A new study has emerged, claiming that those who “worship” celebrities may be less intelligent, and people are sounding off on this study’s results. A 2021 study published in BMC Psychology found that those who are obsessed with celebrities tend to perform poorly on cognitive ability tests compared to those who show less interest.
The study followed 1,763 Hungarian adults who completed multiple online tests to assess their cognitive skills overtime. This included vocabulary tests, a digit symbol substitution, and even a “Celebrity Attitude Scale” questionnaire to gauge their interest in Hollywood celebrities.
New study shows that people who “worship” celebrities may be linked to being less intelligent
There were also different levels of “obsession” that the participants could fall under. This includes “entertainment-social” fans, “intense-personal” fans, and the most extreme, “Borderline-Pathological,” in which participants agreed with a statement such as, “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.”
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Also included in the research was data about the participants’ self-esteem levels, as well as their education, material wealth, and household income.
“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,” says the study’s authors. “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.”
So, what are people saying about the study? It’s mixed. You can view many of them below:
*pretends to be shocked* 😨 pic.twitter.com/05vAKUKrlM
— #TrashpackPodcast 🔊 (@TrashPackMedia) January 5, 2022
“Celebrity-obsessed” is a very obscure term. Keeping up with pop culture doesn’t mean you’re obsessed with celebrities, so how do we define when one is obsessed and if their intelligence is directly affected by said obsession? Faulty logic.
— Austin (@austin99662) January 5, 2022
Have you ever been attacked by a celebrity obsessed person in the comments on social media? There’s definitely something wrong with them.
— Ghost (@TheMacckk) January 5, 2022
Didn’t need a study for that. It’s visible to the blind and audible to the deaf.
— div(v)=0 (@chemberleen) January 5, 2022
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