This Sunday, tens of millions of Americans will tune in for the finale of this year's awards season: The Academy Awards. No matter how much we complain about the show, the truth is that many of us will still be glued to the television screen: from the red carpet to host Seth MacFarlane's opening act to the final "And the Oscar goes to..." to the morning-after fashion analysis. But why exactly are we so drawn to the Oscars? And, especially for those of us who don't identify as movie buffs, what is it about these shows that pull us in, year after year?

The answer, in part, is that we're social animals, explains Stuart Fischoff, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology at California State University and senior editor of the Journal of Media Psychology. And, as such, we're more likely to focus our attention on the "alpha" males and females in the pack,...