Spurious? Name Similarity Effects (Implicit Egotism) in Marriage, Job and Moving Decisions

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Forthcoming

61 Pages Posted: 16 Jun 2010 Last revised: 8 May 2012

See all articles by Uri Simonsohn

Uri Simonsohn

ESADE Business School; Ramon Llull University - ESADE Business School; ESADE Business School

Date Written: June 16, 2010

Abstract

Three Journal of Personality and Social Psychology papers have shown that a disproportionate share of people choose spouses, places to live, and occupations with names similar to their own. These findings, interpreted as evidence of implicit egotism, are now included in most modern social psychology textbooks and many university courses. This paper successfully replicates the original findings but then shows that they are most likely caused by a combination of cohort, geographic and ethnic confounds, and reverse causality.

Keywords: Implicit Egotism, Behavioral Economics, Social Psychology, Methodology, Archival Data

Suggested Citation

Simonsohn, Uri, Spurious? Name Similarity Effects (Implicit Egotism) in Marriage, Job and Moving Decisions (June 16, 2010). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1625779

Uri Simonsohn (Contact Author)

ESADE Business School ( email )

Av. de Pedralbes, 60-62
Barcelona, 08034
Spain

Ramon Llull University - ESADE Business School ( email )

Avinguda de la Torre Blanca, 59
Sant Cugat del Vallès, 08172
Spain

HOME PAGE: http://urisohn.com

ESADE Business School ( email )

Av. de Pedralbes, 60-62
Barcelona, 08034
Spain

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
945
Abstract Views
5,136
Rank
45,453
PlumX Metrics