More Proof that We’re Irrational
Posted by Joshua Claybourn on 15 November 2007 | 3 responses
Psychologists in marketing at Yale and the University of California, San Diego have conducted interesting research which suggests a striking preference for things resembling our own name.
Students whose names begin with C or D get lower grades than those whose names begin with A or B; major league baseball players whose first or last names began with K (the strikeout-signifying letter) are significantly more likely to strike out . . . .
The researchers’ work supports a series of studies published since 2002 that have found the “name-letter effect” causes people to make life choices based on names that resemble their own. Those studies by Brett Pelham, an associate professor of psychology at SUNY University at Buffalo, have found that people are disproportionately likely to live in states or cities resembling their names, have careers that resemble their names and even marry those whose surnames begin with the same letter as their own.
Perhaps this study, above all else, should drive parents’ decisions in naming their children.
3 Responses to “More Proof that We’re Irrational”
Great stuff! I am a big Adam’s Mark fan, and Ryan Adams is a favorite, but this study doesn’t explain why I can’t stand Bryan Adams or Adam Carolla.
Some things must be just too horrendous to take advantage of the “name-letter effect” . . . like Bryan Adams.
Very surprising correlation they claim to have found. But, of course, correlation does not always mean causation. It may not be true that people are unconsciously choosing things that resemble their own names. For instance, if students whose names begin with C and D get lower grades, it could be that parents of lower socioeconomic status (whose children, on average, tend to perform worse academically) prefer names starting with C and D. And if people tend to marry those whose surnames start with the same letter as theirs, perhaps that could be because we sort students alphabetically in school?