Statistical Studies and Facts
- According to Ludwig's The Price of Greatness, twenty-six percent of celebrities experience alcohol related problems in their lifetimes compared to fourteen percent in the general population.
- He also states that the rate of suicide for famous people is 4.4 percent compared to 1.0 percent for non-famous individuals.
- According to Shaller's The Psychological Consequences of Fame, famous people are constantly being observed and scrutinized by others; as a result, they very frequently become the object of their own attention.Fame can be seen as a situational factor inducing chronic self-awareness.
- Shaller also stated that the culture of fame often exaggerates expectations beyond a level that can realistically be reached, thus attainment of ideals may be impossible; also modification of ideals will be difficult because the expectations to which public figures respond are not fully under their control but instead reflect the ideals defined by others.
- According to Duvall & Wicklund, people tend to develop an intensifying focus on the self as the actual size as the actual size of the group decreases. Thus fame would represent a special extreme case of individuation, causing heightened self-awareness. In a state of self-awareness a person will actively look at and examine any self-aspect that is most salient at the moment.
- Duval & Wicklund also suggest that high levels of self-focus are usually painful. Self-directed attention initiates a comparison between the "real" self and the "ideal" self and is likely to uncover some perceived personal shortcomings, causing discomfort. Then pyschological mechanisms will be activated to stategically eliminate this negative affect. The initial reaction is to simply escape the state of self-awareness by avoiding whatever self-focusing stimuli caused it. If this is impossible or ineffective, the individual will try to reduce the discrepancy between the real self and the ideal self, either by directly modifying the real self or by changing the ideal self.
- According to F.X. Gibbons,fame induced self-awareness is likely to be more intense, and more dangerous coping stategies may be initiated. Temporary self-awareness may focus one's own attention on specific aspects of the self, but famous people are presumably in a permanent state of self-awareness. Chronic self awareness will lead to a more global evaluation of one's self worth.
- According to Baumeister, extreme strategies used to escape chronic self-awareness may include alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, overeating, hypersexuality, and religion.