I will never look at real estate agents the same way ever again. In chapter 2, Levitt takes the basic premise of incentives from chapter 1 and builds on it to show how information changes how people are driven by incentives. Basically, it's like the old adage we've all heard before: knowledge is power. This could be in the form of the real estate agent who knows information that buyers and sellers don't and pushes sales one way or another based on how they benefit more. "Who cares if the buyer gets $20 grand more, I'm only gonna see another $3o0." But, I gotta say, I'm definitely going to pay more attention to those ad terms like "fantastic, charming, and great neighborhood."
In contrast, the chapter mentions how the KKK was a made powerful by knowledge. However, just because it had become powerful due to its knowledge, didn't mean that it couldn't be brought down by that same knowledge. Stetson Kennedy and his KKK insider, John Brown, took every nugget of information they could get their hands on and spread it as quickly as possible to the radio; they even had Superman fighting the Klan (which I didn't know see coming). They had information coming out almost in real time with the Klan itself and were able to put the KKK under the public microscope.
Finally, the part about how people share information and they way they like to portray themselves was pretty entertaining. I like all the little facts and figures throughout the book and enjoy seeing how they tell the real story. The online dating example was pretty funny; there just happened to be a huge proportion of rich, good looking, tall, and thin people still on the market. But the part that I really enjoyed was how the men who did better were the ones who were looking for a relationship whereas the exact opposite was true for the ladies.
Anyway, everyone wants to guard certain information about themselves and make sure that they're seen in a favorable light. It's kind of like getting roommates... you don't really think that they're weird or disgusting or whatever before you move into together, but it's hard to hide all those idiosyncrasies when you're in closer quarters. I mean, every one's weird, some people are just better at hiding it than others. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
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2 comments:
It is obvious that on an online dating site that people are going to portray themselves better than they actually are for the simple fact that they feel it will increase their chances of someone contacting them. Real estate agents are scum after reading this. However anyone would probably do the same thing for themselves. Of course you would put in the extra effort for yourself compared to what you would do for someone else.
You are absolutely right that knowledge is power. If everyone had the same amount of intelligence, we could all do everyone elses jobs. This just isn't the case in todays society.
I agree with Kyle on the dating site issue. If I were to publish an add on a dating website, I would embellish the truth...wouldn't you? Real estate agents are not scum however. They are just doing their job. I related real estate agents to used car salesmen in my own blog and feel that their are many similarities between the two. There is strong incentive for money in society, therefore if one feels they can make a lot of money selling used cars and lying to people, they are going to do so.
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