Ranking

The Unwritten Rules of the Social Game We All Play

Péter Érdi

Explains everyday experiences in political and cultural life through the lens of scientific theories
Reveals how ranking materializes the reality, illusion, and manipulation of objectivity
Offers highly accessible prose which combines scientific analysis of historical and contemporary events with entertaining personal stories

Ranking

The Unwritten Rules of the Social Game We All Play

Péter Érdi

Description

Human beings are competitive. We want to know who is the strongest, who is the richest, and who is the cleverest of all. Some situations, like ranking people based on height, can be ranked in objective ways. However, many "Top Ten" lists are based on subjective categorization and give only the illusion of objectivity. In fact, we don't always want to be seen objectively since we don't mind having a better image or rank than deserved. Ranking: The Unwritten Rules of the Social Game We All Play applies scientific theories to everyday experience by raising and answering questions like: Are college ranking lists objective? How do we rank and rate countries based on their fragility, level of corruption, or even happiness? How do we find the most relevant web pages? How are employees ranked? This book is for people who have a neighbor with a fancier car; employees, who are being ranked by their supervisors; managers, who are involved in ranking but may have qualms about the process; businesspeople interested in creating better visibility for their companies; scientists, writers, artists, and other competitors who would like to see themselves at the top of a success list; or college students who are just preparing to enter a new phase of social competition. Readers will engage in an intellectual adventure to better understand the difficulties of navigating between objectivity and subjectivity and to better identify and modify their place in real and virtual communities by combining human and computational intelligence.

Translation editions available in German, Korean, Japanese, Complex Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.

Ranking

The Unwritten Rules of the Social Game We All Play

Péter Érdi

1 Prologue: My Early Encounters with Ranking
2 Comparison, ranking, rating, and lists
3 Social ranking in animal and human societies
4 Choices, Games, Laws, and the Web
5 The Ignorant and the Manipulative
6 Ranking games
7 The Struggle for Reputation
8 Inspired by Your Wish List: How (Not To) Buy a New Lawnmower
9 Epilogue: Rules of the Ranking Game-Where Are We Now?
Notes

Ranking

The Unwritten Rules of the Social Game We All Play

Péter Érdi

Author Information

Péter Érdi, Henry R. Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies, cross-appointments in the physics and psychology departments, Kalamazoo College

Dr. Érdi serves as the Henry R. Luce Professor of Complex Systems Studies at Kalamazoo College. He is also a research professor in his home town, in Budapest, at the Wigner Research Centre of Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In addition, he is the founding co-director of the Budapest Semester in Cognitive Science, a study abroad program. Péter is a Member of the Board of Governors of the International Neural Network Society, the past Vice President of Membership of the International Neural Network Society, and the Editor-in-Chief of Cognitive Systems Research.

Ranking

The Unwritten Rules of the Social Game We All Play

Péter Érdi

Reviews and Awards

""An informative and amusing book. The author collected a treasury of stories and reflections connected with comparison, rating and ranking from the widest possible area of sports, arts, sciences, politics, media and shopping, just to mention a few. The book's main concern is not how to rank, but rather how and in what extent ranking can be avoided."" - Scientometrics

""Péter Érdi's book was not a risk-free venture. It deserves a lot of success, since it has a large literary immersion, but does not hide the opinions of others."" - Magyar Tudomány

""Rankings are essential in our lives-they determine the education we receive, the jobs we qualify for, the books we read, and the music we listen to. In Ranking, Péter Érdi's vivid prose brings us the science of rankings. Using examples from politics to culture, he shows how these patterns determine who wins and who loses the ranking game."" - Albert-László Barabási, Professor of Network Science, Northeastern University and Harvard Medical School; author of The Formula: The Universal Laws of Success

""Most parents know their children are above average-sure proof of the subjectivity of ratings. With a light touch, combining personal experience, findings from biology and sociology and more, and with witty asides, Péter Érdi explains why Top 10 Lists fascinate us, and how to temper subjectivity with hard data when ratings and rankings truly matter."" - Michael Arbib, author and Editor of more than forty books, from his pioneering Brains, Machines, and Mathematics to How the Brain Got Language: The Mirror System Hypothesis

""As my grandmother used to say, if your actions are based on comparisons with others, you'll never enjoy life. But as Ranking shows — with lucid examples from practically every sphere of human endeavor — we humans can't help but compare ourselves to others. So who's the best at revealing the principles and mechanisms that underpin the ubiquitous tendency to compare? The pantomathic Péter Érdi, that's who! Érdi's book, written with insight and humor, is a delightful read. I learned a lot from it, as will any individual or organization interested in this enduring aspect of the human condition-in comparing better and choosing wisely."" - J. A. Scott Kelso, Glenwood and Martha Creech Eminent Scholar in Science, Florida Atlantic University; Professor Emeritus of Computational Neuroscience, Ulster University

""Drawing upon a remarkable range of disciplines, field studies, and historical insights, Érdi expertly reveals the hidden social and cognitive dynamics that inform our never-ending hunger to assign metrics to social life. With great nuance and a keen eye for detail, Érdi takes us through how supposedly straightforward processes of measurement, comparison, prioritization, and reputation management are fraught with bias and complex hidden social values. Ranking is an analytical tour-de-force and a joy to read, going straight to the top of my list of indispensable works on social hierarchy."" - Alexander Cooley, Director, Harriman Institute, Columbia University