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I'll Have What She's Having: Mapping Social Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Bentley, Alex

    (Bristol University)

  • Earls, Mark
  • O'Brien, Michael J.

    (University of Missouri)

Abstract

Humans are, first and foremost, social creatures. And this, according to the authors of I'll Have What She's Having, shapes—and explains—most of our choices. We're not just blindly driven by hard-wired instincts to hunt or gather or reproduce; our decisions are based on more than “nudges” exploiting individual cognitive quirks. I'll Have What She's Having shows us how we use the brains of others to think for us and as storage space for knowledge about the world. The story zooms out from the individual to small groups to the complexities of populations. It describes, among other things, how buzzwords propagate and how ideas spread; how the swine flu scare became an epidemic; and how focused social learning by a few gets amplified as copying by the masses. It describes how ideas, behavior, and culture spread through the simple means of doing what others do. It is notoriously difficult to change behavior. For every "Yes We Can" political slogan, there are thousands of "Just Say No" buttons. I'll Have What She's Having offers a practical map to help us navigate the complex world of social behavior, an essential guide for anyone who wants to understand how people behave and how to begin to change things.

Suggested Citation

  • Bentley, Alex & Earls, Mark & O'Brien, Michael J., 2011. "I'll Have What She's Having: Mapping Social Behavior," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026201615x, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:mtp:titles:026201615x
    as

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Spears, Nancy & Amos, Clinton, 2014. "Twentieth century female ad images: Cultural interconnections, social learning, and the dialectical logic of advertising," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 441-448.
    2. Jason Potts & John Hartley, 2015. "How the Social Economy Produces Innovation," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(3), pages 263-282, September.
    3. Miklós Antal & Ardjan Gazheli & Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh, 2012. "Behavioural Foundations of Sustainability Transitions. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 3," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46424.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    social behavior; decision making; social psychology;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making

    Statistics

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