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 Have you been looking for an explanation for your earlier-in-life successes or failures? Well, fear not! Researchers at the University of Colorado have an explanation for you, and it has little to do with you and everything to do with the alphabet.
For those of you blessed with surnames like “Anderson” or” Bailey,” good fortune has smiled upon you. Professor Jeffrey Zax and graduate student Alexander Cauley (both of the University of Colorado) are suggesting that where your last name falls in the alphabet might predict your success (or failure) in life.
According to Zax and Cauley, students whose surnames fall toward the end of the alphabet are less noticeable to their teachers, thereby being less likely to be labeled as “outstanding” students despite actual performance.
The phenomenon, known as alphabetism, according to the researchers, begins in school where almost everything is structured by the alphabet (i.e., where you sit, homeroom, scheduling, roll call, etc.) and follows you into adulthood.
According to the research, later-in-life disparities appear for those with last names later in the alphabet being less likely to pursue higher education and more likely to experience lackluster first jobs than their alphabetically superior counterparts.
The research is based on a longitudinal study of 3,281 males from Wisconsin periodically from the time they graduated high school in 1957 until 2011. The participants were looked at in sets, measured against other participants who were nearly identical in academic performance and IQ. The only difference between the participants was where their names fell alphabetically.
According to the findings, if a participant’s last name started with a C, they were 10% more likely to be considered an “outstanding student” compared with someone whose last name, despite similar academic performance, appeared later in the alphabet.
So, if there is any merit to this study and your last name happens to be Williams or, interestingly enough, Zax, have you been forever screwed by the alphabet?
The good news for the Williamses and Zaxes of the world: This extra attention both as a student and early in your career fades with time and with the participant’s ability to better demonstrate the characteristics of a good employee. It is not a life-long affliction. Researchers believe that the phenomenon disappears after a person is in their mid-30s.
So while the study has its interesting points, keep in mind that it was spearheaded by a person whose last name begins with the letter “Z.”
Have you been victimized by alphabetization?
Image credit:
tracen916 / CC BY-SA 2.0
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Re: It's Not You. It's the Alphabet.
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