The ultimate study of why popularity matters and how you’re hardwired to crave it
Who doesn't want to be more popular? Surely a person's popularity, be it at school, work or socially, is the best predictor of how happy and successful they will be?
The truth is actually much more complex and is based on millennia of human evolution. This impeccably researched and highly entertaining book presents two very distinct types of popularity and shows how only one of them will get you what you want.
Professor of Psychology and popularity expert Mitch Prinstein has based his book Popular on two decades of research into the human psyche and genetic make-up. He investigates the science of what popularity is, why we care about it so much – even if we don’t think we do – and if we can still become popular, even if we were outcasts when we were younger. He investigates social media phenomena, including Facebook friends, Instagram likes and Twitter followers, and explores how they tap into our basic need to survive. He also examines the correlation between popularity, health and lifespan, and offers important insights into parenting for popularity, explaining why supporting children in the right way will help them cultivate the right kind of popularity and shape them positively as adults in the future.
An enlightening read on a topic that has fascinated us for centuries, Popular will provide insight into your own popularity and how it influences your life in unexpected ways.
About the Author
Mitch Prinstein Ph.D. is the John Van Seters Distinguished Professor of Psychology and the Director of Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mitch’s Peer Relations Lab, first at Yale University and then UNC, has conducted research on popularity and peer relations for almost 20 years. His classes on popularity are so popular that people queue down the halls to get in and he has to use the largest lecture halls to hold them. Mitch also serves as the President for the Society for the Science of Clinical Psychology and is a former member of the Board of Directors for the American Psychological Association.
Industry Reviews
"We have all imprinted emotionally on the vicissitudes of our teenage years. Mitch Prinstein, in this compelling, page-turner, tells us why and also how we can shed the skins of our adolescence. Even better he tells us how our children can achieve meaningful popularity. A science-based Dale Carnegie." -- Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D. Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology and the Director of the Positive Psychology Center, University of Pennsylvania
Fascinating, well-researched and accessible, The Popularity Illusion will make you rethink every social interaction you've had since high school, and help you to find greater success and happiness. Read this book, and you'll never think about popularity in the same way again. * Susan Cain, bestselling author of Quiet *
It turns out that there's more to popularity than status. This book didn't just capture my attention; it also helped me to understand why I wasn't cool as a kid, why I'm still not today, and why I shouldn't care. * Adam Grant, author of Originals *
Were you popular as a kid? You no doubt have an answer to that, but Mitch Prinstein wants you to have two: status is one thing, likeability quite another. The origins of both types of popularity are the topic of this singularly fascinating, extraordinarily well-written book. I read it cover to cover and learned as much about the science as I did myself.' * Angela Duckworth, author of Grit *
A clever analysis of the human yearning for acceptance ... Prinstein unravels this complex area brilliantly. He cites eye-opening research that will have you nodding in agreement ... Very important in these networked times. * Evening Standard *
