New research published in Psychological Reports suggests that people who strongly admire celebrities tend to be more deferential to authority and attached to traditional norms, even after accounting for their general political views. The study was led by Ho Phi Huynh, a senior lecturer at the Australian National University, and explored how different dimensions of celebrity worship relate to right-wing attitudes.
Parasocial connections with famous figures are common and can bring a sense of community, but intense celebrity admiration has been linked to negative outcomes in some cases. A 2021 study covered by PsyPost indicated that higher obsession with celebrities was associated with lower performance on tests of vocabulary and fluid intelligence.
The idea that celebrity admiration might be tied to authoritarianism is not new. A 2001 study of British participants found no association between the two. Since then, the understanding of authoritarianism has evolved: a 2010 paper argued that right-wing authoritarianism comprises three related but distinct sets of attitudes—authoritarianism, conservatism, and traditionalism.
Nearly 25 years on from that first examination, the researchers sought to test which dimensions of authoritarianism are genuinely linked to celebrity admiration, particularly once general political ideology and demographic factors are taken into account. The team was led by Huynh at the Australian National University.
“We know that celebrities have undue influence over people and that celebrities typically endorse liberal-leaning causes (e.g., climate change, immigration, abortion),” Huynh told PsyPost. “We were surprised to learn through our previous work that people who admire celebrities tend to self-identify as more politically conservative.”
“In the current work, we wanted to see if celebrity admiration would extend to right-wing authoritarianism,” he continued. “This work might help to explain the contradiction of why politically conservative people in the United States might be more attracted to celebrities despite the stereotype that celebrities tend to hold liberal views.”
The researchers recruited 331 adults living in the United States through the online platform Prolific. The sample was deliberately balanced to include an equal mix of self-identified liberals, moderates, and conservatives, meaning it is not nationally representative. About 54 per cent of participants were women, and all were 18 or older, with an average age of about 40.
Participants completed the seven-item Celebrity Attitude Scale, which asks respondents to rate agreements with statements about their favourite celebrity. The scale measures two levels of admiration: a lighter, entertainment-social level, and a more intense, pathologised level in which the fan feels a soulmate-like bond.
They also completed a survey assessing the three dimensions of right-wing authoritarianism: authoritarian submission, conservatism, and traditionalism. Demographic information, including education, socioeconomic status, and overall political orientation on an 11-point scale, was collected as well.
Initial results showed that both forms of celebrity admiration were linked to higher scores on all three dimensions of authoritarianism. The links were strongest for conservatism (correlations of 0.32 for the lighter form and 0.45 for the intense form), moderate for traditionalism (0.19 and 0.32), and weak for authoritarian aggression (0.15 and 0.13). Only the intense form was linked to political conservatism, and modestly so (a correlation of 0.19).
To test whether these links held up when other factors were considered, the researchers ran models that controlled for age, gender, education, socioeconomic status, and general political orientation. This helped rule out the possibility that the association simply reflected broader political beliefs.
After accounting for these variables, celebrity admiration consistently predicted right-wing conservatism and right-wing traditionalism. Demographics and political orientation explained about 24 per cent of the variation in conservatism scores; celebrity admiration added 9 per cent (lighter form) or 13 per cent (intense form) on top of that. For traditionalism, it added only about 2 to 4 per cent.
“The association between celebrity admiration and authoritarian submission seems to be robust and reliable, indicating that people who worship their favourite celebrity tend to prefer more dominant authorities,” Huynh explained. Asked what the average person should take away, he said: “People who report admiring their favourite celebrity are more likely to submit to authority and prefer traditional norms. These trends might help explain why people who admire celebrities may self-identify as more politically conservative.”
However, the link between celebrity admiration and the third dimension, authoritarian aggression, did not hold up once demographics and political orientation were taken into account. The intense form no longer predicted aggression, and the lighter form remained detectable but explained only about 1 per cent of the variation. The authors do not regard this as strong evidence of a link, suggesting that admiration may not translate into harsher punishment of rule-breakers.
Huynh described this boundary as encouraging. “Celebrity admiration was not related to authoritarian aggression, which involves strictness and social control,” he said. “This finding showed the limits of celebrity admiration, which is positive and worthy of optimism.”
As with all research, several caveats apply. The study measured these traits at a single point in time, so the direction of the relationship remains uncertain. It is possible that intense absorption in celebrity culture leads to more authority-respecting and traditional views, or that people with those views are drawn to celebrity culture. When the researchers flipped their statistical model, higher authority-submission scores also predicted more celebrity admiration, a pattern compatible with either direction.
The list of control variables was also limited, missing related traits such as narcissism and a preference for social hierarchies. Additionally, the survey asked participants to focus on their favourite celebrity but did not distinguish between entertainers and political figures. Because modern politics has become heavily personality-driven, admiring a politician may function differently than admiring a musician or actor.
“This research was not about political celebrities, but celebrities generally,” Huynh noted. “Some people may want to view these findings through the Trump presidencies, but only five out of 331 people in the study listed Donald Trump as their favourite celebrity.”
The study was conducted with United States participants. Cultural values and political structures vary around the world, so the connections observed here may operate differently elsewhere, the authors noted.
Huynh suggested future work could examine associations between celebrity admiration and left-wing authoritarianism—characterised by hostility toward people in power, support for censoring opposing views, and rejection of traditional values and norms.
The study is titled Idols and Ideologies: Examining Associations Between Celebrity Admiration and Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and is authored by Ho Phi Huynh, Joshua L. Williams, Marla F. Jorgensen, Amy Dicke-Bohmann, and Lynn McCutcheon.
