From skepticism toward celebrities to celebrity culture hate: Mediating role of perceived celebrity deception and perceived dark triad of celebrities

Abstract

Though efforts have been made to understand the concept of celebrity hatred, ambiguity still exists about why some people feel intense contempt, antagonism, and fear directed at celebrity culture. This study (N = 1175) aimed to reveal the indirect impact of skepticism toward celebrities on celebrity culture hate by introducing perceived celebrity deception (the perception that celebrities are deceptive) and dark triad traits of celebrities (the perception that celebrities possess dark triad personality characteristics, including Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) as potential mediators. The study introduces the Perceived Celebrity Deception Inventory and establishes its psychometric properties. Perceived deception of celebrities and perceived deception of others were relatively high compared to that of one’s immediate family, with social media influencers being seen as the most deceptive category of celebrities. Celebrities were perceived as Machiavellian, narcissists, and psychopaths at the same time, but at dissimilar levels. Skepticism toward celebrities was weakly correlated with celebrity culture hate in the correlation analysis. This relationship was mediated by perceived celebrity deception and perceived dark triad of celebrities in the structural analysis. Results suggest that perceived celebrity deception and dark triad characteristics of celebrities tend to breed celebrity culture hate rooted from skepticism toward celebrities and may provoke “behavioral” component of celebrity culture hate (e.g., celebrity bashing).