Popular baby names, just like fashion styles and other pop culture trends, keep on changing. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University developed a mathematical model to understand why these behavioral patterns are constantly shifting, and it points to a tug-of-war between the need to stand out in the crowd and the need to fit in with the pack. The motives to conform and to be unique interact to produce complex dynamics when people observe each other in a social network. The results of the research are available in the December issue of the journal Psychological Review.
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Source: Phys.org