What makes someone popular? And how canyou ramp up your own popularity?
If you’re like most people, you could immediately reel off the names in answer to the first question, but probably needed a few minutes for the second question, if you even remembered the answer at all.
We all know that popularity — what’s generally referred to as being liked, admired, or supported by a large number of people — is hugely important in a typical teenager’s life. But we also assume that once high school’s done, the childhood popularity we experienced or craved will no longer matter.
But according to Professor Mitch Prinstein, one of America’s leading psychologists of popularity — yes, there really is such a thing! — the popularity a person experienced (or didn’t) in childhood continues to have an impact for the rest of the person’s life. If that’s the case, then the science behind what makes a person popular is certainly worth exploring.
You may have come across people who are popular and wondered what made them so, when you find them to be aloof or even mean. You’re on to something there. In his book Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World (Viking, 2017), Prinstein explains there are two types of popularity: status-based and likeability-based.
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