Fellow of the American Psychological Association, Media Psychologist, and Author
Memoir Writing, Blogging, and Ghostwriting​
Weekly Doses of Pop-up Psych
We all make cringey mistakes and deserve to move on, rather than feel confused or regretful after an icky social situation. Each week, I will dissect a murky social, life cycle, or pop culture topic to help you understand, learn, and move on. As a former academic, I am a super-picky consumer of research (and you should be too) as well as the content I create and share, so those new solutions, data and/or additional resources have certainly met my approval.
How much do public figures impact you?
Updates from public figures ignite all types of emotional reactions from fans and trolls. A Kardashian sharing pics of their children’s birthday fuels varying reactions via the comments sections from sincere praises of love to judgmental messages of hate. Why do people even give it that much thought?
Engaging in entertainment and pop culture is one of life’s simple pleasures. Public figures (celebrities, influencers, and characters) make it possible through music, sports, acting, and other forms of work for us to be entertained, fulfilled, distracted, inspired, educated, and seen. Fans are attracted when they find them to be relatable or share something in common, such as traits, looks, history, demographics, hobbies, or other life experiences.
Here are two short tests to see how you feel about your favorite public figures.
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Being a fan of pop culture and public figures goes back to the early 1900’s, but the literature has conflicting perspectives about when it actually became a “thing”. It’s nothing new, but only became studied by Dr. David Giles in the 80’s. You can read all the best research studies and theoretical foundations in Psychology of Popular Media, the world’s most prominent scholarly journal on the topic.
Are you in a Parasocial Relationship? This short yes/no quiz will provide a score on the depth of your one sided relationship with celebrities.
The Celebrity Attitude Scale These are statements that help you think about the extent to which your favorite public figure impacts your life.
What to do when being a fan seems to negatively control your well-being
Any surprises from the above? They would not have so much literature, data, and science if it were a manageable phenomenon. Enjoy, admire, and embrace your favorite public figure’s work and messages, but at the end of the day, they are there to entertain you and get you to buy into their brand.
Public figures don’t know or care about you
Yes, they do what they do for their fans, but the relationship is one side and limited. You are a stranger and another fan; neither a friend nor expert to critique their decisions. However, they need you since they would not be where they are if you didn’t buy their music, tickets, merch, and other stuff as well as clicks, likes, and shares.
You don’t really know the public figures
How real is social media? Most public figures carefully curate whatever content they put out there. Whether it’s editing photos or changing the narrative, don’t take everything you see at face value. Although they might seem authentic and super relatable, it’s only what they let you see. It’s always a big deal when someone is photographed without makeup or caught in a bad moment, because it enables the public to see through the cracks in the mask.
Honor the people who really love you
Although the public figure’s work might bring you peace and comfort, they are not the people who love you. You know who your people are and should put them before the public figure, since they really know you and really love you; whereas you are more of a currency to the public figure.
Leave public figures alone
Public figures are obviously human beings that struggle with similar concerns as people who do not put themselves out there. If you hate them, avoid them. Don’t cyberbully, threaten, stalk, harass, or shame them. They didn’t ask for your opinion, so if you have to go out of your way to be mean, then check in with yourself about that motivation.
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Ask for help
Fan groups are excellent sources to facilitate common connections about your favorite public figures, but could be toxic as well. If you find that your favorite public figure seems to take up too much of a toll on your relationships, financial, or mental health, then talk to a professional counselor or therapist to help you work through it.
Hi Beautiful Readers and thank you for reading this! I'm Dr. Joanne Broder, Media Psychologist, Author, and Fellow of the American Psychological Association. Please consider me to help you write your memoir, blogs, speeches, e-books, as well as coach you on your dissertation or thesis. Click here so we can connect!