The three main reasons for wanting to be famous are:
The desire to be seen/valued (e.g., "Being on the cover of a magazine", "Being recognized in public")
The desire for an elite, high status lifestyle (e.g., "Having the ability to travel in first class and stay at exclusive resorts", "Living in a mansion or penthouse apartment")
The desire to use fame to help others or make them proud (e.g., "Being able to financially support family and friends", "Being a role model to others")
The desire to be seen/valued was the biggest perceived appeal of fame, followed by the desire for status, followed by a prosocial motivation. Interestingly, the motivations were associated with different fundamental human needs. While narcissism and the need to belong were associated with multiple motivations, the need to relate to others was only associated with the pro-social motivation.
Research, looking deeper into these motivations, also measured the frequency of fantasizing about fame, and the perceived realism of becoming famous. They found that narcissistic folks focused on the recognition and elite status that fame offers, and believed future fame to be more realistic. In contrast, those with a heightened need to belong were attracted to all aspects of fame, except for a perceived belief in the realism of fame. For these folks, the central aspect of fame was fantasizing about fame and the imagined social worth fame would provide, perhaps providing these folks with a soothing escape from personal anxieties about social exclusion. Nevertheless, it seems that both those scoring high in narcissism and a high need for belonging share a common need to be seen and valued on a large scale ...read more>>>...