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cxMedia influences on pro-social behaviour (AO2 IS BOLDED)

Although an increasing number of children watch television on their own, for many the
effect of television is mediated by the presence of a parent discussing the programme
with the child.
Rosenkoetter suggested that with Parental Mediation, children as young as
seven were able to understand even complex moral messages contained in
adult sitcoms. Parents also reported children to be more helpful in this
study and a positive correlation was found between the two variables with
children who watched more pro-social sitcoms showing higher levels of
helpful behaviour.
However, this is based on correlational data and we cannot be sure of cause
and effect for certain; for example it may be that children who were already
generally more pro-social then go on to watch sitcoms that similarly fit
existing beliefs and attitudes.
On the other hand, Valkenburg suggested that only some forms of Parental
Mediation would be effective in enhancing the pro-social messages in TV
programmes. They found that social co-viewing (passive parental
mediation whereby the parents simply just watch along) was largely
ineffective. Only in conditions of instructive mediation which involved
discussion and explanation was it effective. This suggests that, with aid
from parents in explaining what is happening, children may learn pro-social
behaviour more as it is processed deeper and reinforced from parents.
Conversely, Mares et al also found that children who watched mixed
messages were also more likely to behave aggressively as opposed to a
group who watched simply an aggressive media message. This suggests
pro-social media observed may be devalued if there are conflicting
messages for children and they may struggle to grasp these. This may
better explain why parental mediation works well because parents are
better at explaining the meaning of what is observed and the pro-social
learning points. This suggests pro-social messages need to be direct without
ambiguity for them to be the most effective.
Another way media influences pro-social behaviour is through observation whereby
children acquire pro-social behaviour and norms. Banduras Social Learning Theory
suggests that children learn by first observing behaviour then later imitating it if the
expectation of reward is greater than expected punishment for that particular
behaviour. Through indirect reinforcement, pro-social behaviour that is observed and
rewarded is learnt through vicarious learning.
The depiction of pro-social acts seen on TV, such as helping others, are
likely to be in accordance with already existent social norms. These prosocial acts will reinforce these established social norms rather than contrast
them, causing them to become internalized. One study that supports this is
by Sprafkin et al. Young children watched an episode of Lassie whereby a
child rescues a dog. It was found that they were more likely to help puppies
in distress than children who watched a neutral TV show. This suggests that
children will imitate altruistic behaviour when it is explicitly modeled and
when they are shown the precise steps for pro-social behaviour.
Finally, children may imitate pro-social behaviour on TV for different reasons

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to adolescents; they may be doing so under the belief that they may be
rewarded whereas adolescents may understand the abstract pro-social
messages and may be acting for genuinely altruistic reasons. However,
there is also a lack of research as to how the media affects people of
different age groups including older people; most research appears to focus
primarily on younger viewers and this creates great bias as results found in
younger children being influenced pro-socially or even anti-socially may not
generalise to older people whose intelligence and development is superior
and less likely to be as easily influenced.

Media influences on anti-social behaviour:

One theory regards observational learning and imitation based on the concepts of
Social Learning Theory (Bandura). Children learn aggressive behaviour either through
direct experience or vicarious experience.
Children observe the actions of media models and may later imitate these behaviours,
especially if the child admires and identifies with the model. Television may also
inform viewers of the positive and negative consequences of violent behaviour.
Children can be expected to imitate violent behaviour that is successful in gaining the
models objectives, such as popularity. The more realistic children perceive violent
televised scenes to be, and the more they identify with the characters themselves, the
more likely they will be to try out the behaviour they have learned.
Banduras research into Social Learning theory is the main support highlighting how
specific acts may be learnt and increase aggressive tendencies through imitating
models. Bandura showed how this occurred with young children learning aggressive
acts after watching a model attack a Bobo doll on television and those who
observed this were more inclined to behave aggressively themselves in comparison to
other conditions.
However this study has its criticisms too as such behaviour appeared to be
limited, mainly to the artificial setting thus lacking in ecological validity.
The children also recorded as being most aggressive were generally
described as aggressive outside of the condition by parents. Therefore we
cannot establish cause and effect in Banduras study, as temperament may
be a confounding variable resulting in aggression rather than observing
models.
Also, the sample of children used was all from one specific nursery and this
may not be representative of the wider population. Thus this use of a biased
sample means that it lacks in external population validity, suggesting that it
cannot be applied to the general population of children.
The children were mildly frustrated before being exposed to the Bobo doll;
causing psychological harm this way raises ethical issues, as it is
encouraging violence in children, which may be permanently retained in
later life. This suggests that the main study that attempts to explain media
influences on anti-social behaviour is perhaps inadequate due to its major
limitations.
However, Phillips study highlighted a positive correlation between
observing violent media and subsequent rise in violence. Examining crime
statistics for the 10-day period following a televised boxing contest, it was
found that there was a significant rise in the number of murders during that

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period. There was no such rise after televised super bowl contests. This
suggests a positive correlation between observing violent actions on
television and a possible link to increased violence in individuals afterwards.
However, as with correlational data, we cannot infer cause and effect for
certain as many variables may exist in between so it is not possible to say
for certain violent depictions in the media lead to increased aggression
directly. Also there is no evidence to suggest that the people involved in
violent incidents had even observed the boxing matches for certain, this
therefore undermines the correlation between violent media and learnt
violence.
However, Charltons study in St. Helena goes on to suggest that media
influences have little effect on behaviour. St Helena had television
introduced for the first time and its effects were observed. Despite
expectations that media influences may increase anti-social behaviour,
results found no significant difference of note. This suggests television has
little effect on people in general.
However it is unclear what this may be over the long-term as children
observed were not used to television and may not have found much interest
in it. Therefore, the findings may be different now as the television may
have become incorporated into their daily regime as it has become in the
West.
Further evidence comes from the riots that occurred in the UK recently; the
widespread coverage of the behaviour of individuals rioting and looting
resulted in many normal people also engaging in such behaviour. These
included people of good social standing with good jobs and not necessarily
those normally expected to engage in such violence. This suggests how
media coverage of aggression in the right context can influence people into
similar behaviour. Many took part with their objective being to obtain
expensive items and pillage shops believing that they would likely get away
with such behaviour as it appeared to be widespread. Therefore this is a
good real life application of how media portrayal behaviour in such a way
can influence people to take part and engage in such themselves. However
other psychological explanations may account for this such as
deindividuation occurring within a crowd and this may be a confounding
variable. It may not necessarily be solely the media and it is reductionist to
assume there is one single cause. It may be a combination of
deindividuation occurring in mass groups alongside media influences
suggesting the explanations for violence may be far more complex than
simply direct media influence.
Positive effects of video games & computers:
Video games have been found to have positive effects on encouraging helping
behaviour, increasing social commitment and understanding to even providing
therapeutic effects.
Osswald et al demonstrated that participants who played the pro-social
video game Lemmings (where they had to save lemmings) subsequently
displayed more pro-social behaviour than those who played an aggressive
game or neutral game. After playing the video game for 8 minutes, players
saw the researcher knock over a cup of pencils off a table and onto the floor.
Of those that played the pro-social game, 67% percent of them helped pick

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up the pencils whereas only 33% of those that played the neutral game did
and only 28% of those that played the aggressive game did. This suggests
pro-social media on video games and computers may promote more prosocial behaviour in people. Osswald suggests 85% of video games on the
market tend to be of a violent nature and although pro-social games may
promote altruistic behaviour, theyre rarer and thus less likely to be
experienced because video game companies tend not to see them as
lucrative (less likely to sell).
However, it could also be argued such violent games serve the role of
catharsis by allowing individuals to release strong or repressed emotions
in a safe virtual environment through video games relieving stress levels.
Therefore, it can be argued that violent video games may have a positive
impact on an individual which is not necessarily measured through altruism.
Alternatively, games that involve other players offer the possibility of increasing social
commitment and promoting group-work. This could be through increased civic
participation on wider issues. Kahne et al found that the majority of those that played
the game The Sims (a life simulation game) also described learning more about the
problems in society and learning more about social issues while playing, highlighting
the positive effects.
To support this, Lenhart et al conducted a large scale US survey looking at
the effects of videogames and social commitment. They found that the
majority of players who played Halo or The Sims were more committed to
civic participation. They also found that those who engaged in social
discussions online and on website forums were more committed civically
and politically. This suggests video games and computer use can actually
promote social commitment and involvement, which is beneficial for society
to continue to evolve how people wish it to, rather than be apathetic.
A problem with surveys in game research is they lack controls for young
peoples prior civic commitments and pro-social activities. It can just as
easily be the people who are more into social commitment are already
interested in learning and society and pick games that fit in with these
needs and not necessarily the games encouraging them. Therefore, this
limits our ability to make cause and effect statements of how video games
influence the development of pro-social responsibilities.
However video games have been successfully used to treat post-traumatic
stress disorder in soldiers to relieve psychological trauma faced in a lowthreat environment.
Researchers have also found that some video games like Tetris limit the
minds tendency to flash back to memories of traumatic events. It is believed
this is because playing such games interfere with the way traumatic
memories are formed as they use the same sensory channels. In Cognitive
behaviour Therapy some psychologists even encourage playing games if
they help to distract patients from worries or issues or as a means of stress
relief. This suggests that there are positive real-world applications for
patients, which emphasizes the pro-social impact of video games on people.
Moreover, the effects of computers, especially Facebook use, have been illustrated.
Gonzales et al argued that Facebook walls can have a positive influence on
our self-esteem because feedback posted on them by others tends to be
overwhelmingly positive. In a study, students were given 3 minutes to: use
their Facebook page, look at themselves in the mirror or do nothing. Results
found that those who had interacted on their Facebook page gave much

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more positive feedback about themselves than the other groups. This
suggests that there is a positive effect on self-esteem offered by websites
such as Facebook.
This is further emphasized by Walther et als hyperpersonal model, which
aims to explain the link between Facebook use and positive self-esteem.
This claims that self-selection of the information we choose to show about
ourselves such as carefully curated photos, personal details and witty
comments can have a positive influence on self-esteem. The medium of
Facebook offers people the opportunity to increase self-esteem as
comments made in respect to whatever they show is likely to be positive to
increase self-esteem. For example, writing I feel sad usually results in
supportive messages and attention from people and thus increases selfesteem. Similarly writing something positive will result in positive
supportive comments also.
Contrastingly, Charles used a focus group and interview techniques to
investigate Facebook habits of 200 Scottish undergraduates. It was found
that a significant percentage experienced anxiety linked to their social
networking site, especially those with more friends as they felt pressured in
deleting unwanted contacts and the persistent pressure to be humor and
entertaining.
However, this research can be argued to be reductionist as it attempts to
suggest that anxiety arises due to their Facebook use when it could be that
their naturally anxious because of their temperament. Moreover, this may
not necessarily be generalized to other age groups and people from
different countries because it targets undergraduates from Scotland; those
in the age-range of undergraduates tend to be very anxious about fitting in
which may account for why they feel anxiety with their social media use.
Negative effects of video games & computers:
Video games have found to have anti-social effects as they reportedly increase
physiological arousal, hostile feelings and aggressive behaviour.
Anderson and Dills experimental study asked participants to blast their opponents
with white noise sound. It was found that those playing a violent game called
Wolfenstein 3D blasted their opponents for longer than those who player a non-violent
game. In support, major strength in this study is that it allows researchers to
establish a causal relationship between violent videogame exposure and
subsequent aggression in the short term because all the extraneous
variables are controlled, increasing the internal validity.
However, a limitation to the use of experimental studies is the difficulty of
measuring real life aggression as this would be unethical and instead uses
measures of aggression that have no link to aggression in real life. Thus,
these studies lack in external validity due to their inability to be generalized
in the same way.
Also, these studies lacks in ecological validity because of the artificial
settings theyre in, as they do not measure the real effects of video games
on aggression in real world situations either.
This study also measures the short-term effects of aggression, which may be
temporary, further undermining the research into negative effects of video
games.
Contrastingly, Anderson et al conducted a longitudinal study of 400+
children aged 7-9 at two points during the school year. Those who highly

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exposed to violent games became more verbally and physically aggressive
and less pro-social based on self-evaluation and ratings from peers and
teachers. This suggests that violent games not only increase aggressive
behaviour but also decrease pro-social behaviour in the long-term.
However, the problem in this study is that participants may be exposed to
other forms of media violence (e.g. television) during the course of the
study. This means that the increased aggression may not necessarily be
from video games. Therefore, such studies may lack internal validity, as
researchers may not necessarily be measuring how video games affect
behaviour and other confounding variables may be affecting behaviour, such
as violent TV.
Gentile et al conducted a meta-analysis, allowing them to aggregate various
studies into video game aggression so that they can look for trends that are
common across all studies. A link was found between the advancement of
videogames (gorier and more violent) and the level of aggression displayed
by children and adults.
However research has failed to establish a causal link between violent game
play and aggressive behaviour definitively. Thus, a bi-directional model was
proposed which argues that it is just as likely that people who already
possess personality traits that orientate them towards aggressive behaviour
preferentially choose violent video games for recreational purposes
Another issue in research into antisocial effects of videogames is gender
bias because most studies focus on males and studies on females tend to
find less of an effect or no effect. For example, Lin & Lepper did find a
positive correlation for increased video game use and aggression for boys
but no such link was found for girls, which is an example of alpha bias. This
may support Gentiles bi-directional model, which suggests it is likely people
with personality traits that orientate them towards aggressive games, play
them for recreational purposes and not necessarily the games affecting the
players.
However, theres biological evidence into the negative effects violent
videogames have on an individual. Matthews et al found those that reported
high exposure to violent media had reduced functions in the pre-frontal
lobe, which regulates inhibitions, self control and concentration. This was
confirmed with FMRI scans of the brain while gamers played video games,
supporting the view that games could have negative effects. This study is
methodologically sound as the research was objective and based on
measurements using an FMRI scanner as opposed to self-reports and
observations, which may be more easily biased as they are subjective. This
also allowed such results to be repeated and confirmed. However, this study
may lack external validity to real world settings as there is no way to say for
certain that the behaviour and effects observed in video games will
translate into real world behaviour.
The Application of Hovland-Yale Model in Explaining Media Persuasion:
Hovland identified three important elements that need to be considered when
attempting to persuade others.
One element is the source factor. Petty and Cacioppo suggest that the more
attractive the communicator is, the more likely the audience will be persuaded e.g.
David Beckham for H&M. This is why companies pay attractive celebrities to advertise

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their product. Furthermore, Baron and Byrne suggest that the source factor is why
most TV adverts put their experts in white coats, which is to emphasize the scientific
status of the message. Thus, this suggests that credible experts are more persuasive
than non-experts.
Bochner et al supports Baron and Byrnes findings. Students were presented
with an expert or a non-expert, both offering their opinion on healthy sleep
times. It was found that those in the expert condition were more likely to be
persuaded even if it drastically disagreed with their own beliefs, supporting
the source factors
On the other hand, OMahoney et al found that celebrity endorsements
werent seen as believable or convincing, perhaps because the celebrity
may overshadow the product as the audience concentrate on them as
opposed to the actual product.
The second element is the message factor. Walster et al suggest messages that are
not deliberately targeted at us are more persuasive. Low fear and high fear messages
do not appear as effective as moderate fear messages. Low levels of fear do little to
motivate an audience while high fear messages can also rebound as they create too
much fear that the audience doesnt process the message properly. However,
Meyerowitz et als longitudinal study found otherwise. Female
undergraduates were randomly given pamphlets about breast cancer. There
were three conditions; condition 1 was the loss pamphlet which
emphasized dangers of not having regular check ups; condition 2 was the
gain pamphlet which emphasized the positive consequences of regular
self-examination; condition 3 which was the control pamphlet that just
stated breast cancer facts. It was found that after 4 months, those in the
loss condition were more likely to self-examine more frequently than those
in the other conditions. This suggest that high-fear messages did cause a
change in attitude.
However, an issue with this study is that it used interviews in the follow-up
part, meaning it was prone to social desirability so the findings may no have
been entirely valid.
An ethical issue is that it exposed them to fearful messages which could
have made them more stressful.
On the other hand, Igartua et al found that an efficient way to deal with low
involvement was to insert the messages within an entertainment context.
They used fictional short stories to illustrate HIV/AIDS prevention. The
results showed that the better the quality of fictional story, the more
cognitive processing was induced and more favourable attitude towards the
preventative behaviour being stimulated.
Lewis et al agreed and found that although fear-arousing messages were
more persuasive in the short term, especially in regards to drunk driving
ads, long-term attitude change were more likely when the ads were more
positive and humour.
The third element of the model is the audience factor. Lizzie McGuire argues that
those with high IQ are more likely to understand the message but also be critical of it
(making persuasion difficult), whilst those with low IQ are less likely to process context
and thus be easily influenced. Also, audiences with high involvement in a topic
typically react different to an audience with low involvement when exposed to a
persuasive message. Younger people and women have also found to be more
susceptible to persuasive messages. This means that theres gender bias due to the
idea that the reason women conform more is because of socialization in that theyre
socialized to be more open to social influence.

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Sistrunk et al argued however that topics of persuasion are usually ones
where men are more familiar with compared to women. They argued women
would not be so susceptible if topics they were more familiar with were
discussed.
Although the H-Y model suggests important factors in persuasion and
attitude change, it doesnt detail or determine the relative importance of
each of these factors.
It also concentrated on steps in the persuasion process, and doesnt
adequately deal with how persuasion occurs; its based on the assumption
that attitude change derives from an understanding of a message. Whilst
this is an important factor that can lead to persuasion and attitude change,
it doesnt guarantee that people are persuaded.
Also, the model is primarily based on research conducted on students
therefore lacks population validity. It is difficult to generalise the findings to
the wider population due this biased sample as this group of participants
have an age, education and wealth profile which is homogenous globally.
The Application of the Elaboration-Likelihood Model in Explaining Media
Persuasion:
Petty and Cacioppo argue that there are two different routes that lead to persuasive
communication, depending on whether the audience focuses on the message or on
the context of the ad. They argue that people are cognitive misers who dont always
think deeply or consider all information.
If an audience focuses on the message itself, then the central route to persuasion is
taken. The central route is taken if the audiences have a high motivation and ability to
think about the message. They deeply process information by focusing on the quality
of the messages arguments. This leads to a lasting change that resists fading and
counterattacks.
If an audience focuses more on the context of the message, then the peripheral route
will be taken. This is taken by audiences who have a low motivation and ability to
think about the message. They superficially process the information, focusing more on
the secondary, peripheral factors such as attractiveness of the communicator. This
leads to temporary change that is susceptible to fading and counterattacks.
The main differences between these two routes lie in the amount of cognitive effort
required on behalf of the audience; the central route requires high ability to think
about the message whereas the peripheral route does not. Moreover, Petty and
Cacioppo argue that people differ in their need for cognition. Some enjoy analyzing
arguments and will thus have a high need for cognition, focusing on the quality of the
argument and are more likely to take the central route. Need for cognition is a stable
individual difference that is innate and inherent.
Vidrine et al used 227 student smokers who were measured to asses their
need for cognition when exposed to one of three conditions; fact-based
leaflet warning of risks of smoking, emotion-based leaflet warning of risks
and a control condition. They found that those with a high need for
cognition responded better to fact-based pamphlet whereas those with a
low need for cognition responded better to the emotion-based pamphlet.
Supporting evidence comes from Lin et al. They found that those with a high
need for cognition were more likely to look at the quality of reviews of a
phone whereas those with a low need for cognition were more likely to look
as the quantity of reviews.

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This model is reductionist however, especially when it portrays humans as
being easily influenced by contextual cues and portraying us as simple
cognitive misers. It is likely various other factors influence persuasion on
certain topics ranging from education, knowledge, wealth and age, which
this model does not account for.
Yet, this model presents real world applications, especially when it used for
charity appeals or climate change issues as messages can be used delivered
for both high NC and low NC groups for wider impact on important issues.
Explanations for the Persuasiveness Of Television Advertising:
The hard sell approach sees advertisers present factual information about a product
while the soft-sell approach involves more subtle and creative persuasive techniques.
Snyder found that individuals who scored highly on a test of self-monitoring, where
they regulated their behaviour so they would be perceived by others in a favourable
manner, had more favourable attitudes to soft-sell advertisements while those who
were found to have low self-monitoring scores and less image conscious responded
better with more factual hard-sell approaches.
Some advertisements use celebrities in an attempt to persuade the audience through
product endorsement. Celebrities provide a familiar face and show themselves to be a
reliable source of information that we feel we can trust because of the parasocial
relationship we may have built up that that celebrity. Celebrities may be seen as a
neutral source of information and so perform the function of rubber stamping the
advertisers claim.
Younger children do not understand the persuasive intent of television adverts as well
as older children and so some advertisers have created adverts based on pester
power. By advertising directly to children, this increases that chances that they
pester their parents and others for products they have seen on TV.
However, Martin found that celebrity endorsement was not as effective as we may
think. Students were more convinced by a television endorsement from a fictional
fellow student when buying a digital camera than by one from a celebrity. The
researchers claimed that young people like to make sure their product is fashionable
among people who resemble themselves rather than approved by celebrities.
However this study lacked external validity as the participants were all students and
this lacked generalisation. This study may tell us more about how celebrity
endorsement impacts students more than older or very young age groups.
Pine & Nash studied Christmas gift requests from children in the US and Sweden. In
Sweden, advertising to under 12s is banned by law. They found significantly fewer gift
requests from Swedish children compared to children from the US. The lack of direct
advertisement to young Swedish children may be a strong factor highlighting the
persuasive effects of television advertising.
However other variables may also play a role such as cultural differences and Swedish
culture being less interested in Santa Claus in general.
Psychological Explanations for the Attraction Of Celebrities:
A celebrity is a person of distinction or fame. They are a small group of people idolized
by a larger number of people.

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One psychological explanation is the development of para-social relationships. Parasocial relationships are one-sided relations with celebrities that occur outside a
persons real network of friends, with the celebrity usually unaware of it.
There are three levels to a para-social relationship:
Level 1 is the social level whereby the celebrity is seen as a source of fun and
enjoyment.
Level 2 is the intense-personal level whereby the fan becomes intensely engaged with
the celebrity.
Level 3 is the obsessional level. People with poorer mental health and lower selfesteem are more prone to have a para-social relationship.
Maltby et al examined the link between poor mental health and para-social
relationships using a sample of 300 UK students. They were asked to
complete a CAS scale and a loneliness and depression questionnaire. It was
found that those who were attracted to celebrities often had a degree of
anxiety and depression. This suggests that theres a link between parasocial relationships and poor mental health, which could be because parasocial relationships have few demands and people arent at risk of rejection
or criticism, all of which could be triggering to those with poor mental
health.
Moreover, Schiappa et al conducted a meta-analysis of studies of para-social
relationships and concluded these were most likely to form with celebrities
who were seen as attractive and relatable. An important additional factor
appeared to be that they appear real or believable, allowing viewers to
compare themselves to them in similar ways.
However, it can be argued that para-social relationships are beneficial to
people. Jenkins and Jason suggest that para-social relationships serve as an
important function as they can have a positive effect on individuals. They
enable fans to enhance their lives by taking an active yet positive role. They
help create social networks with other fans and allow them to develop their
sense of appreciation of other peoples talents.
This is further supported by Rubin et al who suggested that para-social
relationships provide models of social behaviour, such as intimacy and
generosity and opportunities to learn about cultural values also from
celebrities.
McCutcheon et al put forward this model, which applies to individuals with a weak
sense of identity and consists of two stages:
Stage 1: Absorptionthe persons attention is entirely focused on the celebrity and
they find out everything they can about him or her.
Stage 2: Addictionthe individual craves greater and greater closeness to the chosen
celebrity and becomes increasingly delusional in thinking and behaviour. The main
motivation is to achieve a full sense of identity and a social role.
Therefore, this model suggests that para-social relationships can quickly
become addictive and the individual needs to feel an increasingly stronger
sense of involvement with their celebrity. As a result, if the person has poor
mental health or low self-esteem, they can become stalkers (final stage in
celebrity worship). Thus, this model can be used to explain celebrity
stalking and intense fandom.
Psychological explanations ignore the role of biological factors in
determining attraction to celebrities and a diathesis-model of both
psychological and evolutionary explanations may be better suited. For
instance, repeated exposure may cause celebrities to seem comforting and
trustworthy for which there may be a biological cause and programming in

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us to feel this way as it has an adaptive value. This shows a combination of
psychological and biological elements interacting.
Evolutionary Explanations for the Attraction Of Celebrities:
One evolutionary explanation is the attraction to creative individuals where human
beings are seen to be neophilic (love novelty). Our ancestors would have had to
entertain each other and neophilia would have led to more creative displays from
potential mates. Therefore, mate choice in the EEA could have favored creative
displays. This explains why talents such as singing are universally and uniquely
developed. Thus, we might explain our attraction to celebrities as an extension of our
love of these characteristics.
This is emphasized by Millers mating mind, which argues that sexual selection might
favour minds prone to creativity despite natural selection favouring the development
of skills that enhance survival.
Duck supports this, arguing that boredom in a relationship is a common
reason for its termination. Therefore, partners who offer variety and
creativity are more likely to have together longer reproductively successful
relationships.
Moreover, Shirashi et al discovered an enzyme that correlated with novelty
seeking behaviour. Genetic differences mean people produce different
variations of an enzyme called MAOA (monomine oxidase).
Researchers found that one form of this enzyme was significantly associated
with higher scores of novelty seeking behaviour. This suggests that there
may be a genetic origin for neophilla and our attraction to creative people
may be an evolved response. A strength of this study is that it was
conducted in a laboratory setting so theres high control of extraneous
variables that may cause this increase in MAOA such as gender, age or
health.
However, this assumption is based on correlation data and we cannot infer
cause and effect for certain. It may well be that other hidden variables lay in
between; for example novelty seeking behaviour may actually create this
enzyme for example.
Moreover, the interest in a celebrity does not explain our interest in
homosexual celebrities as if it served an evolutionary advantage; surely our
interest would be limited to heterosexual celebrities however this is clearly
not the case. This suggests that evolutionary explanations are reductionist
and incomplete as they cannot account for this.
Another evolutionary explanation is celebrity gossip. Language is seen as having
evolved to fulfill several functions; one of these was to communicate social
information within a group. Dunbar believed that during the EEA, groups grew so
large that gossip became the most effective way of passing information about social
relationships and hierarchies. Gossiping increased knowledge of events within a group
meaning that gossipers were better at surviving because they could keep up to date
with rivalries and affairs of others and pick up vital information about resources.
This explains the unending appeal of celebrity journalism, as celebrities are
seen as superiors that have attractive qualities that are important to
survival and reproduction. Keeping up to date with celebrities, their habits
and behaviours is seen as beneficial information to shaping ones own
personal behaviour; hence the popularity of gossip magazines.
However this assumption would suffer from gender beta bias as it is mostly
females who purchase gossip magazines and such an explanation may not
apply to the male population as easily. Therefore, this explanation lacks

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external validity to wider generalisation.
Evolutionary theories into the attraction of a celebrity depend on post-hoc
explanations. Thus, they are difficult to prove or falsify for certain
scientifically because we cannot go back in time.
Research Into Celebrity Stalking:
Stalking is the persistent attempts to impose on another person unwanted
communication or contact, causing him or her fear of bodily injury. Celebrity stalking
only constitutes circa 1% of total stalking cases, which makes them very rare.
However, media coverage of the most extreme cases makes them appear as though
they are common.
There are two main explanations into celebrity stalking; personality theory and
attachment theory.
The personality theory views stalking as an extreme form of celebrity worship by
those who score highly on the borderline-pathological dimension on the celebrity
attitude scale. They believe that they have a special bond with the celebrity and
because they in actuality do not, stalking can be seen as an expression of a delusional
belief system.
To support this Kamphuis et al found that, compared to non-stalkers,
stalkers were moderately low on conscientiousness and agreeableness but
high on neuroticism. This suggests that there is a particular type of
individual that is more likely to stalk celebrities.
Stokes et al found stalking was also more common in people who were
autistic. People with this disorder struggle to form social relationships with
others and may be more likely to form para-social relationships with
celebrities which could lead to stalking.
Mullen emphasizes this as they found that 80% of the 20000 cases of
stalking involving the royal family had serious mental disorders.
Because of its socially sensitive nature, this area of research raises ethical
issues, such as confidentiality and protecting the anonymity of the
participants. It also raises several methodological issues; most of the
research uses questionnaires so data may be invalid because (a) celebrity
worshippers may not tell the truth, (b) stalkers might understate the
frequency of their behaviour and (c) intelligent people may not report
celebrity worshipping because they are aware that it is generally viewed
negatively by society.
The other explanation for celebrity stalking is the attachment theory. This proposes
that celebrity stalking is an extreme manifestation of insecure attachments in infancy
and childhood. McCutcheon et al suggested that if insecurely attached children are
more likely to have relationship problems as adults, then they might be likely to form
para-social relationships. This is because para-social relationships make few demands;
because there is no real relationship with the celebrity, there is no risk of criticism or
rejection.
McCutcheon et al found these people who were insecurely attached as children were
also more likely to condone behaviours associated with stalking.
Evidence supporting this explanation comes from Tonins study whereby
they measured stalkers retrospective childhood attachment styles and their
current attachment using two self-report measures. Compared with a
control group of non-stalkers, Tonin found significantly more evidence of
insecure adult attachment styles than those in a control group.

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Moreover, Keinlen suggested that adults classed as anxious-ambivalent in
childhood tend to have a weak sense of self-worth and are anxious about
rejection and therefore may be motivated to seek the approval of the person
they are stalking. For example, John Hinckley Jr stalked Jodie Foster and
tried to seek her approval, which supports this.
However, almost all of the research in this area is correlational. Although
correlational studies tell us that the variables share a relationship, they do
not enable conclusions to be drawn about cause and effect. A relationship
between two variables may reflect an underlying relationship with a third,
as yet
unknown, variable.
Research into Celebrity Worship:
Most research into celebrity worship has used the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS) with
lower scores representing more individualistic behaviours and higher scores indicating
over-identification and obsession
with celebrities.
Maltby et al used this scale to create the three levels of para-social relationships:
Entertainment social Fans are attracted to a favourite celebrity because of their
entertainment value and social value for gossip and interaction.
Intense-Personal This reflects intensive and compulsive feelings for the celebrity
Borderline-Pathological This dimension is typified by uncontrollable behaviours and
fantasies about the celebrity.
Celebrity worship has also been associated with poorer developmental
problems; Yue et al found in a telephone survey of over 800 Chinese
teenagers that idol worship was associated with lower levels of work and
self-esteem as well as less successful identity achievement. Those
teenagers who worshiped idols from television demonstrated the lowest
identity achievement.
However this study also found that children who worshipped family
members or real people within their social circle also tended to have higher
levels of self-esteem and educational achievement.
This makes sense considering the admiration of those that can give tangible
practical input to the adolescent lives would be more likely to provide a
greater positive impact than celebrities where only a one-way parasocial
relationship exists.
Phillips study highlighted the negative impact of celebrity worship
revealing high-profile celebrity suicides are often followed by increased
number of suicides among the general population. This could be due to
pathological worshippers often being drawn to rebellious, entertaining and
antisocial celebrities and therefore we may expect them to emulate similar
behaviour with negative consequences for the worshipper.
Maltby concluded that celebrity worshippers have lower psychological
wellbeing than non-worshippers and that further studies suggested that
while the Entertainment-social subscale predicted social dysfunction in
individuals, scores on the intense-personal scale predicted both depression
and anxiety disorders.
Evolutionary explanations of celebrity worship suggest that it is natural for
humans to look up to those who receive attention because this is an
indication of them succeeding in life. For our ancestors this would have

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meant respecting good hunters or elders however as this is no longer valued
we look at those who have achieved fame and fortune instead which we
would like to emulate. Therefore it makes evolutionary sense to value
individuals according to how successful they are because such individuals
are succeeding using above-average methods and therefore serve as
valuable role-models for others.