Look at Me!

Four million adults in the United States say that becoming famous is the most important goal in their lives. In any random sampling of 100 American adults, two will have fame as their consuming desire. What motivates those who set fame as their priority, where did the desire come from, how does the pursuit of fame influence their lives, and how is it expressed? These are the questions that ""Look at Me!"" answers, based on the research of Orville Gilbert Brim, award-winning scholar in the field of child and human development. ""Look at Me!"" examines the desire to be famous in people of all ages, backgrounds, and social status and how succeeding or failing affects their lives and their personalities. It's the only book to explore the implications of the pursuit of fame throughout a person's lifetime, covering the nature of the desire; fame, money, and power; the sources of fame; how people find a path to fame; the kinds of recognition sought; creating an audience; making fame last; and the resulting, often damaged, life of the fame seeker. Brim shows that the animating cause of the pursuit of fame is most often a deep insecurity stemming from an early rejection by parents or peers. Even at the pinnacle of fame, the fame seeker will still want more. In our current age of celebrity gossip and reality television, Brim gives us a social psychological perspective into the origins of this pervasive desire for fame and its effects on our lives.