Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek’s network of contributors
Could a fascination with celebrity gossip be more than just entertainment — perhaps even a sign of heightened intelligence?
Younghoon Kim holds the title of the person with the world’s highest recorded IQ of 276 (well above the genius threshold of 140), and he believes it just might be. In an interview with Us Weekly, Kim, 35, said diving into the lives of celebrities like his favorites, the K-Pop group BTS and Taylor Swift, “is a form of art experience” as well as both “an escape” and “a source of inspiration.”
Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Kim, a science and technology scholar working in higher education in Korea, told the outlet he embraces celebrity culture to help manage his mental health, a challenge not uncommon among those with exceptionally high IQs (the average being around 100).
“Not only are the celebrities really creative, they’re also helping us think of new ideas and new ways to express ourselves,” he explained.
Kim’s perspective aligns with a new study cited by US. Researchers at Stanford and the University of Maryland found gossiping may serve a cooperative function among those sharing information about absent third parties.
Michele Gelfand, the study’s co-author and a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, wrote that “gossip is helpful in terms of disseminating information about people’s reputations” and caused others in turn to be aware of how they were perceived. “People become more concerned about affiliating with people who have good reputations (and will cooperate) and avoiding people who defect.”
Kim agrees, noting that celebrity gossip “helps us become more motivated to become better versions of ourselves.”
And that’s a good thing he added, because “pop culture never stops!”
