3 ms·

Kind of unrelated but why are fad diets promoted so much on this site?

• dredmorbius 8y ago
  Diet is one of several extremely strong social signalling mechanisms. https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/62uroa/clothing_music_diets_art_management_theory_fad_as/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/62uroa/clothin... Subsequent to writing above, I found, related: "A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change as Informational Cascades" Sushil Bikhchandani, David Hirshleifer, and Ivo Welch University of California, Los Angeles Abs: An informational cascade occurs when it is optimal for an individual, having observed the actions of those ahead of him, to follow the behavior of the preceding individual without regard to his own information. We argue that localized conformity of behavior and the fragility of mass behaviors can be explained by informational cascades. Journal of Political Economy, 1992, vol. 100, no. 5 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2138632 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2138632 http://snap.stanford.edu/class/cs224w-readings/bikhchandani92fads.pdf http://snap.stanford.edu/class/cs224w-readings/bikhchandani9...