Invisible Influence
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18. This study was actually run in 2005, before the advent of most of the online surveys that are popular today. Almost everyone believed the manipulation and some actually expressed sadness that the budgets for academic research were so low.
19. Berger, Michael L. (1980), The Devil Wagon in God’s Country: The Automobile and Social Change in Rural America, 1893–1929 (Hamden, CT: Archon).
20. Rindova, Violina P., and Antoaneta P. Petkova (2007), “When Is a New Thing a Good Thing? The Effects of Technological Change and Product Design on Customer Perceptions of Value Created by Product Innovations,” Organization Science 18, 217–32; Hargadon, Andrew B., and Yellowlees Douglas (2001), “When Innovations Meet Institutions: Edison and the Design of the Electric Light,” Administrative Science Quarterly 46, 476–501.
21. These items are often called skeumorphs, or objects that retain design cues or visual aspects from the object on which they are based.
5. Come On Baby, Light My Fire
1. Triplett, Norman (1898), “The Dynamogenic Factors in Pacemaking and Competition,” American Journal of Psychology 9, 507–33; Strube, Michael (2005), “What Did Triplett Really Find? A Contemporary Analysis of the First Experiment in Social Psychology,” American Journal of Psychology 118, 271–86; and Brehm, Sharon, S. Kassin, and S. Fein (1999), Social Psychology (Boston: Houghton Mifflin).
2. Triplett proposed a number of theories to explain this pattern. Everything from something he called “suction theory” (essentially the aerodynamics that are created by having one rider break the wind) to “encouragement theory” (riding with someone else keeps one’s spirits up) to something he called “brain worry theory” (that when people race alone or are leading a race, part of their mind is worried about whether they are going fast enough to win). But the theory he gave the most credence to was something he called “dynamogenic factors”: that the presence of another rider aroused the competitive instinct and inspired racers to greater effort.
3. Allport, Floyd (1920), “The Influence of the Group upon Association and Thought,” Journal of Experimental Psychology 3, 159.
4. Bruce, R. (1941), “An Experimental Analysis of Social Factors Affecting the Performance of White Rats. I. Performance in Learning a Simple Field Situation,” Journal of Comparative Psychology 31, 363–77; Simmel, Edward (1962), “Social Facilitation of Exploratory Behavior in Rats,” Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 5, 831–33; Stamm, John (1961), “Social Facilitation in Monkeys,” Psychological Reports 8, 479–84; Scott, John, and C. McCray (1967), “Allelomimetic Behavior in Dogs: Negative Effects of Competition on Social Facilitation,” Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 63, 316–19; Chen, Shisan (1937), “Social Modification of the Activity of Ants in Nest-Building,” Physiological Zoology 10, 420–36; and Bayer, E. (1929), “Beitrage zur Zweikomponentheorie des Hungers,” Zeitschrift für Psychologie 112, 1–S4.
5. Pessin, Joseph (1933), “The Comparative Effects of Social and Mechanical Stimulation on Memorizing,” American Journal of Psychology, 45, 263–70; Pessin, Joseph, and Richard Husband (1933), “Effects of Social Stimulation on Human Maze Learning,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 28, 148–54; and Rosenbloom, Tova, S. Amit, A. Perlman, D. Estreich, and E. Kirzner (2007), “Success on a Practical Driver’s License Test with and Without the Presence of Another Testee,” Accident Analysis & Prevention 39, 1296–301.
6. Klopfer, Peter (1958), “Influence of Social Interaction on Learning Rates in Birds,” Science 128, 903–4; Alee, W., and R. Masure (1936), “A Comparison of Maze Behavior in Paired and Isolated Shell Parakeets (Melopsittacus undulatus Shaw),” Journal of Comparative Psychology 22, 131–55.
7. Fox, Margalit (2008), “Robert Zajonc, Who Looked at Mind’s Ties to Actions, Is Dead at 85,” New York Times, A42; Gorlick, Adam (2008), “Robert Zajonc, Pioneer of Social Psychology, Dies at 85, Stanford News, December 11, http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/january7/zajobit-010709.html; Burnstein, Eugene (2009), “Robert B. Zajonc (1923–2008),” American Psychologist 64, 558–59.
8. Zajonc, Robert, A. Heingart, and E. Herman (1969), “Social Enhancement and Impairment of Performance in the Cockroach,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 13, 83. For a review, see Zajonc, Robert, “Social Facilitation,” Science 149, 269–74.
9. Markus, Hazel (1978), “The Effect of Mere Presence on Social Facilitation: An Unobtrusive Test,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 14, 389–97.
10. Michaels, J. W, J. M. Blommel, R. M. Brocato, R. A. Linkous, and J. S. Rowe (1982). “Social Facilitation and Inhibition in a Natural Setting,” Replications in Social Psychology 2, 21–24.
11. To this day, there are still competing theories about what drives social facilitation. Some, like Zajonc’s major theoretical advance in 1965, focus on drives. The presence of others acts as a source of arousal, or activation, which enhances the emission of a dominant response. For well-learned tasks, that dominant response is correct, so we do better. Michaels, J. W, J. M. Blommel, R. M. Brocato, R. A. Linkous, and J. S. Rowe (1982), “Social Facilitation and Inhibition in a Natural Setting,” Replications in Social Psychology 2, 21–24.
12. Social facilitation can also happen when people feel like others are present (i.e., in the presence of a picture of someone), even if no one else is physically there.
13. Cudy, Amy, K. Doherty, and M. Bos (2010), “OPOWER: Increasing Energy Efficiency Through Normative Influence (A),” Harvard Business School Case 911–016.
14. Nolan, Jessica, P. Schultz, R. Cialdini, N. Goldstein, and V. Griskevicius (2008), “Normative Social Influence Is Underdetected,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 7, 913–23; Cialdini, Robert, and Wesley Schultz (2004), “Understanding and Motivating Energy Conservation via Social Norms,” report submitted to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, 1–6.
15. Allcott, Hunt (2011), “Social norms and energy conservation,” Journal of Public Economics 95, 1082–95.
16. “Opower Utility Partners Save Six Terawatt-Hours of Energy, over $700 Million for Consumers,” Opower press release, Jannuary 14, 2015, https://opower.com/company/news-press/press_releases/114.
17. Berger, Jonah, and Devin Pope (2011), “Can Losing Lead to Winning?” Management Science 57, 817–27. That losing leads to winning is particularly noteworthy here, given the stakes. NBA players get paid to play basketball. And while they don’t get paid for each game they win, like most jobs, over the course of their careers, they get paid based on performance. The more their teams win, the more they ultimately get paid. Yet, even with all these millions at stake, losing still leads to winning.
18. This problem was adapted from Heath, Chip, Richard Larrick, and George Wu (1999), “Goals as Reference Points,” Cognitive Psychology 38, 79–109.
19. Notably, round numbers often serve as salient reference points, motivating people to work hard until they achieve them. High school students, for example, are more likely to retake the SAT if they score just below, rather than just above, a round number. Students who score a 990, for instance, are much more likely to retake the test than people who score 1000, even though the scores are almost the same. See Pope, Devin, and Uri Simonsohn (2011), “Round Numbers as Goals Evidence from Baseball, SAT Takers and the Lab,” Psychological Science 22, 71–78.
20. Page, Lionel (2009), “The Momentum Effect in Competitions: Field Evidence from Tennis Matches,” Econometric Society Australasian Meeting, Australian National University, Canberra, July 7–10, 2009 (unpublished).
21. Kivetz, Ran, O. Urminsky, and Y. Zheng (2006), “The Goal-Gradient Hypothesis Resurrected: Purchase Acceleration, Illusionary Goal Progress, and Customer Retention,” Journal of Marketing Research 43, 39–58.
22. Brown, Judson (1948), “Gradients of Approach and Avoidance Responses and Their Relation to Level of Motivation,” Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 41, 450–65; Hull, Clark L. (1932), “The Goal-Gradient Hypothesis and Maze Learning,” Psychological
Review 39, 25–43; and Hull, C., (1934), “The Rats’ Speed of Locomotion Gradient in the Approach to Food,” Journal of Comparative Psychology 17, 393–422.
23. Fershtman, C., and U. Gneezy (2011), “The Trade-off between Performance and Quitting in High-Power Tournaments,” Journal of the European Economic Association 9, 318–36. Quitting is particularly likely when direct comparison is facilitated. When competitors can easily see how they are doing relative to one another, that should increase the chance that people who are slightly behind will get motivated, but also that people who are far behind recognize their position and give up.
24. Tuckfield, Bradford, D. Berkeley, K. Milkman, and M. Schweitzer, “Quitting: The Downside of Great Expectations in Competitions,” Wharton School Working Paper (under revision).
25. Rogers, Todd, and Don Moore (2014), “The Motivating Power of Under-Confidence: ‘The Race Is Close but We’re Losing,’ ” HKS Working Paper No. RWP14-047.
26. Irwin, Neil (2015), “Why a Presidential Campaign Is the Ultimate Start-up,” New York Times, June 4, BU1.
Conclusion: Putting Social Influence to Work
1. There is a huge literature on neighborhood effects. For some recent reviews, see Leventhal, Tama, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn (2000), “The Neighborhoods They Live In: The Effects of Neighborhood Residence on Child and Adolescent Outcomes,” Psychological Bulletin 126, 309–37; and Sampson, Robert, K. Morenoff, and T. Gannon-Rowley (2002), “ ‘Assessing Neighborhood Effects’: Social Processes and New Directions in Research,” Annual Review of Sociology, 443–78.
2. The answer, of course, is not an either-or. Genetics and family factors may predispose people to have certain challenges that neighborhoods then exacerbate. Lower-income families may be less able to pay for kids’ ADHD medicine, and local schools may be less equipped to give such children the necessary personal attention. Similarly, resources allow people to overcome challenges as they arise. Higher-income areas not only have better schools, but parents can more easily pay for tutoring if their kids aren’t doing well.
3. Kling, Jeffrey, J. Liebman, and L. Katz (2007), “Experimental Analysis of Neighborhood Effects,” Econclusionometrica 75, 83–119; Ludwig, Jens, G. Duncan, L. Gennetian, L. Katz, R. Kessler, J. Kling, and L. Sanbonmatsu (2013), “Long-Term Neighborhood Effects on Low-Income Families: Evidence from Moving to Opportunity,” National Bureau of Econclusionomic Research Working Paper No. 18772; Katz, Lawrence, J. Kling, J. Liebman (2000), “Moving to Opportunity in Boston: Early Result of a Randomized Mobility Experiment,” National Bureau of Econclusionomic Research Working Paper Number 7973; Ludwig, Jens, G. Duncan, L. Gennetian, L. Katz, R. Kessler, J. Kling, and L. Sanbonmatsu (2012), “Neighborhood Effects on the Long-term Well-being of Low-Income Adults,” Science 337, 1505–10.
4. Chetty, Raj, N. Hendren, and L. Katz (2015), “The Effects of Exposure to Better Neighborhoods on Children: New Evidence from the Moving to Opportunity Experiment,” National Bureau of Econclusionomic Research Working Paper Number 21156; Chetty, Raj, and Nathaniel Hendren (2015),“The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility: Childhood Exposure Effects and County-Level Estimates,” working paper.
5. The positive effect of moving on income holds even when accounting for the disruptive impact that moving can have on a child’s life. In fact, the disruption may be one reason that Moving to Opportunity has a slightly negative effect on children who were older when their families moved. Not only was there less time to soak up the beneficial effects of the new neighborhood, moving disrupted the strong roots that people had already created.
Index
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Abacus watch, 124
Abercrombie & Fitch, 101, 107, 108, 110
Academic performance
birth order and, 66
race and, 16, 117–20, 141–42
“Acting white,” 117–20, 121, 141–42
Adoption studies, 68
Advertising
signaling used in, 140
social class and, 94–95
African Americans, 117–20, 121, 141–42
Afunctionality, 124–27
Aguilera, Christina, 44
Ahrendts, Angela, 143–44
AIDS/HIV transmission, signaling and, 121
Allen, Ray, 207
Ants, social facilitation and, 189
Apollo 11 space shuttle (watches made from fragments of), 123
Apple, 97, 103, 184n, 185
Arpa, Yvan, 128
Art preferences, 16, 70–71, 72, 73
Asch, Solomon, 20, 22–24, 29, 58
Assortive mating, 31
Athletics. See Sports/athletics
Audience effects, 189n
Autokinetic effect, 21
Automobiles, 2–4, 15, 16
differentiation of, 83
introduction of, 182–83
logos on, 133
optimal distinction in, 177–79
signals conveyed by, 107–8, 122, 123, 144
similarity of, 156–57
social class and preferences in, 86–87, 90–91
Avis, 220
Babies
mimicry in, 33
naming (see Names)
perceived differences in, 16, 85
Baby One More Time (album), 43
Babysitters, ice cream preferences in, 103–4
Baseball, 204
Baselworld, 123–24
Basketball, 17, 204, 207–8, 214
Beckham, David, 127
Beer preferences, 71–72, 73
Beetle (Volkswagen), 157
Berra, Yogi, 73
Bicycles, single-speed or fixed gear, 125
Binge drinking, discouraging, 140–41
Birth order, 16, 64–70
Blockbusters, 42–55
music website experiment, 46–49, 52–53
parking preference experiment, 49–52, 53
quality and, 53–54
BMWs, 2–4, 83, 180
Bon Appétit, 94
Boredom, 167–69
Bottega Veneta, 134, 135
Bradlow, Eric, 150
Branding. See also Counterfeiting
as an identity-relevant attribute, 180
prominence of, 128–35, 144
Braunstein, Alex, 150
Brian, Jennifer, 64
Brian, Morgan, 63–64, 70
Buchanan, James, 162
Burberry, 131, 143–44
Camry (Toyota), 144
Capitol High (high school pseudonym), 118–19
Celebrities, reverse endorsements by, 16, 99–101, 110
Challenger space shuttle disaster, 58
Chameleons, imitation by, 32–33
Chan, Cindy, 172
Chickens, novelty and, 16, 163–64
Chinese characters experiment, 157–60
Christian Louboutin, 133
Cialdini, Bob, 200
Clinton, Bill, 162
Clothing preferences, 79, 172–76
Coaction effects, 189n
Cockroaches, social facilitation and, 17, 187–88, 191–94
Cohen, Geoffrey, 105
Color, 147–49, 180–81n
Color of the Year, 147–49, 181
Conformity, 19–30
negative depictions of, 78n
power of, 24–27
reasons for, 27–30
Conservatives/Republicans, 15, 67, 105–6, 144
Conspicuous consumption, 131, 133
Coolidge, Calvin, 163–64
Coolidge, Grace, 163–64
Coolidge effect, 165–66
Corn color experiment, 26–27, 56, 59
Costs, 123–28
Coton Doux, 133
>
Cottage Club, 173–76
Counterfeiting, 134, 135–39, 143
Crowds, 58
Cuban missile crisis, 58
Cuckoo’s Calling, The (Galbraith), 54–55
Culture, differentiation and, 93
Cycle racing, 188
Day & Night watch, 124
Democrats. See Liberals/Democrats
Dessert, social pressure to decline, 29–30
Differentiation, 63–97, 229–30 See also Divergence; Optimal distinction
culture and, 93
drive for, 70–72
historical influences on, 76–80
identity and, 80–83
illusion of, 83–86
popularity backlash and, 72–76
practical applications of, 96–97
practical applications of similarity and, 181–85
siblings’ influence on, 16, 64–70
social class and, 86–96
Dior, 137
Disney, Walt, 45
Dissension, encouraging, 58–59
Divergence, 15. See also Differentiation
to avoid misidentification, 114–17
factors influencing likelihood of, 121–23
Dogs, social facilitation and, 189
Dolce & Gabbana, 137
Eating clubs, 173–76
Eating habits. See Food preferences
Element (Honda), 107–8, 109
Energy conservation, 196–204, 216
Erich Lacher, 124
Estée Lauder, 148
Evolution, 160–61
Experimental Housing Allowance Program, 224–25
Familiarity, 10–11, 16, 160–62. See also Similarity
Fashion cycles, 137–39
Federline, Kevin, 43
Fendi, 180
Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy (James), 149
Firefighters, 87
Fishing reel–turning experiment, 188
Food preferences, 26–27, 55–57, 140, 141
Fordham, Signithia, 118–19
Fountainhead, The (Rand), 78n
Frogs. See Green frogs
Galbraith, Robert (Rowling pseudonym), 54–55
Game theory, 148n
Gap, 148
Garnett, Kevin, 207
Geeks, wristband-wearing, 110–14, 180
Goldilocks effect, 166–71, 230