3 ms·

New study finds people alter their appearance to suit their names

teddyh 2y ago
See also “Nominative determinism”: <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nominative_determinism&oldid=1231663036 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nominative_determ...>
- coderenegade 2y ago
  Valentino Rossi was never going to be a farmer.
- HPsquared 2y ago
  Version-specific Wikipedia URL, interesting.
  - teddyh 2y ago
    Since you never know what could happen on any given Wikipedia page, and you can’t change your comments here, I usually link to version-specific articles in comments here.
Lammy 2y ago
Relevant Talking Heads: https://youtu.be/vDptHYVTWNg https://youtu.be/vDptHYVTWNg https://genius.com/Talking-heads-seen-and-not-seen-lyrics https://genius.com/Talking-heads-seen-and-not-seen-lyrics
ssgodderidge 2y ago
Couldn’t it just be that younger kids have less distinctive features that prevent correct classification?
danielvf 2y ago
This paper is most likely complete bunk. The data is very bad, and the conclusion doesn't even match the data. See previous comments when this was posted yesterday. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41111236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41111236 (data) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41111416 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41111416 (conclusions)
- gxonatano 2y ago
  Furthermore: > Dr. Yonat Zwebner, Arison School of Business, Reichman University says First, this isn't even a scientist who makes these conclusions, which explains why there's no scientific method. There needs to be a null hypothesis which is ruled out statistically. Why not have survey participants try to guess the name from a pool of random names drawn from within the same generation and socio-economic group, and then see if they do any better than chance. Second, even if the data were trustworthy, the obvious explanation here is that the popularity of certain names changes over time, and those distributions correlate with social class. A middle-class woman born in 1980 will probably have one of the names typically given to middle-class girls in 1980. Survey participants are, consciously or unconsciously, weighing the probability of a name, given these factors. Facial attributes simply have nothing to do with it. The idea that facial attributes change to suit a name is preposterous, given the number of other, much simpler explanations.
mattw2121 2y ago
Glad to finally have some evidence to support my rejection of so many baby names. My wife was not impressed with my rejection reasons that ultimately boiled down to "people become their names".
- thinkingtoilet 2y ago
  Explain in detail the different life paths of a "David" versus a "Ben". This is pure astrology.
  - sofixa 2y ago
    It's probably more Daenerys and Joufhreighn (pronounced James) vs the Davids and Bens.
  - mattw2121 2y ago
    The "Ben" will have to endure "Ben-dover" jokes all through childhood.
randomsolutions 2y ago
That is not what the study found. The study found people are able to guess the given names of adults from four choices at slightly better than chance, ~30%. With 117 (or 116?) people guessing and 16 images.
inSenCite 2y ago
Are they kidding...with sampling like this how can it be called a study? This is like a HS paper "For Study 1: Adult Perceivers, a power analysis based on previous effects (5) indicated a desired sample size of 120 participants. We had 117 students (62% women, age range: 18 to 30 y, M 24.7, SD 2.1; participants were recruited by the online university panel...All had a similar demographic background...We discarded two data points (out of 1,872)"
stemlord 2y ago
I wonder if a person's whole life being a personal branding exercise is something unique to capitalist society or has been happening forever
theGeatZhopa 2y ago
People and their pet dogs become more and more similar years after. That people alter their appearance to suit the names - I doubt that in general, because if they're having a dog, they must become similar to the dog at some time, so they can't alter their appearance to suit their names but may be the dogs name :) haha. But may be, some names really provoke a change in style and appearance. In the country I living in, the name Kevin is sometimes used to call people slow-brainer. So if you're a Kevin and if you're in mid school, then the possibilities are high, that you'll be laughed by others. With such young personalities, it's devastating for the self esteem. So this people find their social refuge within a similar group of people. And usually, a group of people also have similar clothes and appearance in common. So, there's sure a correlation . The question is, how to do a study on that

See also “Nominative determinism”: <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nominative_determinism&oldid=1231663036 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nominative_determ...>

coderenegade 2y ago
Valentino Rossi was never going to be a farmer.
HPsquared 2y ago
Version-specific Wikipedia URL, interesting.
- teddyh 2y ago
  Since you never know what could happen on any given Wikipedia page, and you can’t change your comments here, I usually link to version-specific articles in comments here.

Lammy 2y ago

Relevant Talking Heads: https://youtu.be/vDptHYVTWNg https://youtu.be/vDptHYVTWNg https://genius.com/Talking-heads-seen-and-not-seen-lyrics https://genius.com/Talking-heads-seen-and-not-seen-lyrics

ssgodderidge 2y ago

Couldn’t it just be that younger kids have less distinctive features that prevent correct classification?

danielvf 2y ago

This paper is most likely complete bunk. The data is very bad, and the conclusion doesn't even match the data. See previous comments when this was posted yesterday. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41111236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41111236 (data) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41111416 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41111416 (conclusions)

gxonatano 2y ago
Furthermore: > Dr. Yonat Zwebner, Arison School of Business, Reichman University says First, this isn't even a scientist who makes these conclusions, which explains why there's no scientific method. There needs to be a null hypothesis which is ruled out statistically. Why not have survey participants try to guess the name from a pool of random names drawn from within the same generation and socio-economic group, and then see if they do any better than chance. Second, even if the data were trustworthy, the obvious explanation here is that the popularity of certain names changes over time, and those distributions correlate with social class. A middle-class woman born in 1980 will probably have one of the names typically given to middle-class girls in 1980. Survey participants are, consciously or unconsciously, weighing the probability of a name, given these factors. Facial attributes simply have nothing to do with it. The idea that facial attributes change to suit a name is preposterous, given the number of other, much simpler explanations.

mattw2121 2y ago

Glad to finally have some evidence to support my rejection of so many baby names. My wife was not impressed with my rejection reasons that ultimately boiled down to "people become their names".

thinkingtoilet 2y ago
Explain in detail the different life paths of a "David" versus a "Ben". This is pure astrology.
- sofixa 2y ago
  It's probably more Daenerys and Joufhreighn (pronounced James) vs the Davids and Bens.
- mattw2121 2y ago
  The "Ben" will have to endure "Ben-dover" jokes all through childhood.

randomsolutions 2y ago

That is not what the study found. The study found people are able to guess the given names of adults from four choices at slightly better than chance, ~30%. With 117 (or 116?) people guessing and 16 images.

inSenCite 2y ago

Are they kidding...with sampling like this how can it be called a study? This is like a HS paper "For Study 1: Adult Perceivers, a power analysis based on previous effects (5) indicated a desired sample size of 120 participants. We had 117 students (62% women, age range: 18 to 30 y, M 24.7, SD 2.1; participants were recruited by the online university panel...All had a similar demographic background...We discarded two data points (out of 1,872)"

stemlord 2y ago

I wonder if a person's whole life being a personal branding exercise is something unique to capitalist society or has been happening forever

theGeatZhopa 2y ago

People and their pet dogs become more and more similar years after. That people alter their appearance to suit the names - I doubt that in general, because if they're having a dog, they must become similar to the dog at some time, so they can't alter their appearance to suit their names but may be the dogs name :) haha. But may be, some names really provoke a change in style and appearance. In the country I living in, the name Kevin is sometimes used to call people slow-brainer. So if you're a Kevin and if you're in mid school, then the possibilities are high, that you'll be laughed by others. With such young personalities, it's devastating for the self esteem. So this people find their social refuge within a similar group of people. And usually, a group of people also have similar clothes and appearance in common. So, there's sure a correlation . The question is, how to do a study on that