Table 2 Mechanisms explaining celebrity influence
Discipline | Mechanism | Description |
|---|---|---|
Economics | 1) Signals | Celebrity endorsements act as markers that differentiate endorsed items from competitors. |
2) Herd behavior | Celebrities activate people’s natural tendency to make decisions based on how others have acted in similar situations. | |
Marketing | 3) Meaning transfer | People consume items to acquire the endorsing celebrities’ traits, which have become associated with the product. |
4) Source credibility | Celebrities share personal experiences and success stories associated with the endorsed item to be perceived as credible sources of health information. | |
5) Halo effect | The specific success of celebrities is generalized to all their traits, biasing people to view them as credible medical advisors. | |
Neuroscience | 6) Neural mechanisms of meaning transfer | Celebrity advertisements activate a brain region involved in forming positive associations, indicating the transfer of positive memories associated with the celebrity to the endorsed item. |
7) Neuropsychology of credibility | Endorsements from celebrities activate brain regions associated with trustful behavior and memory formation, thereby improving attitudes toward and recognition of the endorsed item. | |
Psychology | 8) Classical conditioning | The positive responses people have toward celebrities come to be independently generated by endorsed items. |
9) Self-conception | People follow advice from celebrities who match how they perceive (or want to perceive) themselves. | |
10) Cognitive dissonance | People unconsciously rationalize following celebrity medical advice to reduce the psychological discomfort that may otherwise result from holding incompatible views. | |
11) Attachment | People, especially those with low self-esteem, form attachments to celebrities who make them feel independent in their actions, supported by others, and competent in their activities. | |
Sociology | 12) Social networks | Celebrity advice reaches large masses by spreading through systems of people linked through personal connections. |
13) Commodification and social capital | People follow celebrity medical advice to gain social status and shape their social identities. | |
14) Social constructivism | Celebrity medical advice may alter how people perceive health information and how it is produced in the first place. |