Do Religious Skeptics Differ from Religious Believers in their Interest in Celebrities?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.v19i2.29534Keywords:
Religious, skeptics, celebrities, believers, stereotypesAbstract
Given the prejudice directed toward religious skeptics, it is imperative that we learn as much as we can about this minority group. We administered the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS), and some brief additional measures of attitudes about celebrities to a sample of 91 religious believers and 92 skeptics recruited throughout the US from Mechanical Turk. We predicted that skeptics would have less favorable attitudes toward celebrities in general and feel less strongly attached to their own favorite celebrity, as compared to the believers. The first prediction was confirmed but not the second. We also compared believers with skeptics on choices of an “entertainer” vs. “non-entertainer” favorite celebrity, and found no significant difference. The results are discussed in light of current research on religious skeptics and celebrity worshipers.
References
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______ and L. E. McCutcheon. 2001. "Shyness, loneliness, and attitude toward celebrities." Current Research in Social Psychology 6(9): 124-133. [on-line].Available: http://www.uiowa.edu/~gepproc/crisp/crisp.6.9.htm.
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---, M. Wong, J. Black, D. Maynard, R. Frey and G. Rich. 2014b. "Does'irresponsibility' predict the addictive level of celebrity worship?" North American Journal of Psychology 16(3): 509-520.
Paul, G. S. 2009. "Is the Baylor Religion Study reliable? An analysis from the Council for Secular Humanism." Available at http://ga1.org/ center_for_inquiry/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_ id=11076763.
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Price, J. L., R. J. Lowinger, W. Jenkins and L. E. McCutcheon. 2014. "The stigmatization of people with a history of mental illness by those who admire celebrities." North American Journal of Psychology 16: 253-260.
Swan, L. K., and M. Heesacker. 2012. Anti-atheist bias in the United States: Testing two critical assumptions. Secularism and Nonreligion 1: 32-42. http://www.tessexperiments.org/data/SwanHeesacker2012Anti-AtheistBias.pdf
Zuckerman, P. 2009. "Atheism, secularity, and well-being: How the findings of socialscience counter negative stereotypes and assumptions." Sociology Compass3/6: 949-971. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2009.00247.x
Zuckerman, P. 2013. "Irreligion rising at 2013 American Humanist Meeting."Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do9il7c-cgE
Ashe, D. D., J. Maltby and L. E. McCutcheon. 2005. "Are celebrity worshippers more prone to narcissism? A brief report." North American Journal of Psychology7: 239-246.
______ and L. E. McCutcheon. 2001. "Shyness, loneliness, and attitude toward celebrities." Current Research in Social Psychology 6(9): 124-133. [on-line].Available: http://www.uiowa.edu/~gepproc/crisp/crisp.6.9.htm.
Bates, J. A., and B. A. Lanza. 2013. "Conducting psychology student research via the Mechanical Turk crowd-sourcing service." North American Journal of Psychology 15: 385-394.
Beit-Hallahmi, B. 2007. "Atheists: A psychological profile." In The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, edited by M. Martin, 300-317. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
______, and M. Argyle. 1997. The Psychology of Religious Behavior, Belief and Experience. London: Routledge.
Dawkins, R. 2008. The God Delusion. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Edgell, P., J. Gerteis. and D. Hartmann. 2006. "Atheists as 'others:' Moral boundaries and cultural membership in American society." American Sociological Review 71: 211-234. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100203
Gey, S. G. 2007. "Atheism and the freedom of religion." In The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, edited by M. Martin, 250-266. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Griffith, J., M. Aruguete, J. Edman, T. Green, and L. McCutcheon. 2013. "The temporal stability of the tendency to worship celebrities." SAGE Open,April-June, 1-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2158244013494221
Hayes, B. 1995. "Religious identification and moral attitudes: The British case."British Journal of Sociology 46: 457-474. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/591851
Joyner, J. 2007. "Black president more likely than Mormon or atheist." Available http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives//black_president_more_likely_than_mormon_or_atheist/
Kosmin, B., and A. Keysar. 2009. American Religious Identification Survey, Summary Report. Hartford, CT: Trinity College. Available at http://www.americanreligionsurvey-aris.org/
Maltby, J., L. Day, L. E. McCutcheon, R. Gillett, J. Houran and D. D. Ashe. 2004a. "Personality and coping: A context for examining celebrity worship and mental health." British Journal of Psychology 95: 411-428. http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/0007126042369794
______, L. Day, L. E. McCutcheon, M. M. Martin and J. L. Cayanus. 2004b. "Celebrity worship, cognitive flexibility, and social complexity." Personality and Individual Differences 37: 1475-1482. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2004.02.004
_______, J. Houran, R. Lange, D. Ashe and L. E. McCutcheon. 2002. "Thou shalt worship no other gods - unless they are celebrities: The relationship between celebrity worship and religious orientation." Personality and Individual Differences 32: 1157-1172. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(01)00059-9
_______, J. Houran and L. E. McCutcheon. 2003. "A clinical interpretation of attitudes and behaviors associated with celebrity worship." Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 191: 25-29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00005053-200301000-00005
_______, L. E. McCutcheon, D. D. Ashe and J. Houran. 2001. "The self-reported psychological well-being of celebrity worshippers." North American Journal of Psychology 3: 444-452.
McCutcheon, L. E., D. D. Ashe, J. Houran, and J. Maltby. 2003. "A cognitive profile of individuals who tend to worship celebrities.: The Journal of Psychology 137: 309-322. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223980309600616
---, J. D. Griffith, M. S. Aruguete, and E. Haight. 2012. "Cognitive ability andcelebrity worship revisited." North American Journal of Psychology 14(2):383-392.
---, R. Lange, and J. Houran. 2002. "Conceptualization and measurement of celebrity worship." British Journal of Psychology 93: 67-87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/000712602162454
---, R. Lowinger, M. Wong, and W. Jenkins. 2013. "Celebrity worship and religion revisited." Implicit Religion 16(3): 319-328.
---, R. Lowinger, M. Wong, and W. Jenkins. 2014a. "Is analytic thinking related to celebrity worship and disbelief in religion?" North American Journal of Psychology 16: 453-462. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/imre.v16i3.319
---, J. Maltby, J. Houran, and D. D. Ashe. 2004. Celebrity Worshippers: Inside the Minds of Stargazers. Baltimore, MD: Publish America.
---, T. J. Pope, A. R. Garove, J. A. Bates, H. Richman and M. Aruguete. 2015."Religious skepticism and its relationship to attitudes about celebrities, identification with humanity, and the need for uniqueness." North American Journal of Psychology 17(1): 45-58.
---, V. B. Scott, Jr., M. S. Aruguete, and J. Parker. 2006. "Exploring the link between attachment and the inclination to obsess about or stalk celebrities."North American Journal of Psychology 8(2): 289-300.
---, M. Wong, J. Black, D. Maynard, R. Frey and G. Rich. 2014b. "Does'irresponsibility' predict the addictive level of celebrity worship?" North American Journal of Psychology 16(3): 509-520.
Paul, G. S. 2009. "Is the Baylor Religion Study reliable? An analysis from the Council for Secular Humanism." Available at http://ga1.org/ center_for_inquiry/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_ id=11076763.
Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life Survey. 2009. "Support for terror suspect torture differs among the faithful." Available at http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/30/religion.torture/index.html
Price, J. L., R. J. Lowinger, W. Jenkins and L. E. McCutcheon. 2014. "The stigmatization of people with a history of mental illness by those who admire celebrities." North American Journal of Psychology 16: 253-260.
Swan, L. K., and M. Heesacker. 2012. Anti-atheist bias in the United States: Testing two critical assumptions. Secularism and Nonreligion 1: 32-42. http://www.tessexperiments.org/data/SwanHeesacker2012Anti-AtheistBias.pdf
Zuckerman, P. 2009. "Atheism, secularity, and well-being: How the findings of socialscience counter negative stereotypes and assumptions." Sociology Compass3/6: 949-971. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2009.00247.x
Zuckerman, P. 2013. "Irreligion rising at 2013 American Humanist Meeting."Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do9il7c-cgE
Published
2016-11-15
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
McCutcheon, L. E., & Richman, H. (2016). Do Religious Skeptics Differ from Religious Believers in their Interest in Celebrities?. Implicit Religion, 19(2), 225-235. https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.v19i2.29534
