Number of words: 132

Here’s a fascinating—and humbling—social experiment. Select one hundred people at random in New York City and ask them each to list all their friends, so you can figure out their average number of friends. Then, in turn, ask their friends how many friends they have. You will find that the latter’s average number of friends is higher. Sociologist Scott Feld of Purdue University, West Lafayette, drew attention to this apparent paradox in a paper that he baldly entitled “Why Your Friends Have More Friends Than You Do.” The explanation lies in the realization that there is a bias in the question being asked, since you are more likely to know popular people and less likely to know unpopular ones.

Excerpted from page 237 of ‘Super co-operators ’ by Martin Nowak