The shortlist effect: nestedness contributions as a tool to explain cultural success
Detecting the forces behind the success or failure of cultural products, such as books or films, remains a challenge. Three such forces are drift, context-biased selection and selection based on content – when things succeed because of their intrinsic appeal. We propose a tool to study content-biase...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X21000487/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811156404192411648 |
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| author | Olivier Morin Oleg Sobchuk |
| author_facet | Olivier Morin Oleg Sobchuk |
| author_sort | Olivier Morin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Detecting the forces behind the success or failure of cultural products, such as books or films, remains a challenge. Three such forces are drift, context-biased selection and selection based on content – when things succeed because of their intrinsic appeal. We propose a tool to study content-biased selection in sets of cultural collections – e.g. libraries or movie collections – based on the ‘shortlist effect’: the fact that smaller collections are more selective and more likely to favour highly appealing items over others. We use a model to show that, when the shortlist effect is at work, content-biased cultural selection is associated with greater nestedness in sets of collections. Having established empirically the existence of the shortlist effect, and of content-biased selection, in 28 sets of movie collections, we show that nestedness contributions can be used to estimate to what extent specific movies owe their success to their intrinsic properties. This method can be used in a wide range of datasets to detect the items that owe their success to their intrinsic appeal, as opposed to ‘hidden gems’ or ‘accidental hits’. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:51:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-edaea6dce9c747d4a0ce15dfe766bc23 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2513-843X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:51:01Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-edaea6dce9c747d4a0ce15dfe766bc232023-03-09T12:32:19ZengCambridge University PressEvolutionary Human Sciences2513-843X2021-01-01310.1017/ehs.2021.48The shortlist effect: nestedness contributions as a tool to explain cultural successOlivier Morin0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6216-1307Oleg Sobchuk1Minds and Traditions Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. 10, Kahlaische strasse, 07745 Jena, Germany Institut Jean Nicod, Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL University, UMR 8129. 29, rue d'Ulm, 75014 Paris, FranceMinds and Traditions Research Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. 10, Kahlaische strasse, 07745 Jena, GermanyDetecting the forces behind the success or failure of cultural products, such as books or films, remains a challenge. Three such forces are drift, context-biased selection and selection based on content – when things succeed because of their intrinsic appeal. We propose a tool to study content-biased selection in sets of cultural collections – e.g. libraries or movie collections – based on the ‘shortlist effect’: the fact that smaller collections are more selective and more likely to favour highly appealing items over others. We use a model to show that, when the shortlist effect is at work, content-biased cultural selection is associated with greater nestedness in sets of collections. Having established empirically the existence of the shortlist effect, and of content-biased selection, in 28 sets of movie collections, we show that nestedness contributions can be used to estimate to what extent specific movies owe their success to their intrinsic properties. This method can be used in a wide range of datasets to detect the items that owe their success to their intrinsic appeal, as opposed to ‘hidden gems’ or ‘accidental hits’.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X21000487/type/journal_articleCultural nestednessnestedness contributioncontent-biased selectioncultural evolutioncultural driftcultural selectionmovies |
| spellingShingle | Olivier Morin Oleg Sobchuk The shortlist effect: nestedness contributions as a tool to explain cultural success Evolutionary Human Sciences Cultural nestedness nestedness contribution content-biased selection cultural evolution cultural drift cultural selection movies |
| title | The shortlist effect: nestedness contributions as a tool to explain cultural success |
| title_full | The shortlist effect: nestedness contributions as a tool to explain cultural success |
| title_fullStr | The shortlist effect: nestedness contributions as a tool to explain cultural success |
| title_full_unstemmed | The shortlist effect: nestedness contributions as a tool to explain cultural success |
| title_short | The shortlist effect: nestedness contributions as a tool to explain cultural success |
| title_sort | shortlist effect nestedness contributions as a tool to explain cultural success |
| topic | Cultural nestedness nestedness contribution content-biased selection cultural evolution cultural drift cultural selection movies |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X21000487/type/journal_article |
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