New norms can emerge spontaneously.

PositionSociology - Brief article

Fifteen years ago, the name "Aiden" hardly was on the radar of Americans with new infants. It ranked 324th on the Social Security Administration's list of popular baby names but, less than a decade later, the name became a favorite, soaring into the top 20 for five years and counting.

While some may attribute its popularity to a "Sex in the City" character, a study led by Damon Centola, associate professor in the Annenberg School for Communication and the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, provides a scientific explanation for how social conventions--everything from acceptable baby names to standards of professional conduct--can emerge suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, with no external forces driving their creation.

The findings have implications for everything from understanding why different regions of the country have distinct words for the same product--soda versus pop, for example--to explaining how norms regarding civil rights gained widespread...

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