintaining the absorption in a favorite celebrity may interfere with the person’s performance in tasks that require attention and other cognitive skills,” the authors told PsyPost. “Although our research does not prove that developing a powerful obsession with one’s favorite celebrity causes one to score lower on cognitive tests, it suggests that it might be wise to carefully monitor feelings for one’s favorite celebrity, keeping in mind that most celebrities are human beings who have some flaws just like average persons have.”

The study, “Celebrity worship and cognitive skills revisited: applying Cattell’s two-factor theory of intelligence in a cross-sectional study“, was published November 8, 2021.

Celebrity worship and cognitive skills revisited: applying Cattell’s two-factor theory of intelligence in a cross-sectional study - BMC Psyc

Background Almost two decades of research produced mixed findings on the relationship between celebrity worship and cognitive skills. Severa

BioMed Central

Background

Almost two decades of research produced mixed findings on the relationship between celebrity worship and cognitive skills. Several studies demonstrated that cognitive performance slightly decreases with higher levels of celebrity worship, while other studies found no association between these constructs. This study has two aims: (1) to extend previous research on the association between celebrity worship and cognitive skills by applying the two-factor theory of intelligence by Cattell on a relatively large sample of Hungarian adults, and (2) to investigate the explanatory power of celebrity worship and other relevant variables in cognitive performance.

Methods

A cross-sectional study design was used. Applying an online survey, a total of 1763 Hungarian adults (66.42% male, Mage = 37.22 years, SD = 11.38) completed two intelligence subtests designed to measure ability in vocabulary (Vocabulary Test) and digit symbol (Short Digit Symbol Test). Participants also completed the Celebrity Attitude Scale and the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. Subjective material wealth, current family income and general sociodemographics were also reported by participants.

Results

Linear regression models indicated that celebrity worship was associated with lower performance on the cognitive tests even after controlling for demographic variables, material wealth and self-esteem, although the explanatory power was limited.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that there is a direct association between celebrity worship and poorer performance on the cognitive tests that cannot be accounted for by demographic and socioeconomic factors.

New study links celebrity worship to addictive and problematic social media use

People who are obsessed with celebrities are more likely to engage in addictive use of social media, according to new research from Eötvös L

PsyPost - Psychology News

People who are obsessed with celebrities are more likely to engage in addictive use of social media, according to new research from Eötvös Loránd University and Pázmány Péter Catholic University. The findings have been published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media.

“In the past few decades, a celebrity-fan relationship has been considered a one-sided, delusional emotional bond. Recently, social networking sites opened an avenue for a more direct, reciprocal communication between celebrities and their fans,” the authors of the study told PsyPost.

“Previous research suggests that individuals who admire celebrities have poor social skills and are at a greater risk of engaging in compulsive behaviors. Drawing on these findings, we were interested in exploring the connection between celebrity worship and social networking sites use habits. We assumed that celebrity worshippers may be more prone to become addicted to social media and pursue adverse friending practices (e.g., promiscuous friending) on social networking sites.”

The researchers surveyed 437 Hungarian adolescents and adults between 14 and 63 years of age regarding their social media habits, celebrity worship, and other factors. As expected, they found a link between celebrity worship and problematic social media use. In other words, participants who agreed with statements such as “I often feel compelled to learn the personal habits of my favorite celebrity” also tended to agree with statements such as “I have become restless or troubled if I have been prohibited from using social media.”

“Our findings suggest that individuals with an excessive admiration towards a celebrity are more likely to experience symptoms of problematic social networking sites use than those who are not so dedicated fans of their favorite celebrity. This result might indicate that some fans embed their favorite celebrity in their virtual social network in an attempt to bridge the gap between the desired fame, celebrity life and their own lives, hence reducing the discrepancy between the admired celebrity and their own selves,” the authors of the study explained.

“This process might maintain the psychological absorption with the favorite celebrity and can enhance the risk of addiction, according to the Absorption-Addiction Model proposed by McCutcheon and colleagues (2002). Our findings highlight the importance of identifying risky social networking sites use patterns in individuals with a tendency to become fascinated by celebrities in order to prevent them from developing an obsessive, deleterious admiration towards a celebrity.”

But the findings indicate that problematic and addictive social media use — not social media use in general — is associated with celebrity worship. The amount of time spent on social media sites, active use of multiple social media platforms, and social media friending practices were not predictive of high levels of celebrity worship. “This result might indicate that online interactions can compensate for loneliness or deteriorated social relationships for celebrity worshippers,” the researchers said.

The causal relationship between problematic social media use and celebrity worship is unclear.

“Longitudinal research would be needed to explore the direction of association between celebrity worship and problematic social networking sites use. Our study used a cross-sectional research design, which does not make it possible to ascertain directionality,” the researchers said.

“Therefore, it is possible that admiration towards a celebrity leads to addictive use of social media as fans search for additional details of the personal life of their favorite celebrity, but it is also plausible that addictive tendencies elevate the risk of developing compulsive feelings towards a famous person. Future research is needed to gain a more nuanced picture of the mechanism underlying this association.”

The study, “A New Avenue to Reach Out for the Stars: The Association of Celebrity Worship With Problematic and Nonproblematic Social Media Use“, was authored by Ágnes Zsila, Róbert Urbán, Lynn E. McCutcheon, and Zsolt Demetrovics.

(PDF) A New Avenue to Reach Out for the Stars: The Association of Celebrity Worship With Problematic and Nonproblematic Social Media Use

PDF | Social media has opened an avenue for reciprocal interactions between celebrities and their fans, encouraging individuals with a tende

ResearchGate

Social media has opened an avenue for reciprocal interactions between celebrities and their fans, encouraging individuals with a tendency to become obsessed with celebrities to extend their online social network with celebrity friends. Celebrity worship has been associated with weak social skills and addictive behaviors (e.g., problematic Internet use, compulsive buying) in previous studies. This study investigated how interpersonal skills and addictive tendencies may affect the social media use of individuals fascinated by celebrities. A total of 368 Hungarian adolescents and adults (78.0% male; Mage = 24.6 years, SD = 7.5) completed an online questionnaire focusing on attitudes toward celebrities. A hierarchical linear regression analysis was performed, indicating that problematic but not heavy or extensive use is predictive of celebrity worship. Furthermore, friending on social media was not associated with celebrity worship. These findings extend previous research on the association between celebrity worship and addictive behaviors and provide further empirical evidence that problematic use is qualitatively different from overuse. Results also highlight the importance of identifying risky behaviors (e.g., social media use to alleviate negative feelings) to prevent highly engaged individuals from developing an excessive admiration toward their favorite media figure.