Reading Log 10

In this chapter we learned about the role of the translators and why they are important in starting an epedimic. Basically, you can have an innovative idea, product, or theory, but in order to turn that into an epedimic you need to be able to take that innovation and translate it into a language that everyone can understand. To do this translators drop certain details and sharpen others to make their message become contagious, so that it will eventually tip. For example Airwalk would look for certain trends and then they would create advertising that match those trends. The Beasty Boys were putting money into the Free Tibet compaign, and so Airwalk made an ad of a monek writting a test looking down at his shoes because he had written cheating notes. Of course the shoes were Airwalks.

Reading Log 9

In the last section, I learned about the rule of 150. Basically what the rule of 150 says is that humans have a certain amount of people that they can relate to, more than just knowing their name, this number turns out to be 150 people. There are lots of historical examples to back this up. For example there was a tribe in Australia that would build a new village when the population exceeded 15o. In the army, each unit is 200 people. In Gore, a high tech company, each plant has 150 employers. When the number goes above 150 then another plant is built, to get the number back around 150 employees. The Ya-Ya Sister hood became a best seller book, and a lot of the reason for this is because of the rule of 150. The author said that it wasn't just one epidemic, it was a lot of little epidemics that sold her book. People started coming to her readings in groups. Reading groups would form just around her book. One person would come a buy a copy, not just for themselves, but also for the other people in their reading group. Then these people would tell their friends and then they would go get copies. If people just showed up to her readings single, instead of in groups of six or seven, it would have been much harder for her to reach such a large audience.

Reading Log 7

In tonights reading we learned about Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE). FAE is a fancy way of saying that when it comes to interpreting human behavior we often make the mistake of overestimating the important fundamental character trait and under estimate the context of the situation. As human beings we are a lot more attuned to personal cues than contextual cues. This is most likely a survival trait due to evolution. It allows our mind to process lots of information and filter out what we think are the most important details. For example the immediate context of the situation is more important than the judgment of your heart. For example if there is someone is hurt and you are running late you probably will pass the person without helping them, however if you had plenty of time to spare you would probably be willing to stop and help the person.

Reading Log 6

In this reading we learned about the power of context. The power of context basically says that peoples behavior is affected by their environment. For example if an alley way is filthy and there are lots of broken windows than the message that nobody cares will be broadcast. Criminals will then be more likely to commit crime because they will assume that if nobody cares to keep the alley way nice, than nobody will care wether they comit a crime either. In New York city the police used the power of context to make the crime rate tip. They removed the graffiti from the train cars and arrested people for fair-beaten. The message was spread that the police cared and therefore the criminals thought they would be more likely to get cause, so they did not commit as many crimes.