Transforming Celebrity Objects: Implications for an Account of Psychological Contagion
The celebrity effect is the well-documented phenomenon in which people ascribe an enhanced worth to artefacts owned by famous individuals. This effect has been attributed to a belief in psychological contagion, the transmission of a person’s essence to an object via contact. We examined people’s jud...
| Authors: | ; |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2017
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| In: |
Journal of cognition and culture
Year: 2017, Volume: 17, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 51-72 |
| Further subjects: | B
artefact
celebrity object
identity
persistence
psychological contagion
value
|
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Publisher) |
| Summary: | The celebrity effect is the well-documented phenomenon in which people ascribe an enhanced worth to artefacts owned by famous individuals. This effect has been attributed to a belief in psychological contagion, the transmission of a person’s essence to an object via contact. We examined people’s judgments of the persisting worth of celebrity-owned artefacts following transformations of their parts/material and found that the celebrity effect was evident only for post-transformation artefacts that were composed of parts/material that had direct physical contact with the celebrity. Insofar as the celebrity effect arises from psychological contagion, the findings suggest that the essence imparted to a celebrity-owned artefact is conceived as akin to a residue deposited in/on the object rather than a germ capable of spreading in an indirect manner to new parts/material added to the object. The results illuminate the nature of psychological contagion and offer insight into how best to preserve the value of historically important artefacts. |
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| Physical Description: | Online-Ressource |
| ISSN: | 1568-5373 |
| Contains: | In: Journal of cognition and culture
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685373-12342191 |
