Copycats & Contrarians: Why We Follow Others … and When We Don’t

Description

A multidisciplinary exploration of our human inclination to herd and why our instinct to copy others can be dangerous in today's interlinked world Rioting teenagers, tumbling stock markets, and the spread of religious terrorism appear to have little in common, but all are driven by the same basic instincts: the tendency to herd, follow, and imitate others. In today's interconnected world, group choices all too often seem maladaptive. With unprecedented speed, information flashes across the globe and drives rapid shifts in group opinion. Adverse results can include speculative economic bubbles, irrational denigration of scientists and other experts, seismic political reversals, and more. Drawing on insights from across the social, behavioral, and natural sciences, Michelle Baddeley explores contexts in which behavior is driven by the herd. She analyzes the rational vs. nonrational and cognitive vs. emotional forces involved, and she investigates why herding only sometimes works out well. With new perspectives on followers, leaders, and the pros and cons of herd behavior, Baddeley shines vivid light on human behavior in the context of our ever-more-connected world. Cover page......Page 1 Halftitle page......Page 2 Title page......Page 4 Copyright page......Page 5 Dedication......Page 6 Epigraph......Page 7 Contents......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 Herding and anti-herding defined......Page 12 Why herd?......Page 14 Consequences......Page 17 1 Cleve r copying......Page 20 Homo economicus in the crowd......Page 22 Social learning......Page 25 Strategic advantages......Page 39 Signalling......Page 40 Reputation......Page 43 Power and safety......Page 46 2 Mob psychology......Page 50 Collective herding and the wisdom of crowds......Page 52 Le Bon’s psychological crowds......Page 54 Freud on belonging......Page 57 Gestalt psychology and psychosociology......Page 60 Mob identities......Page 62 Mobs at night-time......Page 67 Peer pressures......Page 69 Learning social norms......Page 75 Social pressure as a policy lever......Page 76 3 Herding on the brain......Page 81 Personality struggles......Page 84 Measuring mimicry......Page 86 Opening black-box brains......Page 88 Copycats and contrarians in the brain scanner......Page 91 Herding heuristics......Page 101 4 Animal herds......Page 106 Leopards versus wolves......Page 107 The social lives of penguins and dragons......Page 109 Angry birds......Page 110 Herding cows......Page 111 Evolutionary influences......Page 113 Self-sacrificing slime moulds......Page 116 Sociable animals......Page 118 The evolution of human herding......Page 126 Vulcans in a social media world......Page 133 5 Mavericks......Page 137 Why be a maverick?......Page 141 Mavericks and information......Page 142 Maverick risks......Page 145 Beating the crowd......Page 148 Maverick minds......Page 151 Why we need mavericks......Page 153 6 Entrepreneurs versus speculators......Page 162 The money convention......Page 164 Tulipmania......Page 166 Rational bubbles......Page 168 Keynes on speculators......Page 172 Emotional herding......Page 180 Financial herding: cognition, emotion and neuroscience......Page 182 Entrepreneurial mavericks......Page 185 Entrepreneurial emotions......Page 188 Ecology: copycat–contrarian symbiotics......Page 189 Controlling speculation, encouraging entrepreneurship......Page 192 7 Herding experts......Page 196 Fallible experts......Page 200 Sociable experts in an uncertain world......Page 204 Self-interested experts......Page 206 Expert bias......Page 214 Experts’ herding externalities......Page 217 Experts in the crowd......Page 218 Amateur experts......Page 221 8 Following the leader......Page 227 Business leaders and followers......Page 229 Following neighbours......Page 234 Why follow the leader? Obedience to authority......Page 236 Thinking styles in leaders and followers......Page 238 Students in prison......Page 240 Suppressing social emotions......Page 241 Leader–follower symbiosis......Page 244 Modern idolatry......Page 252 Political tribalism......Page 254 Political herding: reason versus emotion......Page 256 The leader of the ‘Free World’......Page 259 Conclusion Copycats Versus Contrarians......Page 267 Taming copycats and contrarians......Page 272 Endnotes......Page 276 Further reading......Page 302 Acknowledgements......Page 308 Illustration credits......Page 310 Index......Page 311