‘Evaluate one social psychological explanation for the attraction of celebrity’
‘Evaluate one social psychological explanation for the attraction of celebrity’
The attachment theory suggests that people form a para-social relationship with celebrities and based on their type of attachment (as specified by Ainsworth and Bell) they will be more or less likely to do this. Those with an insecure resistant attachment are often very emotional and have negative views about themselves and therefore forming an intense attraction to a celebrity allows them to express their emotions without fear of rejection. People with a secure attachment are less attracted to celebrities as they have less fear of rejection and those with an insecure avoidant attachment show the least attraction to a celebrity as they are hesitant to make real emotional commitment. Cole and Leets support the attachment theory in celebrity attraction as their research reflects the theory above with each type of attachment forming the most to least likely bond with a celebrity. Their study included of 63 females and 52 males had a variety of ethnicities in reasonably large sample size, however all participants were students from an American university so the population validity of the study was low as they could generalise the results to the population therefore their study is not representative. This means that the explanation can’t be used for everyone as a reason for their attraction to a celebrity.
Hazan & Shaver further support this theory as they found a strikingly high correlation between the infant attachment types and the adult romantic love styles in their study to find a correlation between the infant’s attachment type and their future approach to romantic relationships. This was however a retrospective study and therefore may not be wholly valid or reliable.
The attachment theory suggests that people form a para-social relationship with celebrities and based on their type of attachment (as specified by Ainsworth and Bell) they will be more or less likely to do this. Those with an insecure resistant attachment are often very emotional and have negative views about themselves and therefore forming an intense attraction to a celebrity allows them to express their emotions without fear of rejection. People with a secure attachment are less attracted to celebrities as they have less fear of rejection and those with an insecure avoidant attachment show the least attraction to a celebrity as they are hesitant to make real emotional commitment. Cole and Leets support the attachment theory in celebrity attraction as their research reflects the theory above with each type of attachment forming the most to least likely bond with a celebrity. Their study included of 63 females and 52 males had a variety of ethnicities in reasonably large sample size, however all participants were students from an American university so the population validity of the study was low as they could generalise the results to the population therefore their study is not representative. This means that the explanation can’t be used for everyone as a reason for their attraction to a celebrity.
Hazan & Shaver further support this theory as they found a strikingly high correlation between the infant attachment types and the adult romantic love styles in their study to find a correlation between the infant’s attachment type and their future approach to romantic relationships. This was however a retrospective study and therefore may not be wholly valid or reliable.