Reza Shabahang; Mohammad Ali Besharat; Abbas Ali Hossein Khanzadeh; Farzin Bagheri Sheykhangafshe
Abstract
Introduction: Celebrity worship as a parasocial relationship with celebrities can affect psychological wellbeing, but meanwhile, cognitive abilities and especially cognitive flexibility can play effective roles due to the effect on interpersonal communication. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate ...
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Introduction: Celebrity worship as a parasocial relationship with celebrities can affect psychological wellbeing, but meanwhile, cognitive abilities and especially cognitive flexibility can play effective roles due to the effect on interpersonal communication. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the relationship between the celebrity worship and psychological wellbeing with the mediating role of cognitive flexibility. Method: The research design was descriptive and correlational. The statistical population of the study consisted of students of Guilan University in 2018. Among them, 300 female and female students were selected through convenient sampling method. After selecting the sample, celebrity worship attitude (McCutcheon, Lange & Houran, 2002), Ryff’s scale of psychological wellbeing (Ryff, 1989), and cognitive flexibility inventory (Dennis & Vander Wal, 2010) were given to participants. Pearson correlation coefficient and structural analysis were used to analyze data. Results: According to the results, celebrity worship was correlated to psychological wellbeing and cognitive flexibility significantly. In fact, celebrity worship directly had negative and significant effect on psychological wellbeing and cognitive flexibility. Moreover, the indirect effect of celebrity worship on psychological wellbeing through the cognitive flexibility was negative and significant. Therefore, it can be concluded that the cognitive flexibility has a mediating role in the relationship between the celebrity worship and psychological well-being. In other words, by increasing cognitive flexibility, psychological well-being problems caused by extreme involvement with celebrities would be reduced. Conclusion: Considering the mediating role of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between celebrity worship and psychological wellbeing, it can be argued that by increasing cognitive flexibility, psychological well-being problems caused by celebrity worship decreases as well.
Reza Shabahang; Mohammad Ali Besharat; Farzin Bagheri Sheykhangafshe; Manijeh Firoozi; Abbas Rahiminejad
Abstract
Introduction: By expanding the culture of celebrities, experts talk about strong desire to celebrities and their related issues;in this regard, parasocialbonds can play important roles in worshippingcelebrities. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the role of parasocial interactionexperience, ...
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Introduction: By expanding the culture of celebrities, experts talk about strong desire to celebrities and their related issues;in this regard, parasocialbonds can play important roles in worshippingcelebrities. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate the role of parasocial interactionexperience, parasocial interaction, and par asocial breakdown in predicting theworship ofcelebrities.Method: The research design was descriptive and correlational. The statistical population of the study consisted of students of the faculty of literature and humanity sciences of the University of Guilan in 2018. In this study, 240 female and male students were selected throughconvenience sampling method. For collecting data, Celebrity Worship Attitude Scale (McCutcheon et al., 2002), Parasocial Interaction Experience scale (Hartmann &Goldhoorn, 2011), parasocial interaction scale (Rubin et al., 1985) and parasocial breakup scale(Cohen, 2003) were used. Then, data were analyzed throughPearson correlation formula and multiple regression method. Results: The results indicated that the parasocial interaction and parasocial breakup could significantly predict the worship ofcelebrities, whileparasocial interaction experience was not able to predict theworshipof celebrities. Conclusion: According to the results, the parasocial interaction and parasocial breakup play important roles in fascination tofavorite celebrities and worshiping them. Therefore, interventions to reduce extreme parasocial interactions, as well as the reduction of aversive behaviors and emotions after the parasocial breakup, can lead to the reduction in worshipping celebrities and consequently reducing its problems.
