The Stalker in All of Us

New research shows that our interest in celebrities runs on a continuum of obsession.

By Carlin Flora, published on July 01, 2004 - last reviewed on October 28, 2004

We like to think that we're nothing like star stalkers, but former Southern Illinois University School of Medicine psychologist James Houran and his colleagues have found that the interest in celebrities runs on a continuum, from Entertainment Tonight regulars all the way to John Hinckley.

The team has devised a Celebrity Attitude Scale to measure the span. On the innocuous end of the scale are people who join fan clubs or buy lousy records out of loyalty--about one in five of us fit this category, according to the teams' 600-person survey. And these fans aren't lonely singles at home with their cats. "These people are outgoing and believe people should have close relationships with others," says Houran. "For some reason [they don't] feel a part of their social milieu." Adoring celebrities is normal for children and adolescents, Houran notes, since they are still figuring out their own identities.

The next stage of celebrity fascination, Intense-Personal, involves feelings that are a little stronger--and stranger. "I consider my favorite celebrity to be my soul mate," people in this category assert. About 1 percent of those in the survey are true celebrity worshippers, who agree that "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." These intense fans probably get sucked in when their lives go off the rails for other reasons, the team theorizes.

Houran's studies indicate that the most deeply obsessed also show signs of erotomania, the delusion of having a love affair with an unattainable or uninterested person. Helen Fisher, the Rutgers University anthropologist who studies courtship and attraction, speculates that celebrity obsession is a form of romantic love. Romance is associated with lower levels of the neurochemical serotonin, breeding the obsessive and addictive behavior characteristic of both love affairs and the compulsion to buy Us Weekly. Star worshippers, though, are bound to be disappointed, she points out: "It won't last forever, because the love can't be returned."