Jose A. Portuondo
Final draft
MDC-ENC 1101
21 September 2016
“John Smith”: Money making names
Employers seeking to hire new people are usually depicted as judging potential employees by their experience and appearance. What if there was another more subtle yet as affective part of a person’s identity that affects their chance of employment. This little yet significant identifier is represented by one word…name. To think that such a small detail would cause the hindrance of someone’s employment would be ridiculous notion to be scoffed at. However the reality is that such a small thing can cause large changes within a person’s chance of employment. There are many factors within a person’s name that affects its likeability. Such things that affects …show more content…
It is much more advantageous to have a name that simply rolls off the tongue than to have a name that will get anybody’s tongue twisted. This idea of name pronunciation was further proven in a study within the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology where a group of people each respectively from the University of Melbourne in Australia, University of Leuven in Belgium, and New York University in the United States tested the idea of the “Name-Pronunciation effect.” The idea was to not only test to see if a name that is easier to pronounce would be hired more often and have more likeable impressions of the person but also to see how those type of people fare better in terms of having higher positions within the job. What they found out in the experiment is “A regression analysis suggested that lawyers with more easily pronounceable names occupied superior positions within their firm hierarchy” (Laham 755) further proving how an easier to pronounce name not only sets you up to be more likely to succeed in employment but also how it will affect the type of position you will hold while …show more content…
The association of the name with previous thoughts and/or ideas. To better understand this we first begin with the natural word association that is done unconsciously by people towards words that have to be given a meaning. In the nineteen twenties a German psychologist named Wolfgang Kholer presented two shapes to a number of respondents who needed to associate two words that they have been given to the shapes presented to them it was then found that “If you’re like the vast majority of Köhler’s respondents, you’re compelled by the idea that Malumas are soft and rounded, whereas Taketes are sharp and jagged.” (Altar) Presenting that words may hold previous connotations even if it is a new word. Through this word association not only serves to affect the names likeability but also affects how it is chosen in the first place. As said by the psychologist Coleman “An individual 's aesthetic reactions to particular names are no doubt influenced by numerous aspects of his or her personal experience in relation to real or fictional people bearing these names.” (Coleman 114) Showing that when a name is being chosen it is also influenced by previous associations it psychologically has within that person. Then there is the largest factor with name connotation that affects how the person is perceived and that is name discrimination. The association of certain names to certain people and
Final draft
MDC-ENC 1101
21 September 2016
“John Smith”: Money making names
Employers seeking to hire new people are usually depicted as judging potential employees by their experience and appearance. What if there was another more subtle yet as affective part of a person’s identity that affects their chance of employment. This little yet significant identifier is represented by one word…name. To think that such a small detail would cause the hindrance of someone’s employment would be ridiculous notion to be scoffed at. However the reality is that such a small thing can cause large changes within a person’s chance of employment. There are many factors within a person’s name that affects its likeability. Such things that affects …show more content…
It is much more advantageous to have a name that simply rolls off the tongue than to have a name that will get anybody’s tongue twisted. This idea of name pronunciation was further proven in a study within the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology where a group of people each respectively from the University of Melbourne in Australia, University of Leuven in Belgium, and New York University in the United States tested the idea of the “Name-Pronunciation effect.” The idea was to not only test to see if a name that is easier to pronounce would be hired more often and have more likeable impressions of the person but also to see how those type of people fare better in terms of having higher positions within the job. What they found out in the experiment is “A regression analysis suggested that lawyers with more easily pronounceable names occupied superior positions within their firm hierarchy” (Laham 755) further proving how an easier to pronounce name not only sets you up to be more likely to succeed in employment but also how it will affect the type of position you will hold while …show more content…
The association of the name with previous thoughts and/or ideas. To better understand this we first begin with the natural word association that is done unconsciously by people towards words that have to be given a meaning. In the nineteen twenties a German psychologist named Wolfgang Kholer presented two shapes to a number of respondents who needed to associate two words that they have been given to the shapes presented to them it was then found that “If you’re like the vast majority of Köhler’s respondents, you’re compelled by the idea that Malumas are soft and rounded, whereas Taketes are sharp and jagged.” (Altar) Presenting that words may hold previous connotations even if it is a new word. Through this word association not only serves to affect the names likeability but also affects how it is chosen in the first place. As said by the psychologist Coleman “An individual 's aesthetic reactions to particular names are no doubt influenced by numerous aspects of his or her personal experience in relation to real or fictional people bearing these names.” (Coleman 114) Showing that when a name is being chosen it is also influenced by previous associations it psychologically has within that person. Then there is the largest factor with name connotation that affects how the person is perceived and that is name discrimination. The association of certain names to certain people and