If your favorite pastime involves consuming celebrity news and gossip, a recent study has some disheartening news to share: it suggests that individuals who are obsessed with celebrities may have lower levels of intelligence.
If you’re an avid follower of Drake or can’t get enough of the Kardashians, you’re definitely in good company. However, you might be perceived as lacking in intelligence, at least according to a recent study conducted in Hungary.
Celeb Mafia
Many of us consider ourselves to be deeply interested in the lives of celebrities. Nevertheless, it appears that our level of celebrity obsession might not be indicative of our intellectual capacity, as suggested by a recent research study from Hungary.
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Fresh research has labeled individuals with an intense fascination for Hollywood gossip and A-list celebrities as not particularly intelligent. This revelation might be disappointing for those who thoroughly enjoy delving into tabloid magazines and regularly tuning into reality TV.
The study, which was published in BMC Psychology in the latter part of the previous year, establishes a direct connection between a strong interest in celebrities and diminished performance on cognitive assessments that evaluate both literacy and numeracy.
To conduct this research, 1,763 adults from Hungary were invited to partake in a 30-word vocabulary examination and a digit symbol substitution evaluation.
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Subsequently, they were required to complete a “Celebrity Attitude Scale” questionnaire, which aimed to assess their levels of fascination with famous personalities.
On the Celebrity Attitude Scale, participants were tasked with responding either “yes” or “no” to a series of statements. These statements included items such as: “I often feel compelled to learn the personal habits of my favorite celebrity” and “I am obsessed by details of my favorite celebrity’s life.”
Another yes-or-no statement read: “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.”
Redferns
The study discovered that people who are really into celebrities tend to perform worse on tests measuring their thinking and problem-solving abilities. The researchers also asked these people about their income, possessions, and education to get a complete picture.
However, the researchers couldn’t tell if being obsessed with celebrities made them do worse on the tests, or if they were already not as smart to begin with and that’s why they were into celebrity stuff.
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In simpler terms, we can’t say for sure if being really into celebrities makes people less smart or if less smart people are more into celebrities. So, more research is needed to understand this better.
“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 researchers told PsyPost in a recent interview.
“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 them.”
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While some may feel personally attacked by this research, folks on Twitter did not seem shocked by the findings.
I don’t think a study was needed to determine this,” wrote one Twitter user. “What worries me is that people who worship celebs are not going to read this article ever,” another added.
“Cognitive dissonance, I’m not even surprised,” chimed in a third. “The nature of celebrity worship and stan culture is really problematic.”