Idiosyncrasy Credits — or How to Change a Group’s Opinion
Apply economic thinking to your social interactions
There it is — your new home. You pull into the driveway, park, and begin to unload. When you’re about to get the last box out of the car, the smell of barbecue hits you. You look around. You see people in the front yard across the street. They’re drinking beers and wearing sports uniforms that include baseball caps with red brims. You walk over.
“Hi,” you say, “I’m the new neighbor. I’m just moving in.”
“Hey!” they reply.
As you shake hands, your neighbors form a first impression of you. Unconsciously, they assign you a score — a score that measures their goodwill towards you. Social psychologists call this score idiosyncrasy credits or ICs.
The more of these credits you have, the more you’re a member of the group, the more influence you have over it, and the more you can deviate from the group’s norms without retribution. Since you look like a normal person, you start out with a default neutral score.
“Listen,” one of your neighbors says after a while, “we’re about to watch a game. We have a big TV and plenty of beer. Wanna join us?”
