Study Finds People Who Worship Celebs Have Lower Cognitive Abilities
New research has found people who worship celebrities may have lower cognitive abilities.
Guess I'd better cull my Instagram follows now.
The study of 1,763 adults in Hungary looked into the intelligence of people who are massive stans of A-listers around the world.
But researchers haven't yet worked out if celebrity worship is the cause of this or simply a result.
So basically, am I running slower because I'm obsessed with Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly's relationship, or am I obsessed with it because I don't have a lot of intellect going on?
The report was published in the BMC Psychology Journal and it dived into the results from an online survey that included a series of intelligence tests designed to assess two different aspects of cognition.
One evaluated 'crystalised intelligence', by testing the vocabulary of participants, while the other used digit symbol testing to measure 'fluid intelligence'.
Participants were also tested using a Celebrity Attitude Scale, which defined their level of celebrity obsession.
I assume that was just a picture of all the Kardashians and a couple of questions about their various scandals that you had to match up.
People whose interest in celebrities was limited to chattin about them in the group chat were categorised as 'entertainment-social' fans.
The next level is the 'intense-personal' fans, which is anyone who compulsively thinks about celebrities.
That's your aunt who comments on The Rock's Facebook updates like he's a close personal friend.
The highest level, and the ones we should all be worried about, are the 'borderline-pathological' fans.
These people were asked questions like 'if you met your favourite celebrity and they asked you to do something illegal, what would you do?' and answered that they would absolutely steal for Lady Gaga if she asked them to, no matter the situation.
Researchers also measured each participant's level of material wealth and self-esteem, just in case this quiz hadn't become insulting enough.
According to the study, people who had a higher level of celebrity obsession were also likely to have lower results in both crystalised and fluid intelligence, no matter what their demographic factors were.
But researchers couldn't work out why.
One theory is that it takes up so much brain space to be that obsessed with One Direction that stans don't have much room for anything else.
Another theory is that the smarter you are the more likely you can spot the marketing machine behind the celebrity and see through it.
The study is part of a long stretch of research that has been going on for more than two decades and yet there are still no answers.
Which I guess brings about the question of who is worse - the person obsessed with the celebrity or the researchers obsessed with that person?
Either way, if your obsession with Harry Styles is getting in the way of your day to day life, it might be time to take a step back.
Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity
Hannah Blackiston