Book review: 'Popular'

”Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World” by Mitch Prinstein. New York: Penguin Random House LLC, 2017. 273 pages, $27 (hardcover).

How important is popularity to you? Can popularity change your life? Is popularity necessary for success? Is popularity the same as likability? These questions and others are Mitch Prinstein’s motivation to write “Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World.”

Prinstein is a clinical psychologist who taught at Yale University. He is currently the John Van Seters Distinguished Professor of Psychology and the director of clinical psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, U.S. News & World Report, Time, New York and Newsweek. He has been on National Public Radio and CNN.

“Popular” examines why recognition plays such an important role in our development, happiness, success and even our health.

Prinstein examines how popularity affects us, even when we do not realize it. Using a broad range of research, Prinstein attempts to explain why popularity mattered to our ancestors tens of thousands of years ago and matters to humans now.

The book is written on the premise that the need to be popular is a fundamental psychological need as basic as the need for food and shelter.

I do not necessarily agree with the premise, but the research cited by Prinstein seems to support it.

Several research studies from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Veterans Affairs Administration collected behavioral data from soldiers serving in the military. These studies examined the question of why some soldiers served honorably and others were constantly committing acts that led to dishonorable discharges. Researchers were surprised to find one of the strongest predictors of soldiers’ dysfunctional behavior was how popular they were in primary school.

In another study cited by Prinstein, there is evidence indicating that popular children grow up to have greater academic success, stronger interpersonal relationships and make more money in their working years. Those who were not popular were at much higher risk for substance abuse, obesity, anxiety, depression, problems at work, criminal behavior and suicide.

The author identifies two types of popularity: Popularity that is a reflection of status – whether someone is well known, widely emulated and able to bend others to his or her will.

Alternatively, the other type of status is called likability. Prinstein’s research defines likability as a human characteristic that captures how we feel about and trust someone. He suggests the people who make us happy and whom we want to spend time with have a high likability quotient. Both are interesting ways to view popularity and are extensively discussed in “Popular.”

Studies show that people who ask a lot of questions of each other when they first meet are more likely to have high-quality relationships because their questions communicate a desire to want to know more about the other person. This social behavior signals that the questioner cares about the other person. The other person wants to talk to the questioner because they believe the questioner wants to talk to them. That makes the questioner likable.

Prinstein suggests that likability is an important type of popularity, but it is not what we typically think of when we judge who is most popular. What we usually imagine has much more to do with status. “Popular” weaves research and stories into a captivating discussion that separates status, likability and popularity. For example, research findings reveal that only about 35 percent of those who are high in status are also highly likable.

Prinstein considers it ironic, that while the rest of the world wishes for status, those who have it wish for likability, the type of popularity that is easiest to achieve, according to him. He uses conversations with famous actors, athletes, business executives and politicians to validate this irony.

Prinstein said he wrote the book for four reasons. Reason one was to help readers understand the concept of popularity. Reason two was to promote a reconsideration of today’s cultural relationship with popularity. Reason three was that he hoped the book would inform us about the choices we make in our own lives every day that affect other people. A fourth reason is that he hoped the book would offer parents the information they need to understand whether they want their children to become popular in a world where bullying and ostracism have become serious public health concerns.

These reasons were adequately covered in 223 pages divided into three sections and nine chapters.

I thought the chapter and section titles were annoyingly uninformative. Titles like “So What Do We Do Now?” and “Boorish Bully or Likable Leader” did not inspire me to read the chapter. The book is well-written and very fascinating, so do not let the chapter titles mislead you.

“Popular” made good use of research to support the idea that popularity in the form of likability is important in a status-obsessed world. Prinstein shows his exhaustive research in a 38-page collection of reference notes and academic citations.

However, Prinstein does not make it easy to connect the research used in the narrative to the related note in the notes section at the end of the book. I found this shortcoming to be another annoyance.

If you have an interest in human behavior and how popularity affects it, then “Popular” is the kind of book you should read. Desires, dominance, excessive reassurance-seeking conduct, anger and happiness are just some other behaviors that Prinstein discusses in “Popular.” You do not need to be schooled in psychology to read “Popular.”

– Reviewed by Harold Little, Western Kentucky University Accounting Department.