Humans are affected by the ‘Rock Star’ phenomenon. Crowds rush to see their favorite singers, actors, or bands. We secretly want to be the person up on stage. The person attracting all that attention, those accolades, and the adoring fans.
Very few of us live as hermits. Basic psychology says we all need validation by others.
Yet the mass validation that we readily give to celebrities is not only an important phenomenon – it relates to our desire to be great public speakers.
Evolutionary Psychology provides answers.
Much as we like to think of ourselves as highly developed beings, most of our behavior relates to displaying how strong we are from a reproductive point-of-view.
Public Performance of any type provides us with an excellent opportunity for what evolutionary psychology calls ‘genetic signaling’. When young children ‘play’ they often ‘show off’. This is not by chance. The purpose of play is to show off our genetic fitness. The implication is ‘look how strong I am – you’d better not mess with me’.
As humans develop into adults we don’t stop playing. The game simply becomes more serious with greater consequences. We call it ‘work’ or ‘art’ or ‘creativity’.
Many become extreme ‘show offs’ in the interest of building personal power as perceived by others.
Humans are particularly attuned to athletic, musical or verbal performance. Hence, the massive following of sporting heroes, musical stars, and yes – public speaking ‘stars’.
Becoming the ‘Rock Star’ on stage is the ultimate validation of our power. “If all of those people like or validate me, I must be pretty fabulous!”
An excellent Public Performance feels good for the performer. The performer’s brain receives a satisfying dose of dopamine and the more we are given the chance to ‘show off’, the more dopamine we receive.
An excellent public performance also feels good for the audience but for different reasons. We feel wonderful when witnessing an exceptional performance. Why?
First, psychology tells us that humans imitate each other far more than any other species. It therefore follows that we are going to be keen to witness spectacular performance of any kind so that we might, in some way, copy it, thus becoming more impressive from a genetic ability perspective.
Second, if humans are socially linked to the performer, it follows that we feel stronger by association, and thus better able to produce stronger children. There are countless examples of crowds who dress like the performer and even attempt to imitate the performer’s behaviors such as The Harry Potter fan-base and attendees of Comicon.
Third, the more we immerse ourselves in adoring behavior towards the performer, the more we may earn their approval and, taken to the ultimate conclusion, earn the chance to mate with the performer and produce superior children.
This provides an explanation of the Rock Star phenomenon – the secret wish within all of us to become that ‘Rock Star’.
Public Speaking provides a fairly fast track to becoming a ‘Rock Star’. To stand in front of an audience and lead them mentally and emotionally wherever we want is a satisfying experience for the public speaker. In addition, receiving accolades for our speaking performance from the audience simply tells us that we are superior in our abilities since the rest of humanity would rather be dead than step in front of that audience.
Through it’s unique, industry-leading methods, The Lynda Spillane Organization creates ‘Rock Star’ public speakers. Contact us for more information about realizing the rock star in you.