Amanda Penn, Author at Shortform Books

Fundamental Attribution Error: You’re Blaming the Wrong Thing

What is the fundamental attribution error? Do you make it? How is it related to the power of social context? The Fundamental Attribution Error is a psychological term for humans’ tendency to overestimate the importance of fundamental personality traits in explaining people’s behaviors, and underestimate the role of context. In other words, when we see someone behave a certain way, we’re more likely to assume it’s a fundamental personality trait, rather than the influence of temporary context. We’ll cover the fundamental attribution error and look at examples of the fundamental attribution error, or fundamental attribution bias.

Depression and Isolation: Why They’re Contagious

How are depression and isolation connected? How has social isolation increased with advances in technology? What is the link between social isolation and suicide? We’ll cover the rise of isolation in the Information Age and how depression and isolation reinforce each other and can become contagious.

Clean Needle Exchange: A Surprising Outcome in Baltimore

What are clean needle exchanges? Do they work in combatting HIV/AIDS? We’ll cover the effectiveness of clean needle exchanges in Baltimore and look at how they utilize the diffusion model to increase access to clean syringes and lower HIV rates.

What Is a Tipping Point? Why Small Changes Create Epidemics

What is a tipping point? What does “tipping point” mean? How are tipping points related to epidemics? How can you use the theory of tipping points to spread your ideas? A tipping point is a critical moment when a minor change makes all the difference. This is the point at which a movement reaches a boiling point or critical mass and explodes. We’ll cover the meaning of “tipping point” in Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point and explore examples that answer the question, What is a tipping point?

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: The Origins of an Iconic Game

What is the Kevin Bacon game? How is it played? Where did the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon come from? Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon (6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon) is a game in which you attempt to link any Hollywood actor to Kevin Bacon is six steps or fewer. The game came out of the six degrees of separation theory. We’ll cover how to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and what the game says about how we’re all connected.

Information Age: How It’s Changed the Way Trends Catch On

How has the Information Age impacted the way we interact with one another? There undoubtedly many positive consequences. What are the negative outcomes? We’ll cover three ways the Information Age has impacted social epidemics, or the spread of ideas: the rise of isolationism, the rise of immunity, and the issue of finding “mavens,” people to help spread information.

Law of the Few: Why Do Influencers Have So Much Power?

What is the Law of the Few? Where does it come from? Why is it important in business, sales, and marketing? The Law of the Few is the idea that certain types of people are especially effective at spreading an infectious idea, product, or behavior. This idea was popularized in Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point. We’ll cover examples of the Law of the Few and look at why the messengers matter in the art of marketing.

How to Sell a Product: 3 Major Principles, Explained

How do you sell a product, any product, and create something that people can’t get enough of? What you are trying to ignite is a social epidemic, when an idea, message, or product spreads through the public masses like wildfire and creates a craze. This is how to sell a product. We’ll take a cue from medical epidemics: When a virus spreads, it starts with one person — Patient Zero — who gets sick and infects a handful of others. Then each infected person passes the germs to more people, and with exponential speed and reach the virus spreads until

Early Adopters Model: Your Most Important Customers

What is the early adopters model? How do innovators and early adopters affect the success of your marketing strategy? What is an early adopter example? The “early adopters” model is a system in sociology that explains how a contagious idea or product spreads among people who adopt it at different phases. In the model, an idea spreads from innovators and early adopters all the way to the laggards. We’ll cover how the early adopters model works, what an early adopters example looks like, and why innovators and early adopters should be important elements of your marketing strategy.

Gaussian Curve: Why It Fails to Explain the Real World

What is a Gaussian curve? In which situations can it accurately describe the world? Where does it fail, and what are its limits? The Gaussian curve is another name for the classic bell curve, or normal distribution curve. It’s named after German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, and it describes many phenomena accurately. We’ll look at where the Gaussian curve is accurate and where (and why) it fails.