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Why Do We Need Someone Else to Tell Us What We Like?
How friends, influencers, online reviews, and popular trends shape our preferences-and why we sometimes mistake collective approval for our own personal taste.
Welcome to The Smarter Brain, a curation of thought-provoking ideas and actionable reads to help you build better habits and become more productive.
Happy reading - See you on Wednesday!
Cheers,
The Smarter Brain Team
Estimated Reading Time: 2 mins
3 Ideas for Better Habits
Are These Really Our Opinions?
Oscar Wilde - Irish playwright, novelist, and essayist known for his sharp observations about society, identity, and conformity.
“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”
Source: De Profundis
Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder
David Hume - Scottish philosopher whose work explored human judgment, emotion, and the foundations of taste.
“Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.”
Source: Of the Standard of Taste
The Courage to Be Yourself
British philosopher and political economist John Stuart Mill who defended personal freedom and the value of thinking and living differently from the majority.
“It is desirable, in short, that in things which do not primarily concern others, individuality should assert itself.”
Source: On Liberty
The Confidence Workbook
The Confidence Workbook is your practical guide back to the self-belief that’s always been inside you. Through insightful prompts and simple rituals, you’ll learn to dismantle habit-driven doubt and embrace genuine courage. Don’t let misplaced modesty hold you back - order now and start your journey.
Productivity Tools and Resources
Do We Really Like What We Like? How Social Influence Processes Shape Our Experiences When We Are Online
Explores how social media comments, other people’s reactions, and online popularity can shape what we enjoy and how we interpret content. Read more here.
Why We're All Followers
This article explores social proof and how we use other people's behavior to guide our own decisions. Examples include online reviews, restaurant recommendations, and the influence of group behavior in everyday life.
Discover What Everyone's Watching
Letterboxd - A social film app where people rate movies, write reviews, follow friends, and explore popular lists.
Let Readers Influence Your Next Read
Goodreads - A book-discovery app that combines ratings, reviews, recommendations, and friends' reading lists.
What We're Reading
Behavioral Scientist - A publication exploring the science behind human behavior, social influence, and decision-making. Excellent for finding research-based ideas about why people follow trends and how group behavior shapes individual choices.
Psyche - A digital magazine about psychology, philosophy, and understanding ourselves and others. Its articles can help explore how identity, relationships, and social environments influence what we believe and value.
Brain Food
Today I Learned: In a landmark experiment, researchers invited 14,341 participants to listen to and download unfamiliar songs. When participants could see what others had chosen, popular songs became more dominant, but the eventual winners became harder to predict. (Source)
Science: Psychologists distinguish this from normative social influence, in which people align with a group to fit in or avoid social disapproval. The two processes can overlap: we may both believe a popular option is good and want to share the group's enthusiasm.(Source)
Have a productive rest of your week,
The Smarter Brain Team
Resource Spotlight
Discovering Your Own Taste: Algorithms, Individuality, and the Art of Knowing What You Like
Monthly dispatches rooted in culture and personal identity, not algorithmic recommendations-this one's about the difference between knowing what everyone likes and discovering what genuinely speaks to you. Explore how recommendation systems push us toward familiar, popular choices while making unusual music, independent ideas, and niche interests harder to find.
Social Proof, Conformity, and Why We Let the Crowd Choose for Us
Monthly dispatches rooted in behavioural psychology, not blind conformity-this one's about why we look to other people when deciding what to buy, watch, believe, or enjoy. Explore how ratings, reviews, celebrity endorsements, expert opinions, and viral trends become shortcuts for making decisions when we're uncertain about our own judgment.
The Sociology of Taste: Culture, Identity, and Who Shapes What We Like
Monthly dispatches rooted in sociology and cultural psychology, not the myth of completely independent preferences-this one's about why our favourite foods, music, films, clothes, and online content reveal more than personal preference. Explore how upbringing, geography, social class, communities, and recommendation algorithms influence what we consider desirable, familiar, sophisticated, or worth discovering.
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