Messi arrived in Beijing and was warmly welcomed by fans. From a psychological point of view, what are we chasing when we chase stars?

On the evening of June 15, the Argentine national football team will play a warm-up match against the Australian team in the "Asian Tour" at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing.

On the morning of June 10, Argentine legendary football star Messi arrived in Beijing with his national football team to prepare for warm-up. Many fans came to the lobby of the hotel where he stayed to wait for a glimpse of the superstar. The players were supposed to have their first pre-match training at the Olympic Sports Center at 18:00 on the afternoon of the 11th, but due to the large number of fans, they were unable to leave the hotel and had to cancel the training.

This was also considered by netizens to be a passionate star-chasing behavior of football fans. The term "star-chasing" comes from the popular Taiwanese idol group Little Tigers. Back then, crazy fans rode bicycles to chase the idols' cars. This phenomenon was called "star-chasing" by the paper media at the time. As the term "star-chasing" is widely used, the definition of "star" is not limited to people in the entertainment and sports circles, but also refers to people in all walks of life who have an "idol halo".

Why are there always people chasing stars?

From a psychological perspective, we may be able to find the answer.

What people like is often the self projected from the stars. This self is an ideal self, the one we aspire to be. Our love for idols is never an idle fantasy without reason, it often reflects our most real psychological needs.

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For example, when asked why he likes Messi, the popular science writer Li Zhengrong gave the following answer: "I like to watch his superb football skills, his indomitable fighting spirit, and his virtues of modesty, restraint, and loyalty."

Although the fans' answers vary, they essentially all recognize Messi's football skills and character.

In addition to his hard football skills, Messi also possesses convincing soft skills, and has become the person that fans hope he will be.

The connection with idols is related to special cells in the brain

When a celebrity's personality is very close to a part of his ideal self, a connection with the idol is formed. This mental and emotional connection with the celebrity is due to a small group of special cells in the brain called mirror neurons. Mirror neurons help us learn from simple imitation to using tools, quickly understand other people's intentions, and experience other people's emotions. Mirror neurons are activated when we see others doing the same behavior. The word mirror means seeing other people's behavior as if we are doing it ourselves.

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The network of neurons in the brain is the basic unit of the structure, function and occurrence of the nervous system. It is generally believed to be the place where specific memories are stored; while the mirror neuron group stores the encoding of specific behavioral patterns, which makes it have the characteristics of visual thinking and intuitive nature. These characteristics not only allow us to perform basic actions without thinking, but also allow us to make the same actions when we see others do something. This can also explain why people will be infected when they see others yawning, and when others laugh, they will laugh involuntarily.

Thanks to the existence of mirror neurons, humans can learn new knowledge, interact with others, and exhibit complex and uniquely human behaviors such as star-chasing.

How should we chase stars in the right way?

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In recent years, irrational star-chasing behaviors have emerged one after another, causing the outside world to have a negative impression of the fan group. In fact, the subconscious effect of idols that "I want to be you" also has a positive impact. Ordinary people need to learn the correct posture when chasing idols.

First of all, we must maintain independent thinking and be wary of “de-individualization”.

"Deindividuation" means that individuals in a group sometimes lose their sense of responsibility for their own behavior, which weakens or even eliminates the function of the self-control system, leading to antisocial behaviors that they would not normally dare to do.

In the process of chasing stars, the emotions of an individual will be quickly transmitted to other members of the group, causing the individual in the group to exhibit some behaviors that he or she has never exhibited when alone.

When you feel even a little confused in the process of chasing stars and find that you need to make unusual choices, please stay calm and don’t expect others to tell you what to do. Each of us is an independent individual and has the ability to think and judge independently.

Second, actively develop communication and problem-solving skills.

Research has found that in social life, those who like to use cyber violence to solve problems are often those who lack appropriate social skills. Therefore, one way to reduce cyber violence is to learn how to express anger and criticism in a constructive way, how to learn to coordinate and compromise in conflicts, and how to respond more sensitively to the needs of others. Finally, don't forget to use the connection principle in life.

The association principle states that we like people who are associated with good experiences and dislike people who are associated with bad experiences.

The most important thing is to live your life well, generate upward motivation through chasing stars, and make yourself better and better.

Sources:

"Why do we all like Messi? The answer is not just his football skills" Li Zhengrong Science Times

"A generation will eventually grow old, but there will always be people chasing stars" Chi Wen Tang Yicheng China Science Popularization Mental Health Promotion Center