PEOPLE OBSESSED WITH CELEBRITIES ARE LESS BRIGHT

New research out of Hungary claims that people obsessed with Hollywood gossip and celebrities are, um, not as smart as people who aren’t. The study, published in BMC Psychology, asserts that “there is a direct association between celebrity worship and poorer performance on cognitive tests.” The study asked 1,763 Hungarian adults to take a 30-word vocabulary test and a digit symbol substitution test, before taking a “Celebrity Attitude Scale” questionnaire to determine their levels of interest in famous people. Questions on the Celebrity Attitude Scale test were along the lines of: “I often feel compelled to learn the personal habits of my favorite celebrity” and “I am obsessed by details of my favorite celebrity’s life,” or “If I were lucky enough to meet my favorite celebrity, and they asked me to do something illegal as a favor I would probably do it.” Researchers found that high scores on the Celebrity Attitude Scale correlated with lower performance on the two cognitive ability tests.
* I hear something like this and I wonder what Harry Styles would think of it.
* Boy, this explains People magazine on so many levels.
* Next study: Does all the celebrity coverage make people dumber, or are dumber people naturally attracted to celebrity coverage?
* Hey – Hungary – get your own celebrities!
* Well, it’s time for our celebrity news now, so I guess we’re g o i n g t o h a v e t o t a l k s l o w e r .