GREAT NEWS FOR CELEBRITY WEEKLIES: New Study Shows Reading Gossip "Eases Fear of Dying"
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If one of your great fears is dying, you may want to start reading up on Angelina, Brad, Britney, Paris and all of your other favorite celebrities.
Unfortunately, this obsession will not help you live longer.
BUT, a new study in Pyschology Today reports that identifying with celebrities helps us boost a sense of our own immortality, reports the NY Daily News.
To many of us, celebs seem so above it all that we think if we dress, act and eat them, we’ll actually be like them. And – just like our fave demigods – we’ll leave behind a lasting legacy, according to researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Psychology grad student Pelin Kesebir and her professer, Chi-Yue Chiu conducted the study.
“What we found is that the universal fascination with celebrities can be explained by this desire for immortality,” Kesebir said. “Famous people are perceived as immortal in the symbolic sense, and their perceived imperishability serves as a buffer against our fear of the nothingness that comes after death.”
Thinking about death makes us look for meaning in the world by identifying with people whose legacy will survive us, Kesebir says. “We strive for the symbolic form of immmortality,” she says.
Interestingly, not all celebrities are perceived as immortal, the study found. People want to read about celebs who represent our own cultural values. “The thinking is like this: I might die some day, but the values of my culture and those who represent these values are everlasting,” Kesebir says.
Reading about celebrities who represent our values can inspire us, according to study co-author Kesebir. “It can make us believe in the possibility of a meaningful existence in the face of death,” she says. “We all need values to believe in and heroes who embody these values to look up to.”
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Read this week’s celebrity weekly cover critiques by Mark Pasetsky!
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