Social psychological explanations of celebrity attraction - social learning theory

Social psychological explanations of celebrity attraction - social learning theory

1. SLT - how it can explain celebrity attraction

   • SLT would suggest that we are attracted to celebrities because we have qualities that we admire because they have led to success
   • we want to be like them as we associate their behaviour and characteristics with the sort of fame and success we would like for ourselves - vicarious reinforcement
   • therefore study them and follow them in gossip magazines so we can find out more about them and imitate them

2. SLT - role models

   • SLT would predict that we are more likely to follow and imitate celebrities that we can identify with
   • for example the same age, gender, social background
   • younger people are more likely to to be interested in celebrities because they have more to learn by following them

3. Celebrity endorsement support

   • in support of SLT Escalis and Bettman (2008) - found that celebrity endorsement enhanced a product when the sonsumers aspired to be like the celebrity
   • they also found that consumers self-enhanced (felt more superior) if they connected themselves to a favourable celebrity and distanced themselevs from less favourable
   • these findings support the SLT idea the we imitate celebrities in order to hopefully gain some success

4. De Becker et al (2007)

   • surveyed over 800 people and followed this up with 103 in depth interviews
   • found the younger the person the more learned from the celebrity supporting the idea of age differences in learning
   • they suggest that celebrities are viewed as higher-status members of society and therefore are used for behaviour modelling

5. Cultural bias

   • there is cultural bias in a lot of the research into celebrity attraction has most has been completed in Western cultures
   • in non-western collectivist cultures where the emphasis is on group co-operation
   • and respect for family and elders is high - the attraction to copy celebrities may be less