Idolatry, self-efficacy, attachment, and intimacy

The two parts of this chapter elaborate the theory and original empirical research findings successively to address the contrasting views of compensation and spillover between idolatry and self-efficacy belief, attachment, and intimacy. Whereas the compensation view maintains that there are negative relationships between idolatry and self-efficacy belief, attachment, and intimacy, the spillover view holds that there are positive relationships between them. Idolatry, predicated on a functionalist conceptualization, consists of idolizing in 11 primary forms. For the fulfillment function, idolizing includes idealizing, beautifying, crediting, glamourizing, and modeling the idol figure. The adaptation function includes idolizing in terms of commodifying and faming the idol figure. Concerning the integration function, idolizing includes romanticizing, befriending, and popularizing the idol figure. Meanwhile, the latency function takes personalizing of the idol figure as its representative form of idolizing. In contrast, self-efficacy belief, attachment, and intimacy indicate praise for oneself, interpersonal relationships generally, and one's relationship with one's closest friend particularly. Results from a survey of 1,641 Chinese students largely supported the compensation view and refuted the spillover view. That is, idolizing and its components generally exhibited negative relationships with self-efficacy belief, attachment security, and intimacy. Hence, favor for the idol and favor for oneself and other people are compensatory, contradictory, conflicting, antagonistic, or mutually exclusive.