Want a successful child? Give them a MIDDLE NAME: Extra initials boost social status, study claims
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The naming of a child is a very personal thing, but you could help yours on the road to success if you pick a number of middle names.
Scientists suggest that making use of middle initials in everyday life is the easiest way to appear cleverer, which in turn can lead to success.
Psychologists have found that using one or more middle initials boosts a person's social status in the eyes of others because initials are associated with high status professions such as law or medicine.
Initials are useful from birth: Parents could put their child on the path to success simply by picking out some middle names. Scientists believe that making use of middle initials in everyday life might be the easiest way to appear cleverer, which in turn can lead to success
AND SIMPLE NAMES MAKE PEOPLE SEEM 'FAMILIAR ANS LESS RISKY'
Scientists have found that we trust strangers with easier-to pronounce names.
Simpler names make people come across as more familiar and less risky to know, according to a recent study.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that people who speak English trust strangers with easier-to-pronounce names more than those with names that are more difficult to say– even when those strangers are from the same country.
People are more likely to trust claims made by strangers with straight-forward names, they said.
A previous study revealed that people with easily-pronounceable names are perceived as more likable, more electable and more accomplished.
People trust strangers with simple names as they come across as being more familiar and less risky to know.
'People's middle initials have a particular and powerful effect on how people are perceived by others,' Wijnand A.P. Van Tilburg of the University of Southampton and Eric R. Igou of the University of Limerick wrote in their study, which was published in the European Journal of Social Psychology.
'The display of middle initials increases the perceived social status of these people and positively biases inferences about their intellectual capacity and performance.'
One study conducted by the duo, saw 85 students from the University of Limerick evaluate how well an article explaining Einstein's theory of general relativity was written, Pacific Standard reported.
The author of the text was written as David Clark, David F. Clark, David F.P. Clark, or David F.P.R. Clark and the psychologists found that David F. Clark was considered a better writer than David Clark - without any middle initials.
While they wrote: 'It seems that one middle initial is sufficient to produce the middle initials effect,' they noticed that David F.P.R. Clark was considered the best writer in the test.
Psychologists think that people are used to seeing initials used in 'intellectual domains' and associate their use with a clever person. Doctors, (pictured) lawyers and other 'high status' professionals often display their middle initials, which might form the association with initials and intellect in people's minds
As a result of further studies, they found that the phenomenon was linked to the status of the writer.
One of the experiments revealed that people were more eager to join a quiz team if its members included people who used their middle initials, while they were not as impressed if they were joining a theoretical sports team.
The duo think that people are used to seeing initials used in 'intellectual domains' and therefore associate their use with a clever person.
Doctors, lawyers, scientists and other 'high status' professionals often display their middle initials, which might form the association with initials and intellect in people's minds.
There is also a theory that parents who give their children more middle names have more resources available to make sure their offspring receive a good education.
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