More explanations for celebrity worship

An evolutionary explanation

A behaviour which is widespread now must have once served a useful survival purpose. Evolutionary pressures can shape thoughts and social behaviour just as much as physical features. All human cultures have evolved some form of art and entertainment. The exchange of social information about other group members would have been adaptive for our ancestors. Barkow (1992) suggests our minds are fooled into regarding media characters as members of our social network, triggering the same gossip mechanisms.One explanation of the evolution of language is that it allows a mechanism for gossip, so animals can pass on information about their social group. Dunbar et al (1997)…