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Obsessed with Kim Kardashian’s butt? Can’t get enough of Bennifer getting back together? Chances are you’re an idiot — at least according to Hungarian academics.
New research has deemed people obsessed with Hollywood gossip and A-list celebs as not that smart — which will surely come as a blow to those who love pouring over the pages of gossip magazines and tuning into reality TV.
The study, published in BMC Psychology late last year, asserts that “there is a direct association between celebrity worship and poorer performance on cognitive tests” measuring both literacy and numeracy.
The study asked 1,763 Hungarian adults to undertake a 30-word vocabulary test and a digit symbol substitution test, before completing a “Celebrity Attitude Scale” questionnaire to determine their levels of interest in famous people.
Participants had to answer yes or no to a series of statements on the Celebrity Attitude Scale, including: “I often feel compelled to learn the personal habits of my favorite celebrity” and “I am obsessed by details of my favorite celebrity’s life.”
Another yes or no statement read: “If I were lucky enough to meet my favorite celebrity, and he/she asked me to do something illegal as a favor I would probably do it.”
Researchers found that high scores on the Celebrity Attitude Scale correlated with lower performance on the two cognitive ability tests. Participants were also asked about their income, material wealth and levels of education in order to gain the most detailed picture possible.
However, the researchers were unable to determine whether celebrity obsessives perform poorly on cognitive tests because they used their brainpower thinking about A-listers, or whether they were fixated on Hollywood gossip because they were already less intelligent to begin with.
In other words, it’s unclear whether celebrity worshipping is a cause or consequence of low cognitive function.
The researchers say, therefore, further study is required.
“Future studies should seek further support for our suggestion that the cognitive effort invested in maintaining the absorption in a favorite celebrity may interfere with the person’s performance in tasks that require attention and other cognitive skills,” the researchers told PsyPost in a recent interview.
“Although our research does not prove that developing a powerful obsession with one’s favorite celebrity causes one to score lower on cognitive tests, it suggests that it might be wise to carefully monitor feelings for [them].”
While some may feel personally attacked by this research, folks on Twitter did not seem shell-shocked about the findings.
“I don’t think a study was needed to determine this,” wrote one Twitter user. “What worries me is that people who worship celebs are not going to read this article ever,” another added.
“Cognitive dissonance, I’m not even surprised,” chimed in a third. “The nature of celebrity worship and stan culture is really problematic.”
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