Fashion Statement: Putting Your Mouth Where Your Money Is
Researchers say we often recognize peer pressure in the actions of others — but not in our own choices.
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xubingruo/Getty Images
A while back, Jonah Berger was talking with a lawyer friend from Washington, D.C. The friend was lamenting the impact of social influence on his peers.
He was saying, “‘God, you know, all D.C. lawyers are the same. They make it big, and they go out and they buy a new BMW.’
And I said, ‘Don’t you drive a BMW also?’ He said, ‘oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, but, you know, they all drive gray ones. And I drive a blue one.'”
Our friends may not be independent thinkers, but we are…right? Not quite. Researchers have found that many of our personal preferences are heavily shaped by the whims and wishes of others.
This week, we talk with Jonah Berger about how our choices are influenced by social context. Then, Neeru Paharia takes a closer look at our behavior as consumers. She says the things we purchase send invisible signals – projecting the values we have, and the identities we want.
Additional Resources:
Invisible Influence by Jonah Berger, 2016.
“Sweatshop labor is wrong unless the shoes are cute: Cognition can both help and hurt moral motivated reasoning,” by Neeru Paharia, Kathleen D. Vohs, and Rohit Deshpandé in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, (2013).
“The Underdog Effect: The Marketing of Disadvantage and Determination through Brand Biography,” by Neeru Paharia, Anat Keinan, Jill Avery, and Juliet B. Schor in Journal of Consumer Research, 2010.
Hidden Brain is hosted by Shankar Vedantam and produced by Jennifer Schmidt, Rhaina Cohen, Parth Shah, Thomas Lu and Laura Kwerel. Our supervising producer is Tara Boyle. You can also follow us on Twitter @hiddenbrain.
Sweet Win Over Sweden; U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Rolls Through World Cup
United States’ Tobin Heath celebrates after scoring her team’s second goal during the Women’s World Cup in Le Havre, France, Thursday.
Alessandra Tarantino/AP
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Alessandra Tarantino/AP
The U.S. got a little redemption at the Women’s World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Sweden. The U.S. powered to the win with a strong defense and relentless attack. It was the hardest game yet for the Americans and shows the team is in top form as it enters the knockout round to defend its World Cup title.
A capacity crowd of 25,000 at Stade Océane in Le Havre, France got to see a gem of a match. The U.S. was sharp and precise from the beginning. It didn’t take long for the Americans to score. In the third minute, Megan Rapinoe punched a corner kick into the penalty area. It skipped low through the box and Lindsey Horan poked it into the back of the net for the fastest goal scored in this tournament.
That didn’t take long. Lindsey Horan with a goal just two minutes in! #USASWE pic.twitter.com/TkOYTWYrLR
— Laurel Wamsley (@laurelwamsley) June 20, 2019
The second goal came in the second half at the 50th minute. Tobin Heath did some very Tobin Heath things with her footwork. Faced with a crazy angle, she blistered the ball off a Swedish defender into the goal.
.@TobinHeath: the reason ‘don’t believe me just watch’ exists https://t.co/KKQbpFxeRY
— U.S. Soccer WNT (@USWNT) June 20, 2019
This was the toughest opponent the U.S. has faced so far. At the last two games there was an assumption that the U.S. would win, this time around the only known was that some very good soccer would be played. And indeed, it was. Sweden pressured the U.S. but it was never enough.
The U.S. team was well-rested. Seven of its starters did not play in the last match against Chile. The biggest surprise was the absence of midfielder Julie Ertz. She is the anchor of the U.S. backfield and held out of competition today for precautionary reasons. U.S. Soccer said Ertz had a “minor hip contusion.” Star forward Alex Morgan played the first half but went down late and was replaced by Carli Lloyd at halftime.
Both the U.S. and Sweden had already advanced to the knockout round regardless of what happened on the field today. But this match was about bragging rights. There’s a long history between the U.S. and Sweden.
The teams have played each other 38 times going back to 1987, and they’ve faced off at five previous World Cups. The U.S.’s record in those matches is three wins, one loss and one tie.
In fact, it was at the 2015 Women’s World Cup when these two teams also squared off in the final game of group play like today. The Swedish coach then was Pia Sundhage who had led the U.S. until 2012 including Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012. It was also her Sweden team that knocked the U.S. out of the 2016 Olympics in the quarterfinals.
That loss still stings the U.S. Soccer program. It was the earliest the Americans got bounced from a major tournament and forced the team to change to a more attacking style of play that was both more technical and more tactical. U.S. forward Christen Press says the loss sticks with her to this day. “You don’t forget the taste in your mouth when you fail and when you lose in a world championship,” she said. “There’s a little bit of that that will definitely act as motivation. And you always play to win and to never have that feeling again.”
With the win, the U.S. will take on Spain in the Round of 16. Spain has struggled offensively and squeaked into the knockout round of the Women’s World Cup for the first-time ever. The Spaniards defeated South Africa 3-1 in the opener, then lost to Germany 1-0 and played to a scoreless draw against China. The U.S.-Spain match is Monday at noon (ET) at Stade Auguste-Delaune in Reims.
Laurel Wamsley contributed to this report.
World Cafe Latin Roots: 7 Femme-Fronted Andean Electro-Alternative Acts
Caro Arroba describes her music as “tech house Andino.”
Isabel Dávila/Courtesy of the artist
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Isabel Dávila/Courtesy of the artist
There is such a superb and expanding community of musicians and producers creating Andean electro and alternative soun we’ve decided to highlight some of the womxn producers and femme-fronted projects stimulating this empowering movement. Ranging in soundscapes that feature ethno bass, dance floor field recordings and techno, these exceptional musicians are giving new life to often forgotten roots music.
These one-of-a-kind sound artisans are producing material as legacies of their countries ancestral music while also generously providing a musical platform for its regeneration.
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Caro Arroba
Currently making music in Chicago, Quito, Ecuador-hailing producer Caro Arroba describes her music as “tech house Andino — exploring the relation between mind, nature and machines” and presents this as exhilarating sound tributes to the indigenous peoples of Ecuador. She samples traditional Pre-Colombian rhythms with the use of Andean instruments like tollos, quenachos and ocarinas. She then loops these, randomly or in sequence, into techno and house, in effect creating musical time travel.
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Lara Nuh
The dynamic visuals, folk-storytelling and heart-pounding musical sensations in the video for “Tierra que suena“ by producer Lara Nuh, are instantly, incredibly mystifying. It’s a gutsy synergy of hip-hop, chant and electronica. The musician and spoken word artist from Lima, Peru digs creatively into the sounds of the past while not shying away from making use of current technology. In her most recent live electronic dance track “Colibrí“, for example, she makes magic with an array of MIDI controllers, hardware sequencers and samples.
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ShuShupe
Inspired by the sounds of the Peruvian jungle, plus cumbia and a close encounter with a venomous viper known as a shushupe, producer Ursula Talavera created ShuShupe, a purveyor of “folkloric music with beats.” Her latest recording, “Ayahuasca Love,” is included in the New Latam Beats From Perú compilation.
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Barda
Cecilia Gebhard, known artistically as Barda, is an Argentine producer who composes complex down tempo electronica, nurtured by the micro-region of Alto Valle as well as Patagonia. She is considered part of the new South American wave. Her EP Lembrança debuted as a limited release 12″ vinyl via Shika Shika Records in Berlin. It’s a synthy, experimental mix of acoustic instruments, ethno bass and charango. Barda, together with MicaTower, form part of the Plantasía music series in Buenos Aires.
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Maribel Tafur
From Lima, Peru, Maribel Tafur is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and composer. Incorporating field recordings, her aural designs are a moody amalgam of warm, inviting ambient and down tempo sounds that create the ultimate sensory experience. Tafur has been commissioned to create soundtracks for all the restaurants run by Peruvian chefs Pia Leon and Virgilio Martinez, and has collaborated on music soundtracks and backdrops for fashion designers and their brands. In the music video for Summer Dreams, she uses Cymatics which show water patterns triggered by music playing through a speaker.
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Swing Original Monks
Swing Original Monks, formed in Quito, are an invigorating, multicultural frenzy of musical energy with Colombian artist Juana Monk belting out electrifying vocals and Steph Viteri on bass. The seven-piece ensemble traverses the borderless world of music highlighting familial Ecuadorian sounds with the unconventional, like Balkan merengue or Western chicha. In addition, they combine elements of nu-cumbia, folk, rock, jazz and gypsy swing. Their album SOMOS is actually a reissue of their debut album, La Santa Fanesca. The original album caught the interest of producer Eduardo Cabra of Calle 13 who they eventually worked with, recording the new edition in Puerto Rico.
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Daniela Alban
This young graphic designer and electronic producer focuses on underground music communities sharing dance floor deliriums of techno, dub, psychedelic and low frequency sounds. In addition to her electronic skills, she’s an avid musician who plays guitar, drums, bass and piano, which she uses in her programming. Her music can be found on the release Insert Content, on the Miaw label along with artists Gianni and Nicolas Ricalde.
