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March 31, 2006

Strange But True!

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Q. With a name like Virginia Flowers, would you be more likely to move to Virginia and to become a florist?

A. Can you believe the answer is a statistical "yes?" We don't just like ourselves — we like what we associate with ourselves, including our own name. Brett Pelham, Matthew Mirenberg and John Jones have termed this "implicit egotism," says David G. Myers in "Social Psychology." For instance, women named Georgia are disproportionately likely to MOVE to Georgia, as are Virginias to Virginia. And St. Louis has a 49 percent excess (relative to the national proportion) of men named Louis.


 
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