A new study suggests environmentally-conscious fans of pop star Taylor Swift will downplay her extensive use of a private jet to maintain their “Swiftie” identity.
The study from Psychology of Popular Media found that “emerging adults,” specifically Generation Z, would overwhelmingly rationalize Taylor Swift’s use of a private jet despite their fears about CO2 emissions. From the study:
Using a sample of emerging adults, we tested the effects of viewing news coverage of the excessive CO₂ emissions from Taylor Swift’s private jet on participants’ moral reasoning strategies and environmental cognitions. We also examined how these relationships differed by levels of fan identity.
Results showed that high-level Swift fans who viewed news of Swift’s transgression reported the highest levels of rationalization (compared with fans who read about other celebrities’ CO₂-emissions). Rationalization predicted lower CO₂ concerns and environment-related behavioral intentions. Results demonstrate moral reasoning as a way for emerging adults to reconcile with celebrity transgressions that counter other moral values.
The study was titled, “Don’t Blame Me: Testing the Effects of Taylor Swift Fan Identity on Emerging Adults’ Moral Reasoning Strategies and Environmental Cognitions.”
According to PsyPost, the researchers recruited about 1,000 undergraduate students from two public universities in the United States.
“They filtered the group to include only adults between the ages of 18 and 29. The participants began by completing a survey that measured their level of Taylor Swift fan identity, answering questions about how much they liked her and how often they engaged with her fan community,” it reported.
“The study participants were then randomly assigned to read one of three mock news articles. The first article discussed the massive carbon footprints of celebrities in general,” it continued. “The second article covered the exact same topic but explicitly named Taylor Swift in the headline and included specific data about her private jet emissions. The third article was a control story about an unrelated topic, such as multitasking or common air travel questions.”
Participants would often rationalize the private jet use by writing on a questionnaire, “high CO2 emissions are not as bad as some other things celebrities do.”