“Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World”

Listen 00:49:00

Guest: Mitch Prinstein

Most of us have some painful memories from our school days – maybe we were always the last pick in gym, had no one to sit with at lunch, or weren’t asked to the school dance.  We may laugh about it today, but back then we probably wished we were popular.  The drive for popularity turns out to be part of our DNA, something that’s evolved over thousands of years.  MITCH PRINSTEIN, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, believes that these social dynamics have a profound effect on our lives and who were are. As he explains in his book Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World, that our social standing effects our jobs, our relationships, our happiness, and our health.  In fact, being unpopular has a more significant effect on our mortality then obesity, binge-drinking, and physical activity.

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