Title: The Psychological Consequences of Fame: Three Tests of the Self‐Consciousness Hypothesis
Abstract: ABSTRACT Three investigations tested the hypothesis, that the attainment of fame leads to chronic self‐consciousness. One of these studies also examined the relationship of self‐consciousness with self‐destructive behavior. Analyses of Kurt Cobain's and Cole Porter's song lyrics indicated increased use of first‐person singular pronouns after each songwriter attained celebrity. An analysis of John Cheever's short stories indicated greater use of the first‐person narrative voice following his first brush with fame. Other analyses revealed that variations in Cheever's fame were positively correlated with use of first‐person singular pronouns in his private letters and journals. These measures of self‐consciousness were also positively correlated with Cheever's self‐reported alcohol use. Together, these, three studies offer the first empirical support for a self‐consciousness hypothesis linking celebrity to self‐destructive Behavior. In the urge to find a better, more perfect self, the possibility of uncovering a worse, more misshapen one hangs like a threatening cloud. Lurking behind every chance to be made whole by fame is the axman of further dismemberment. (Braudy, 1986, p. 8)