Easy To Pronounce Names Help Win Friends And Influence People

Here is something Dale Carnegie didn't mention in his self-help bestseller "How to Win Friends and Influence People": having a name that is easy to pronounce appears to confer a subtle advantage. Apparently, it helps people gain promotions, ascend in politics, and make it big as lawyers, according to a study that analysed how the pronunciation of names influences impression formation and decision-making.

Lead author of the study, Dr Simon Laham from the University of Melbourne in Australia told the press last week that people are often not aware of subtle biases when they make decisions and choices. He and his colleagues write about their findings in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

The study builds on earlier work by co-author Dr Adam Alter, from the New York University Stern School of Business. In a previous study, Alter found that financial stocks with simpler names tend to perform better just after they appear on the stock market than similar stocks with more complex names.

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