How Popular Are Pop Stars? The False Consensus Of Perceived Celebrity Popularity

Previous research on the false consensus of celebrity popularity was limited because it neither assessed actual popularity of celebrities nor compared people's estimates of celebrity popularity to reality. We address this limitation and extend previous research by examining the false consensus of celebrity popularity. We had participants complete the Celebrity Attitude Scale, name their favorite celebrity, and then predict the percentage of others in the online sample who would select the same favorite celebrity as themselves. We also asked participants to name their second and third favorite celebrities and again estimate the percentage of others who would name the same celebrity. We predicted people would overestimate the percentage of others who selected the same favorite celebrity as themselves, as well as their second or third favorite celebrity. We also predicted the degree to which people admire celebrities would positively predict the degree to which people overestimate the popularity of their favorite celebrity. To test our hypotheses, we first tallied the actual popularity of various celebrities in the sample. We then compared participants' estimates of the popularity of their favorite celebrity with the actual prevalence of favorite celebrities listed by others. All hypotheses were confirmed. We conclude by discussing previous research on celebrity popularity and implications of celebrity false consensus within marketing domains. This is important because a preferred celebrity may not accurately reflect true popularity. Potential inaccurate belief may negatively impact events, such as sales or votes.