Do Religious Skeptics Differ from Religious Believers in their Interest in Celebrities?. (4th January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: McCutcheon, Lynn; Richman, Harvey
• Is Part Of: Implicit religion. Volume 19:Number 2(2016)
• Page Start: 225
• Page End: 235
• Publication Date: 2016-01-04
• Subjects: religious -- stereotypes -- skeptics -- celebrities -- believers; Implicit religion -- Periodicals; 211.6
• DOI: 10.1558/imre.v19i2.29534
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1463-9955

Abstract

Abstract : Given the prejudice directed toward religious skeptics, it is imperative that we learn as much as we can about this minority group. We administered the Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS), and some brief additional measures of attitudes about celebrities to a sample of 91 religious believers and 92 skeptics recruited throughout the US from Mechanical Turk. We predicted that skeptics would have less favorable attitudes toward celebrities in general and feel less strongly attached to their own favorite celebrity, as compared to the believers. The first prediction was confirmed but not the second. We also compared believers with skeptics on choices of an "entertainer" vs. "non-entertainer" favorite celebrity, and found no significant difference. The results are discussed in light of current research on religious skeptics and celebrity worshipers.