Can Serena Williams' Tennis Racquet Improve My Performance? Children's and Adults' Preference for Celebrity Objects

• In Event: Varieties of Value: Factors Influencing Children's Differing Forms of Regard for Objects

Abstract

Prior studies have found that children and adults prefer objects that are owned by celebrities (Frazier & Gelman, 2009; Gelman et al., 2015; Hood & Bloom, 2008; Marchak & Hall, 2017). For example, when 4- to 12-year-olds were asked to choose between two closely matched objects – one owned by a famous person (e.g., President Obama) and the other owned by an ordinary person (e.g., the experimenter) – they selected the celebrity's object as being more valuable and belonging in a museum. But, why do people prefer these objects? In two studies, we examined whether children's and adults' preference for celebrity objects is based on an expectation of ability contagion, namely an improvement in a person's performance when using a celebrity's possessions (e.g., becoming a better tennis player when using Serena Williams' racquet).

In Study 1, we tested whether 5- to 8-year-olds and adults (n = 108) showed this expectation using an explicit measure in a highly controlled paradigm. Participants saw pairs of images depicting a celebrity and an object (e.g., Serena Williams and a tennis racquet) and a non-celebrity and an identical object (e.g., Jennifer Miller and a tennis racquet). They were asked to determine which object (1) was more valuable, (2) was more museum-worthy, and (3) would help them to perform a task (e.g., play better tennis). Children and adults responded to the questions by selecting the celebrity object, the non-celebrity object, or by saying that both objects were the same. Adults systematically selected the celebrity objects as more valuable and more museum-worthy, but judged that both objects would lead to the same performance. Children, in contrast, did not systematically select the celebrity objects as more valuable or museum-worthy. Further, they judged that their performance would be the same using the two objects.

In Study 2, we examined ability contagion in 4- to 7-year-olds (n = 70) using an implicit measure, because children may demonstrate this expectation earlier using these kinds of tasks. We introduced children to a game that involved drawing circles inside shapes. We also presented them with two identical pens (one owned by President Obama and one owned by Mr. Smith, a non-celebrity). Participants were shown that Obama played the game better with his pen (i.e., he completed more circles than Mr. Smith). Children were then asked to select a pen to use to play the game and we measured their performance using both pens. While over 90% of children (n = 64/70) selected Obama's pen, there was no difference in their performance depending on which pen they used.

Together, the results shed light on children's preference for celebrity objects in two respects. First, it appears that children's preference in terms of the value and museum-worthiness of celebrity objects may not be as robust as suggested in prior research. Second, it does not appear that this preference can be accounted for by a belief in ability contagion, since we did not observe this expectation in either children or adults or by using explicit or implicit measures.

Authors

• Kristan Marchak, University of Alberta
  Presenting Author

• Merranda McLaughlin, University of Miami
  Non-Presenting Author

• Susan A Gelman, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
  Non-Presenting Author