Consumer behavior question

Celebrity Worship, Materialism, Compulsive Buying, and the Empty Self Robert A. Reeves Augusta State University

Gary A. Baker Champlain College

Chris S. Truluck Augusta State University

ABSTRACT

This study tested common predictions from the absorption-addiction model of celebrity worship and the empty self theory. A sample of 171 university students completed a set of scales that included celebrity worship, materialism, and compulsive buying, as well as self-concept clarity, and several other measures of well-being, such as boredom proneness, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. As predicted, materialism and compulsive buying were significantly correlated with celebrity worship, extending research on the empty self theory. Celebrity worship, materialism, and compulsive buying were significantly related to lower self-concept clarity and to lower levels of well-being, supporting both absorption-addiction and empty self theories. The results provide clear evidence for absorption-addiction and empty self theory predictions of a compromised identity. Implications for future research were discussed. C⃝ 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Celebrity and entertainment culture have become in- creasingly prevalent in recent decades (Boorstin, 1982; Gabler, 1998; Giles, 2000; Turner, 2010). For many peo- ple, interest in celebrities goes beyond casual interest, and even fascination, to obsession. Recently, empirical research on the topic of celebrity worship has begun to emerge (e.g., Maltby, Houran, Lange, Ashe, & Mc- Cutcheon, 2002; Maltby, Houran, & McCutcheon, 2003; McCutcheon, Houran, Maltby, & Ashe, 2004), and Mc- Cutcheon, Lange, and Houran (2002) celebrity attitude scale (CAS; see also Maltby et al., 2002) has been a cata- lyst for this research. Celebrity worship has been linked to a number of negative characteristics. For example, high levels of celebrity worship have been related to higher levels of social dysfunction, somatic symptoms, anxiety, and depression (Maltby, McCutcheon, & Ashe, 2001). Additional studies have shown that celebrity worship is associated with lower levels of religiosity (Maltby et al., 2002) and certain cognitive deficits (e.g., lower levels of critical thinking, cognitive flexibility, and creativity; McCutcheon, Ashe, Houran, & Maltby, 2003).

Although the CAS is a useful, overall measure of celebrity worship, research has identified three factors that assess progressively more pathological levels of this trait (Maltby et al., 2002; McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002). The lowest level of celebrity worship,

“entertainment-social,” refers to the value of celebrities in enhancing social activities with friends or providing entertainment. The second level, “intense-personal,” re- flects more of a personal preoccupation with a favorite celebrity and has mild obsessive-compulsive quali- ties. Finally, the third and most pathological level, “borderline-pathological,” defines more severe patho- logical behavior of the type that indicates stronger obsessive-compulsive tendencies that might lead in some cases to actually stalking a celebrity or erotoma- nia (Maltby, Houran, & McCutcheon, 2003).

McCutcheon, Lange, and Houran (2002) have devel- oped an absorption-addiction model of celebrity worship as an explanation of the different levels of celebrity worship. According to this model, persons with a poorly defined sense of identity attempt to gain ful- fillment and a more complete identity by becoming ab- sorbed with a celebrity. Absorption is defined as effort- less, but full and complete devotion of attention to a celebrity. Persons with higher levels of celebrity wor- ship are also thought to have a weak boundary struc- ture and may erroneously believe that they have a special relationship or bond with a celebrity (Houran et al., 2005). Related research has shown that patho- logical preoccupation with public figures is related to both absorption and dissociation (Sheridan, Maltby, & Gillett, 2006).

Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 29(9): 674–679 (September 2012) View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mar

C⃝ 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/mar.20553

674

The addictive aspects of celebrity worship are as- sumed to occur as persons habituate over time to their level of absorption and need even stronger evidence of their belief in the perceived relationship with the celebrity. This need can strengthen erroneous beliefs about the relationship and promote even more ex- treme dissociative behavior. In support of this model, Maltby, McCutcheon, and Ashe (2001) found that the entertainment-social subscale of the CAS was most strongly related to social dysfunction and depression, while the intense-personal subscale was related most strongly to anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms. The relationship between the intense-personal subscale and somatic symptoms was thought to reflect the addic- tive quality of the more severe level of celebrity worship.

A more recent study offers additional, more con- clusive support for the absorption-addiction model. Maltby, Houran, and McCutcheon (2003) found that scores on the CAS subscales were each uniquely corre- lated with a brief measure of one of Eysenck’s three personality factors (Francis, Brown, & Philipchalk, 1992) in a pattern consistent with predictions from the model. Specifically, the entertainment-social, intense- personal, and borderline-pathological subscales were most strongly and positively related to scores on extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism, respec- tively. Intense-personal celebrity worship has also been found to be related to a neurotic coping style and poorer mental health (Maltby et al., 2004).

The absorption-addiction model (McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002) is similar in some ways to Cushman’s (1990, 1995) empty self theory (also noted by McCutcheon et al., 2003). Both address behaviors that are attributed to consumer and entertainment cul- ture and to influential marketing and advertising prac- tices (see Kasser & Kanner, 2004). Both also describe a model of the self that includes a deficient, or com- promised identity. According to Cushman, the “empty self” is a version of the self that emerged in the West in the last half of the twentieth century due to a conflu- ence of sociocultural, psychological, economic, and de- mographic changes. Cushman notes that since the late 1800s there has been increasing emphasis on the devel- opment of a secular personality, rather than one based more on religious character. The contemporary empty self is characterized by strivings for self-contained in- dividualism, autonomy, self-sufficiency, and attempts to master the environment for one’s own needs. This self-contained individualism comes with a price, how- ever, as the self is expected to be able to soothe itself in order to be able to function autonomously. Unfortu- nately, the empty self is plagued by a loss of a shared sense of community and meaning, isolation, values con- fusion, depression, low self-esteem, and poor relation- ships with others, among other characteristics. This creates a nonspecific, chronic emotional need (Cush- man, 1990, 1995), which the person attempts to rem- edy by the ceaseless acquisition and consumption of nonessential goods. This need can also lead to drug abuse, eating disorders, a series of unsuccessful roman-

tic relationships, and even undue adulation of politi- cians and celebrities, according to Cushman. Cushman also suggested that the “lifestyle solution” offered by advertising falsely promises that consuming certain products and identifying with advertising models and celebrities will create fulfillment by transforming the person’s life.

Although Cushman (1990, 1995) offered no empiri- cal support for his model, research on materialism and compulsive buying is consistent with his views if one as- sumes that the empty self is reflected in stronger mate- rialistic and compulsive buying tendencies. High levels of materialism and compulsive buying tendencies have been related in many studies to a pattern of poor ad- justment and well-being that fits the description of the empty self, such as low self-esteem, depression, anxi- ety, narcissism, and uncertainty and self-doubt, among other negative outcomes (e.g., Chang & Arkin, 2002; Dittmar, Long, & Bond, 2007; Faber, 2000; Kashdan & Breen, 2007; Kasser & Ryan, 1993; O’Guinn & Faber, 1989; Richins & Dawson, 1992). We reasoned, there- fore, that increasing levels of materialism and compul- sive buying would characterize those who are suffering from the empty self.

One purpose of the present study was to bridge the research on the absorption-addiction model of celebrity worship (McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002) with that on Cushman’s (1990, 1995) empty self theory. Both models describe an unhealthy version of the self that seeks external gratification to remedy and soothe internal deficiencies and both models posit celebrity worship as a means to accomplish this. Following the reasoning above in which higher levels of material- ism and compulsive buying tendencies are assumed to reflect empty self characteristics, we predicted that higher materialism and compulsive buying tendencies would be related to higher scores on celebrity wor- ship. The relationships among these measures have not been examined in previous research, to our knowl- edge, so examining these relationships will allow a test of an important aspect of Cushman’s theory, as well as an extension of research on celebrity worship and the absorption-addiction model (McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002).

A second purpose of this study was designed to ex- plore a neglected, but essential, component of both the absorption-addiction model of celebrity worship and Cushman’s empty self theory. The emerging re- search on the addiction-absorption model has not yet (to our knowledge) included measures that directly assess deficiencies of the self-concept. Therefore, we included measures of self-concept clarity (Campbell, 1990; Campbell et al., 1996a, 1996b) and self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965) to extend the research on celebrity worship in this regard. Self-concept clarity measures how clearly and confidently the self-concept is de- fined, as well as the internal consistency and stabil- ity of the self-concept. Low self-concept clarity has been related to lower self-esteem and higher neuroti- cism (Campbell, Assanand, & Di Paula, 2003; Campbell

CELEBRITY WORSHIP AND THE EMPTY SELF 675 Psychology and Marketing DOI: 10.1002/mar

et al., 1996a). We predicted from both the absorption- addiction and empty self theories that higher levels of celebrity worship, materialism, and compulsive buying would be related to lower self-concept clarity and lower self-esteem.

Finally, we included two other measures, boredom proneness (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986) and life satis- faction (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), that we believe are relevant to both the absorption-addiction and the empty self theories. Boredom proneness has been related to a variety of negative outcomes, includ- ing depression, loneliness, hopelessness, and lower life satisfaction (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986). Life satisfac- tion has, similarly, been associated with poor adjust- ment and lower well-being (Diener et al., 1985). We predicted that celebrity worship, materialism, and com- pulsive buying tendency would be positively related to boredom proneness and negatively related to life satis- faction.

METHOD

Participants

Participants were 171 students (63 males, 106 females, and 2 who did not reveal their sex) at a small southeast- ern university who volunteered for a study on “attitudes toward celebrities.” All students were treated in accor- dance with appropriate ethical guidelines (American Psychological Association, 1992).

Procedure and Measures

Each participant completed a packet of questionnaires during their respective class periods. The packets con- tained the following measures and all have been shown to have adequate psychometric quality: the 23-item version of the CAS (celebrity worship; Maltby et al., 2002), materialism (Richins & Dawson, 1992), compul- sive buying (Faber & O’Guinn, 1992), boredom prone- ness (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986), self-concept clarity (Campbell et al., 1996a, 1996b), life satisfaction (Di- ener et al., 1985), and self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965). After all data collection, participants were debriefed as to the complete nature of the study.

RESULTS

All of the main scales appeared to have ade- quate internal consistency, as seen in Table 1. The borderline-pathological subscale of the celebrity wor- ship scale, however, had poor reliability, suggest- ing that correlations with that subscale be inter- preted cautiously. The correlation matrix of all of the scales used, shown in Table 2, reveals strong support for our hypotheses. Celebrity worship, ma- terialism, and compulsive buying tendency scores

were significantly correlated with each other and with each of the other measures in the predicted direction. It is important for interpretation to note that the compulsive buying scale (Faber & O’Guinn, 1992) is scored so that lower scores on the scale re- flect stronger compulsive buying tendencies. There- fore, we predicted negative correlations between compulsive buying scores and scores on the other measures.

Consistent with Cushman’s empty self theory (1990), higher levels of materialism and compulsive buying tendencies were associated with significantly higher scores on celebrity worship. Also as predicted, materialism and compulsive buying tendency were sig- nificantly correlated with lower self-concept clarity, lower self-esteem, and greater boredom proneness. Ma- terialism was also significantly related to lower life sat- isfaction.

In support of the absorption-addiction model (Maltby et al., 2002), higher celebrity worship scores were significantly correlated with lower levels of self- concept clarity and self-esteem. This result is the first, to our knowledge, in which a deficit in self-concept or identity has been directly linked to celebrity wor- ship. The results also support predictions from the absorption-addiction model in that celebrity worship was significantly related to greater boredom proneness.

Separate correlation matrices for males (Table 3) and females (Table 4) showed strong significant sup- port for all predictions within the female group. In fact, the results within the female group revealed stronger support for the predictions than that observed within the total sample. For males, however, support for the predictions was less complete, possibly due to low statistical power created by the smaller sam- ple of males. Nonetheless, higher compulsive buying tendency for males was related to higher scores on celebrity worship and higher materialism was associ- ated with lower self-concept clarity and higher boredom proneness.

Notably, among the strongest correlations (Tables 2 & 4) were those observed between some of the measures (e.g., materialism, compulsive buying tendency, and boredom proneness) and the borderline-pathological subscale of the celebrity worship scale. However, the low internal consistency of the borderline-pathological subscale (see Table 1) requires caution in interpreting these correlations.

Comparisons of mean scores on each scale for males and females revealed that males had higher mean scores than did females on the celebrity worship scale (M’s = 40.05 vs. 36.19, respectively, p < 0.04, one-tailed) and on two of the three celebrity worship subscales— entertainment social (M’s = 20.44 vs. 18.20, respec- tively, p < 0.05, one-tailed) and borderline pathological (M’s = 4.30 vs. 3.73, respectively, p < 0.03). Females, however, had higher mean scores than did males on self-concept clarity (M’s = 42.11 vs. 39.35, respectively, p < 0.04, one-tailed) and compulsive buying tendency (M’s = 0.85 vs. 1.42, respectively, p < 0.02, one-tailed;

676 REEVES ET AL. Psychology and Marketing DOI: 10.1002/mar

Table 1. Internal Consistency and Descriptive Statistics of Measures.

Measure Cronbach’s α N M SD

1. Celebrity worship 0.92 171 37.46 13.24 2. Materialism 0.84 171 52.36 11.1 3. Compulsive buying 0.65 171 1.04 1.51 4. Self-concept clarity 0.86 171 41.09 9.29 5. Self-esteem 0.85 167 34.53 5.34 6. Boredom proneness 0.74 167 10.91 4.64 7. Life satisfaction 0.82 170 15.92 6.01 8. Entertain-social subscale 0.89 171 18.93 7.58 9. Intense-personal subscale 0.81 171 12.80 4.76 10. Borderline-path. Subscale 0.46 171 3.93 1.51

Table 2. Correlation Matrix of Measures for Total Sample.

Measure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Celebrity worship – 2. Materialism 0.26∗ – 3. Compulsive buying − 0.18∗∗ − 0.29∗ – 4. Self-concept clarity − 0.25∗ − 0.28∗ 0.17∗∗ – 5. Self-esteem − 0.19∗∗ − 0.17∗∗ 0.15∗∗ 0.47∗ – 6. Boredom proneness 0.24∗ 0.24∗ − 0.20∗ − 0.47∗ − 0.36∗ – 7. Life satisfaction − 0.13∗∗∗ − 0.21∗ 0.12 0.32∗ 0.44∗ − 0.28∗ – 8. Entertain-social subscale 0.96∗ 0.23∗ − 0.18∗∗ − 0.23∗ − 0.16∗∗ 0.21∗ − 0.11 – 9. Intense-personal subscale 0.89∗ 0.21∗ − 0.09 − 0.22∗ − 0.17∗∗ 0.20∗ − 0.13∗∗∗ 0.74∗ – 10. Borderline-path. Subscale 0.71∗ 0.36∗ − 0.26∗ − 0.25∗ − 0.13∗∗∗ 0.38∗ − 0.11 0.63∗ 0.55∗ –

Note: Ns range from 167 to 171. Low scores on compulsive buying indicate stronger compulsive buying tendencies. High scores on all other scales reflect stronger respective tendencies.

∗p < 0.01, ∗∗p < 0.05, ∗∗∗p < 0.05 (one-tailed).

recall that lower scores on compulsive buying reflect a stronger tendency).

We also ran several stepwise regressions to examine the relative strength of predictors of celebrity worship. For the total sample, materialism (β = 0.20, p < 0.009) and boredom proneness (β = 0.20, p < 0.01) emerged as significant predictors. For females, materialism (β = 0.36, p < 0.01) and self-esteem (β = −0.27, p < 0.01) were the significant predictors.

DISCUSSION

The results support predictions from both the absorption-addiction model of celebrity worship (Maltby et al., 2002) and the empty self theory (Cush- man, 1990, 1995) in that both theories explain celebrity worship in terms of deficits in self-concept, poor ad- justment, and low levels of well-being. Research on the absorption-addiction model was extended with the

Table 3. Correlation Matrix for Male Participants.

Measure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Celebrity worship – 2. Materialism 0.06 – 3. Compulsive buying − 0.24∗∗∗ − 0.30∗∗ – 4. Self-concept clarity − 0.15 − 0.29∗∗ 0.11 – 5. Self-esteem − 0.03 − 0.07 − 0.02 0.44∗ – 6. Boredom proneness 0.12 0.24∗∗∗ − 0.14 − 0.48∗ − 0.33∗ – 7. Life satisfaction 0.08 − 0.07 − 0.02 0.23∗∗∗ 0.35∗ − 0.24∗∗∗ – 8. Entertain-social subscale 0.97∗ − 0.01 − 0.22∗∗∗ − 0.12 0.01 0.06 0.11 – 9. Intense-personal subscale 0.89∗ 0.07 − 0.18 − 0.12 − 0.05 0.10 0.03 0.76∗ – 10. Borderline-path. Subscale 0.64∗ 0.31∗∗ − 0.29∗∗ − 0.26∗∗ − 0.09 0.42∗ − 0.01 0.59∗ 0.44∗ –

Note: N = 63. Low scores on compulsive buying indicate stronger compulsive buying tendencies. High scores on all other scales reflect stronger respective tendencies.

∗p < 0.01, ∗∗p < 0.05, ∗∗∗p < 0.05 (one-tailed).

CELEBRITY WORSHIP AND THE EMPTY SELF 677 Psychology and Marketing DOI: 10.1002/mar

Table 4. Correlation Matrix for Female Participants.

Measure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1. Celebrity worship – 2. Materialism 0.41∗ – 3. Compulsive buying − 0.24∗∗ − 0.29∗ – 4. Self-concept clarity − 0.31∗ − 0.24∗∗ 0.24∗∗ – 5. Self-esteem − 0.33∗ − 0.19∗∗∗ 0.24∗∗ 0.50∗ – 6. Boredom proneness 0.30∗ 0.20∗∗ − 0.33∗ − 0.44∗ − 0.38∗ – 7. Life satisfaction − 0.29∗ − 0.26∗ 0.19∗∗ 0.36∗ 0.49∗ − 0.26∗ – 8. Entertain-social subscale 0.95∗ 0.41∗ − 0.24∗∗ − 0.29∗ − 0.32∗ 0.28∗ − 0.29∗ – 9. Intense-personal subscale 0.88∗ 0.31∗ − 0.10 − 0.28∗ − 0.27∗ 0.26∗ − 0.26∗ 0.71∗ – 10. Borderline-path. Subscale 0.74∗ 0.41∗ − 0.34∗ − 0.21∗ − 0.17∗∗∗ 0.32∗ − 0.18∗∗∗ 0.64∗ 0.62∗ –

Note: Ns range from 100 to 106. Low scores on compulsive buying indicate stronger compulsive buying tendencies. High scores on all other scales reflect stronger respective tendencies.

∗p < 0.01, ∗∗p < 0.05, ∗∗∗p < 0.05 (one-tailed).

observation of relationships between low self-concept clarity, low self-esteem, and celebrity worship. The re- sults also extended the empty self theory via the rela- tionship between materialism, compulsive buying ten- dency, and celebrity worship.

Altogether, these results suggest that those who are high in celebrity worship, materialism, and compulsive buying are lacking in internal resources such as a clear sense of self and a positive self-regard. Such people appear to need external stimulation, possibly as an es- cape from aversive consequences of introspection, and turn to external, yet ineffectual, sources of gratification, such as celebrity worship and materialistic pursuits, in an attempt to compensate for their deficiencies. At- tachments to celebrities (Giles & Maltby, 2004; Thomp- son, 2006), including those used in promotional efforts, have been related to need satisfaction, but some such attachments may contain an undesirable quality. Mild degrees of celebrity worship are considered normal and can enhance social interaction and enjoyment of enter- tainment, but deeper levels appear to be pathological (De Backer, Nelissen, Vyncke, Braeckman, & McAn- drew, 2007; McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002). Fu- ture research should include additional variables to more carefully map degrees of celebrity worship to as- sess both positive and negative, or pathological, aspects of relationships with celebrities.

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We would like to thank Lynn McCutcheon for comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to: Robert A. Reeves, Department of Psychology, Augusta State University, Augusta, Georgia 30904 ([email protected]).

CELEBRITY WORSHIP AND THE EMPTY SELF 679 Psychology and Marketing DOI: 10.1002/mar