Over My Shoulder

Last-place aversion

October 18, 2011

I love interesting tidbits on the human psyche, especially as it relates to how we deal with markets and social interaction. This is a short but very intriguing piece from Scientific American on something called last-place aversion. "Our work suggests that people exhibit a fundamental loathing for being near or in last place – what we call “last place aversion.” This fear can lead people near the bottom of the income distribution to oppose redistribution because it might allow people at the very bottom to catch up with them or even leapfrog past them." But this leads us to "framing." If the OWS movement makes it "us" (the 99%) against "them" (the 1%), maybe that is a game changer. Keep this article in mind as you watch.

Download - The__Last_Place_Aversion__Paradox__Scientific_American.pdf