If you are a Drake fan or you can’t get enough of the Kardashians, you are certainly not alone, but you might be stu:pid.
Yep, while many of us would put ourselves in the category of being ‘celebrity obsessed’, it turns out it doesn’t say a lot for our intelligence – according to a recent Hungarian study, anyway.
The study, published in BMC Psychology last year, claims that people who take a keen interest in Hollywood gossip and A-list celebs just aren’t that bright, which feels a bit like a personal attack.
Researchers asked 1,763 Hungarian adults to take part in a 30-word vocabulary test, as well as a digit symbol substitution test, before asking them to complete a questionnaire on their attitudes towards celebrities to determine their interest levels when it comes to celebs.
The questionnaire hosted a series of statements, such as ‘I often feel compelled to learn the personal habits of my favourite celebrity,’ to which the participants had to answer yes or no.
Other statements included, ‘I am obsessed by details of my favorite celebrity’s life,’ and ‘If I were lucky enough to meet my favorite celebrity, and he/she asked me to do something illegal as a favor I would probably do it.’
Looking at both literacy and numeracy, the research found that ‘there is a direct association between celebrity worship and poorer performance on cognitive tests,’ meaning that, generally speaking, those who scored higher on the celeb questionnaire scored lower in the intelligence tests.
In order to gain as full a picture as possible, the researchers did ask questions about the participants’ income, wealth and education levels, but it’s unclear whether this impacted the results.
Researchers did confess, however, that it was impossible to determine whether the celebrity super fans formed poorly on the cognitive tests because they used their mental energy thinking about the A-listers or because they’re more cognitively challenged.
The researchers told PsyPost: “Future studies should seek further support for our suggestion that the cognitive effort invested in maintaining the absorption in a favorite celebrity may interfere with the person’s performance in tasks that require attention and other cognitive skills.
“Although our research does not prove that developing a powerful obsession with one’s favorite celebrity causes one to score lower on cognitive tests, it suggests that it might be wise to carefully monitor feelings for [them].”