In the final post in this short series on the psychology of celebrity, Dr Jane McGee looks at whether fictional characters can truly be celebrities, and concludes that celebrity is nothing without its audience. Psychologists also debate whether fictional characters such as  Harry Potter, Mickey Mouse or Pepper Pig can ever be considered celebrities since […]

In this post on the psychology of celebrity, Dr Jane McGee considers what happens when the narrative behind a celebrity runs out of momentum. Shane Ward and Leon Jackson (who? you may ask) were both thrust into minor celebrity roles due to their wins on the X Factor – a talent show which commands a […]

In this second post on the psychology of celebrity, Dr Jane McGee looks at the connection between celebrity and narrative – the stories associated with celebrities and their lifestyles. So what turns a famous person into a celebrity? One answer to the question seems to be narrative. The main reason we want to read about […]

Many thanks to Dr Jane McGee for kindly allowing our Psychology Blog to post the following extract from her work on the psychology of celebrity. This is the first of four posts on this fascinating A2 topic, in which Dr McGee discusses a definition of celebrity: The concept of celebrity worship is not only a topic […]