Death, attractiveness, moral conduct, and attitudes to public figures

Abstract

In this study, 2,894 participants rated attitudes toward their favorite public figure on the Celebrity Attitude Scale. It was noted whether each figure was alive or dead, and a panel of four independent judges assessed each in terms of their moral conduct and physical attractiveness. Dead figures appealed less and were subject to lower "intense personal" celebrity worship, and death was unrelated to "borderline pathological" and "deleterious imitation" celebrity worship. Physical attractiveness was positively related to overall celebrity worship and "intense personal" celebrity worship, but negatively related to "borderline pathological" and "deleterious imitation" celebrity worship. Moral conduct was associated negatively with "deleterious imitation" celebrity worship. Results are discussed briefly in terms of their implications for research on physical attractiveness and "copycat suicide".