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Chapter 1: What is the connection between celebrity worship and vulnerable narcissism?
The Last Show with David Cooper, where we utilize nonlinear reverse inverse backward thinking protocols. It sounds like this.
Do you ever feel oddly connected to a celebrity? Like you know them, even though they definitely don't know you? Well, that feeling can be so strong for some people, it turns into almost an obsession. And I want to talk about why some people's personality types are more likely to turn celebrity admiration into something a lot more intense. I'm here with two people who have studied this.
One is psychology professor Larry Locker. Larry, welcome to the show. Thank you.
Chapter 2: How do personality types influence celebrity worship?
Thanks for having me. And criminology professor Josh Williams. Josh, welcome to you. Thanks for having me. And they both work at Georgia Southern University. Let's start simple in our chat. Most of us enjoy a celebrity. We watch their movies. We follow them on social media. But at what point does being an ordinary fan cross into what psychologists might call celebrity worship?
Chapter 3: What defines vulnerable narcissism in psychological terms?
Yeah, celebrity worship's an interesting thing right now in contemporary society. So, you know, sometimes it might start off innocuous where you're just interested in, you know, for entertainment purposes and talking to other people, but gradually that could change to become more intense where you start having intrusive thoughts.
And then, you know, then it gets into kind of full blown, you're really almost addicted to engaging and following and trying to learn all you can about that celebrity where it actually impacts your daily life and functioning.
I have a friend who admitted she writes Ed Sheeran a letter every single week. And I was really worried about her when I heard that. But she says that's where it ends. Let's talk about people's personality types and what kinds of personalities might be drawn to worship a celebrity a little bit more than the average person. What is vulnerable narcissism?
I feel like I know what those two words are. But what do psychologists mean when they say someone is a vulnerable narcissist?
Chapter 4: How do parasocial relationships relate to celebrity worship?
Well, vulnerable narcissism, let's kind of start with maybe defining narcissism broadly. So narcissism has at its core a strong, this may be oversimplifying, but a strong self-focused sense of entitlement, sense of grandiosity. But when looking at it more specifically, there appears to be two subtypes.
So there's a vulnerable, and the vulnerable is characterized by underlying this grandiosity, a sense of anxiety, reactivity, so greater sensitivity to social rejection, possibly more difficulty forming social relationships. So there's a lot underneath that. There's still that self-focus. but underneath it lies a lot more negative affect, negative emotion.
Okay, well, let's slam these two concepts together. Someone who has or scores high in vulnerable narcissism and someone who worships a celebrity in an unhealthy level. Parasocial relationships.
Chapter 5: What are the psychological impacts of obsessive celebrity worship?
That's when we feel like we know someone who's famous, even though they have no idea who we are. Talk to me about how those two things collide, celebrity worship and vulnerable narcissism.
Yeah, so celebrity worship is kind of one of the specific kind of parasocial relationships. Parasocial relationships are really that kind of one-sided relationship where you might know a whole lot about a celebrity, in this case, but they're not really reacting to you. They're not sending you messages. They're not answering your friend's letter, if that actually ever got sent to Ed Sheeran.
But the individuals, the way that we kind of think about this, individuals who are on that vulnerable narcissism side, they kind of have this almost like a void. They don't have a strong sense of self. They might be dealing with a lot of anxiety.
And actually, these parasocial relationships with their celebrity might be an escape from that, or it might be a way to develop an emotional connection that doesn't have
Chapter 6: How has social media changed the landscape of celebrity worship?
the same kind of consequences that may be problematic as a real relationship. So they're using that as potentially a way to fill a void, establish a connection that actually might gradually get stronger and stronger and stronger.
And then we know that these types of obsessive pathological levels of worship are related to a lot of other problematic things like depression, anxiety, problematic internet use, addiction potential, substance use, all sorts of different things. But
You know, it gradually might build because the more they seek that as a coping mechanism or filling a void, it could just get worse and worse and worse.
Is that illusion that you have a relationship with a celebrity? Is that the main ingredient here that can make things go so wrong? This feeling like they're your friend?
Well, in the sense that if that feeling, say, helped with mood modification or you one were substituting it for a real relationship, then I would say, I guess, yes, I'm understanding your question that that that illusion of it is filling that void.
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Chapter 7: At what point does celebrity fandom become unhealthy?
So this this connection is making one at least temporarily feel better. It's compensatory.
Yeah. Are we at a time where this sort of thing is at an all time high because of social media? We just didn't have a way to like be in contact or feel like we connected with our celebrity people that we worship. Maybe like 20 years ago, we might've seen them on TV when we went into the movies, but not like on our feed all the time.
We were just talking about that before the meeting, how difficult it was in the past. Maybe a magazine, write a letter, a fan club. But now, yes, all the time. Access either their TV shows or their music or blogs about them or whatever, social media.
Chapter 8: What should you do if someone you know shows signs of unhealthy celebrity obsession?
Or maybe even get a response from somebody on a social media post.
Who knows? If you're listening, Ed Sheeran, please write back, my friend. But look, celebrity worship, or at least, sorry, celebrity fandom is mostly harmless fun for people. I have celebrities that I think are funny. I watch their clips when they're on like Saturday Night Live, whatever.
At what point does this cross the boundary and show warning signs that it is turned into something unhealthy psychologically?
Yeah, I think we all have fans. I know for me, I follow Iron Maiden. Larry would be your Motley Crue guy.
Awesome.
But I think the way that we've conceptualized this as kind of along that continuum, it's not like a... yes, you're a celebrity worshiper, no, you're not, but it's almost like a developmental type of thing, right? And so, you know, when you're in that fandom thing, and actually there's some research to show that there's potentially some positive aspects of that, right?
So maybe even some role models could develop out of that potentially. But as you start to use that potentially to replace those real relationships or maybe address some of those lower sense of self problems that you might be experiencing, then you start to have some of those thoughts, those unobtrusive thoughts where you can't stop thinking about what they're doing.
To the point where you actually start to get to that point where you are changing everything. Like this person is dropping an item. I don't know when. I'm going to not go to work today so I can sit by my computer and spend $5,000 on a napkin that my celebrity might have used.
And I know, Josh, you're a criminology professor. These things can escalate into like breaking rules or laws. I remember the guy who like broke into Queen Elizabeth's room and spent some time with her because he was just obsessed with her. I don't think he hurt her, but he was up there for five minutes before security got up there.
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